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By Brian Kelliher & David Lawless, Dillon Eustace – Since the establishment of the International Financial Services Centre in Ireland in 1988, Ireland has become a domicile of choice for asset managers seeking to establish regulated funds for distribution worldwide.
Over 430 global fund promoters have used Ireland as a fund domicile in order to establish regulated funds. As of 31 December 2013, there were 5,599 Irish domiciled funds with assets of approximately EUR1.344trn1. Such funds are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland (the “Central Bank”), which is the competent authority with responsibility for the authorisation and supervision of funds
Paris-based private equity firm Activa Capital has promoted Sophie Rouland to partner.
At the same time, Pierre Chabaud and Jean-Baptiste Salvin are both promoted to investment director and Denis Houdet becomes investment manager.
Charles Diehl, partner of Activa Capital, says: “These promotions reflect the strong contribution of the team to the success of Activa Capital. In particular, Activa Capital is delighted that Sophie Rouland joins the partnership at a time when Activa Capital is seeing exciting opportunities within the French mid-market and has enjoyed a rapid first close of its new fund.”
Rouland (40) joined Activa Capital in
Schroder UK Property Fund has acquired Tata Steel’s UK distribution hub, The Steel Park, Wednesfield in Wolverhampton from Threadneedle Property Investments Management for GBP34.10m.
The 60 acre site comprises three industrial warehouses, a headquarters office building and a study centre totalling 761,614 sq ft.
The entire site is let to Tata Steel UK Limited by way of six co-terminus occupational leases. The leases have c.12 years unexpired and benefit from 2.5 per cent per annum increases compounded and receivable five yearly.
James Lass, fund manager of Schroder UK Property Fund, says: “This purchase forms a key part of
HIG Capital’s Brazilian affiliate has made a significant investment in Office Total, a Brazilian managed print services (MPS) provider.
Established in 1995 with headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Office Total outsources and commercialises a wide range of office equipment from several suppliers and offers a wide range of leasing programmes to its clients.
The company operates regionally and has a client base spread over several industries. It has nearly 500 long-term outsourcing contracts and provides ongoing technical support and monitoring services.
Andre Vinicius, CEO of Office Total, says: “HIG’s partnership will enable the company to participate in larger
Enstar Group and Stone Point Capital have completed the acquisition of Torus Insurance, an A-rated global specialty insurer with six wholly owned insurance vehicles.
The purchasing entity is indirectly owned 60 per cent by an Enstar subsidiary and 40 per cent by Trident V and its affiliated co-investment funds, which are managed by Stone Point.
Enstar contributed approximately USD45.2m in cash and 1,898,326 of its ordinary voting shares and 714,015 newly created non-voting preferred shares towards the purchase price and related transaction expenses, with the Trident V funds contributing approximately USD260.8m in cash through their equity co-investment.
Dominic
Cinven has completed its acquisition of German life insurer Heidelberger Leben for a total consideration of EUR300m.
On 27 March 2014, the Heidelberger Leben Group announced that it had reached agreement to acquire Skandia Germany and Skandia Austria for EUR220m from Old Mutual plc.
The combination of Heidelberger Leben and Skandia Germany and Austria will create a strong basis for further consolidation with approximately EUR10bn assets under management and approximately one million policies. The group will invest substantially in its IT systems and operating platform to lower administration costs and further improve customer service levels for policyholders in Germany
Private equity fundraising has got off to a strong, if not spectacular, start in 2014,with USD67.8bn raised from investors through the final close of 135 private equity funds globally, according to data from PEI.
By comparison, USD78bn was raised by 162 funds in the equivalent period in 2013, when more capital was raised than in any year since the financial crisis.
With around 15 per cent more Q1 fund closes likely to be announced over the coming days, the final figure collected is likely to end close to last year’s Q1 total.
There are currently 1,842 private equity
David Lonsdale has been promoted to partner at London-based private equity firm August Equity.
Lonsdale (pictured) joined August Equity in 2008 and most recently led the investment in Westpoint, the UK’s largest farm and production animal veterinary group which provides support services to the UK livestock and food industries.
He also holds board seats at Independent Vetcare and FSP.
August Equity managing partner Philip Rattle says: “We are committed to build and develop the team at August Equity by promoting partners from within. David’s promotion is a recognition of both his outstanding investment skills and also his contribution
Rockpool Investments has invested GBP10m in Aegis Data, a data centre park in the UK.
This is the largest investment Rockpool has made since it opened for business in 2011 and it brings the total invested by Rockpool to GBP50m.
It is also the first time Aegis Data has raised outside funding – made up of EIS qualifying shares and a secured loan.
Specifically, this investment will enable Aegis Data to complete the fit-out of Aegis One, a 30,000 square foot state of the art data centre facility on Aegis Data’s brand new 10 Megavolt Amperes (MVA) Surrey Data Park
DVN (Holdings) Limited’s wholly owned subsidiary, Frontier Services Limited, is to acquire Phoenix Aviation, a company incorporated in Kenya, for a total consideration of USD14m .
This landmark transaction for DVN was the subject of a formal Stock Exchange of Hong Kong announcement yesterday. Through the transaction, Phoenix will become a subsidiary of DVN.
The acquisition of Phoenix and its aviation assets accelerates DVN's objective to become the premier pan-African secure logistics and transportation provider to multinational and local corporations active in exploration and mineral resources operations, as well as to governmental and non-governmental organisations.
Phoenix has operated
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