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OFI InfraVia’s European Fund II, its second European infrastructure fund, has acquired a 24 per cent stake in Régaz – the regulated gas distribution network of the City of Bordeax – from Dalkia France.
Gas distribution in France is regulated by the Commission de Regulation de l’Energie (CrE) under a standard WACC-based rAb regime.
With a RAB of approximately EUR265m, Régaz is France’s largest independent gas distribution company, which operates and services a network of 3,315 km and 210,000 points of delivery.
“Régaz is an excellent gas distribution business enjoying a solid regulatory framework and an attractive investment
Paul Hastings has advised OpenGate Capital in connection with the acquisition of Kem One SAS, the second largest European manufacturer of PVCs, together with the industrial investor Alain de Krassny.
The reorganisation plan of Kem One SAS was approved on 20 December by an order of the Tribunal de Commerce (Commercial Court) of Lyon, after months of negotiations with Groupe Kem One’s principal business partners and support from the French Government to preserve the continued viability of the French petrochemical industry.
Kem One SAS is part of the upstream business activity of Kem One Group. The order also provides for the
2013 was less successful than the past two years in terms of Israeli venture capital fund raising, with 13 funds raising USD526m, almost 28 per cent below the USD725m raised by 14 Israeli VC funds in 2012.
This total was also 28 per cent under the 10-year average of USD732m.
The average fund size in 2013 fell to USD41m, well below the USD76m 10-year average. The decrease mostly reflected the formation of a large number of new micro-VC funds.
Only two funds managed to raise more than USD100m each in 2013: Vintage’s sixth fund attracted USD161m, and Aleph – a new
Law firm Paul Hastings has advised the British fund Fortelus Capital Management on the sale of the luxury shoes and accessories brand Bruno Magli to Da Vinci Invest, a Swiss independent capital management fund.
The new shareholder has also appointed Marcus Ensemberger as new CEO while the existing management will continue to manage the brand, whose headquarter will remain in Italy.
The Paul Hastings team, led by partner Bruno Cova, also includes partner Antonio Azzarà and associates Flavio Acerbi, Shida Galletti and Ante Picello.
Northern Trust has expanded its alternatives group with two appointments focused on investment opportunities in venture capital and secondary markets for private equity.
James R ‘Trey’ Hart III , who is responsible for sourcing and analysing venture capital investment opportunities in the US and Asia, joined Northern Trust from Greenspring Associates, a global venture capital fund-of-funds based in Baltimore, Maryland.
Adam R Freda, who focuses on sourcing, valuing and executing private equity and venture capital transactions on the secondary market, was previously at Wind Point Partners, a middle-market leveraged buyout fund based in Chicago.
"These appointments help to
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has represented Morgan Stanley as the debt provider to finance construction of a major new wind farm under development in Carson County, near Amarillo, Texas.
The 182 MW Panhandle 2 Wind Project, which Pattern Energy Group has agreed to acquire from its majority shareholder, Pattern Energy Group LP (“Pattern Development), will be part of Texas’s new Competitive Renewable Energy Zone. E
xpected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2014, the Panhandle 2 facility will connect to the state’s main power grid, generating wind power from 79 Siemens 2.3 MW SWT-2.3-108 wind turbine
Nordic online travel agency group European Travel Interactive (eTRAVELi) is expanding its operations through the purchase of the price comparison website Flygresor.se.
Through the acquisition, the group is stepping into a new submarket and further bolstering eTRAVELi’s position in the market.
eTRAVELi is continuing to grow by acquiring Svenska Resenätverket AB, which includes the price comparison website Flygresor.se.
”Flygresor.se is a strong brand and offers an excellent service today. Where eTRAVELi is concerned, the takeover represents a step into a new market segment, and with us as its owners, Flygresor.se will enjoy further expansion opportunities,” says Ralph Axelson,
Private equity firms are struggling to disseminate data into market intelligence, according to research by strategic advisory and analyst firm TABB Group and SunGard.
When asked what prevents them from managing their business effectively, the top responses from fund managers or general partners (GPs) were: the time it takes to get a complete view of portfolios (57 per cent); a lack of front-to-back system integration (50 per cent); and a lack of frequent and timely reporting (50 per cent).
The survey found an overwhelming majority of firms (67 per cent) acknowledged that an investment management platform is either “very
Demand for commodities is still outpaced by supply, says Esty Dwek (pictured), Investment Strategist at HSBC Private Bank…
We believe that the improvements in global growth are not yet leading to a meaningful increase in demand for commodities, at a time when supply remains ample. As a result, we expect prices to remain capped for now, although the Chinese recovery should gradually support demand for industrial metals. We believe that increasing supply thanks to shale discoveries will weigh on oil prices in the long term, while gold prices still lack an upside catalyst.
Commodity prices have remained under pressure even as
Deal flows in emerging Europe mergers and acquisitions are expected to increase in 2014, according to the Emerging Europe: M&A Report 2013/14 by law firm CMS and DealWatch.
M&A activity in emerging Europe in 2013 essentially remained flat in terms of deal volume and showed a moderate decline in deal value, falling from EUR138bn in 2012 to EUR112bn in 2013.
Last year the number of announced deals with a value above EUR1m dropped by two per cent to a total of 2,555 transactions. The most active sector by deal number in 2013 was services, with 484 deals representing 19
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