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Schroders’ Johanna Kyrklund, head of multi-asset investments, and Urs Duss, fund manager, multi-asset, give their views on emerging market equities…
Emerging market equities have had a difficult time over the last few months. In USD terms, the 12 month return to 31 March 2014 for the MSCI World index was 19.7 per cent compared to -1.1 per cent for the MSCI Emerging Markets index. As fund manager sentiment has turned extremely negative according to surveys such as the BAML Global Fund Manager, the question becomes whether this pessimism offers a good investment opportunity.
A cursory examination of current valuations
Akasakatei, a China-based teppanyaki, BBQ and Japanese-cuisine restaurant, has completed a round of financing, raising USD10 million led by ClearVue Partners, a private equity fund targeting fast growing consumer companies in the Greater China region.
With growing traction in Shanghai and Beijing, Akasakatei — known for its best-in-class beef — is the go-to teppanyaki, BBQ and Japanese-cuisine restaurant for China’s upwardly mobile consumers.
Akasakatei will use the financing round to accelerate the company's growth in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Beijing.
Akasakatei expects to add 15 to 20 locations in 2014, with the overall aim of opening a total of
The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA), the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA) and the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) have welcomed the adoption by the European Parliament of its report on European long-term investment funds (ELTIFs) on 17 April.
The associations say they welcome the following features:
A flexible regime as to the lifetime that allows the design of ELTIFs to be based on the concrete needs of investors and their investment strategy.
Inclusion of listed small and medium-sized enterprises up to EUR1 billion market capitalisation in the scope of eligible investments. There
Kirkland & Ellis has represented Indianapolis-based private equity firm Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Company (HKW) on the final closing on limited partner commitments of HKW Capital Partners IV (Fund IV).
The fund exceeded its USD300 million target, closing on approximately USD316 million in aggregate commitments.
Fund IV will invest primarily in lower middle-market companies headquartered in North America, targeting investments in growing markets including favoured sectors such as energy services, infrastructure and medical products.
The Kirkland team was led by private funds partner Chris Kallos and included private funds associate Jonathan McPike, investment management partners Scott Moehrke and
Private investment company Ardian’s latest cycle of fundraising has attracted USD10 billion from investors worldwide.
The USD10 billion is composed of USD9 billion from Ardian’s sixth generation secondary platform active in buyout and expansion, with co-investment rights, and a further USD1 billion of primary commitments.
Since the start of 2014 Ardian has committed over USD2 billion through three secondary transactions.
Among these, Ardian has acquired buyout and growth portfolios from a financial institution for USD600 million, and has been chosen by Temasek to provide independent valuation and manage their new co-investment platform holding 36 private equity funds.
These
Harris Williams & Co has advised Upstream Telecommunications and Software Systems on a significant investment by Actis Capital.
The investment, which was completed on 17 April 2014, was led by technology, media & telecom (TMT) group bankers Thierry Monjauze, Zach Mueller and Sylvain Noblet from Harris Williams & Co.’s London office along with Mike Wilkins from the firm’s San Francisco office.
“Upstream has delivered tremendous growth over recent years, which is testament to the strength of the management team and of the demand fulfillment marketing platform it has developed since its inception in 2001,” says Monjauze.
“Following the
Alternative investment firm Bain Capital has made a major growth equity investment in Viewpoint Construction Software.
Viewpoint, which provides mission critical software to more than 8,000 contractors in 28 countries, has been in the construction-specific software market for more than 35 years and has achieved more than 40 per cent average annual revenue growth since 2009.
Jay Haladay, Viewpoint’s chairman and CEO, will continue in his current role as will all members of the company’s executive and management team.
“The Viewpoint team is very pleased to partner with Bain Capital, a successful global investor in enterprise technology who
Online alternative investment marketplace FNEX has agreed a strategic partnership with private equity platform DealMarket.
DealMarket’s qualified and professional investors can now access deals listed on FNEX.com through the DealMarket platform.
The partnership provides funds and investment banks that list on FNEX distribution to over 13,000 family offices globally.
FNEX announced the launch of FNEX.com, a new online marketplace for alternative investments, including direct placements in private companies, hedge funds and managed futures accounts, in September 2013. The web-based platform provides investment advisors, family offices, institutions, and accredited investors access to investment opportunities offered by investment banks and
NFT Distribution Operations Limited has completed a deal with new private equity investor EmergeVest, valuing the company at over GBP60 million.
The transaction includes integrated debt funding of up to GBP42 million provided by Investec Growth & Acquisition Finance.
EmergeVest has acquired the entire shareholding of NFT’s original private equity backer, Phoenix Equity Partners, and alongside Investec is injecting additional capital to further grow the business in the UK and overseas. The current management team at NFT will remain with the business and maintain a significant shareholding in the company.
NFT is a supply-chain link between chilled food
New York-based private equity firm GenNx360 Capital Partners has appointed industry veteran Glen Bushery as chief financial officer, effective immediately.
Bushery’s public and private accounting experience spans almost 30 years. For the past decade, Bushery served as chief financial officer and chief compliance officer at Falconhead Capital, a lower middle-market private equity firm based in New York City, where he was responsible for administration, finance, compliance and HR.
Prior to Falconhead, Bushery served as controller for Vestar Capital Partners, another New York City-based private equity firm, where he was responsible for the oversight of the financial reporting process and
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