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By Ras Sipko, Chief Operating Officer of Koger, Inc – Common feedback from private equity funds when questioned about running profit/performance allocations is that they have a process that works, mainly driven by the use of spreadsheets. While it is certainly easy to build out the required accounting methodologies on an Excel spreadsheet is it the best way to handle this work?
When pressed further on the topic the overwhelming refrain is complex calculations like private equity waterfalls cannot be easily automated and it must be an expensive proposition to not only build these but provide ongoing support.
Breaking down
Private equity firms have, to date, avoided much of the regulation faced by US hedge fund managers. But it’s only a matter of time before they too will face enhanced transparency demands and regulatory reporting.
In Europe, under the AIFM Directive, this is already becoming a reality. The days of self-administration could become a thing of the past, particularly as investor profiles are also changing. As banks look to strengthen their balance sheets, large institutional investors are stepping in to their place and calling for greater portfolio information on a more frequent basis.
“Because of regulation and investor demands, PE
Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) has expanded its India business with the launch of a dedicated transaction advisory practice.
Vikram Utamsingh (pictured) has been appointed as managing director to lead this Mumbai-based business.
Amidst continuing global economic uncertainty and a series of economic reforms in India, A&M’s expansion into transaction advisory in this region reflects increased demand from private equity firms and strategic acquirers for an integrated due diligence approach that combines financial accounting, tax and operational due diligence services. As private equity firms increasingly focus on growth markets around the world, cross-border investments in and out of India
Law firm Brown Rudnick has appointed Peter Bibby as a partner in the London office.
Bibby was head of enforcement at the Financial Services Authority from 1998 to 2002.
Bibby joins the firm’s rapidly expanding international white collar and investigations practice, which has doubled in size in the last 12 months following several senior appointments. Bibby will work alongside a team of 17 focusing on financial services criminal and regulatory investigations.
Mark Beardsworth, co-head of Brown Rudnick’s international white collar crime and investigations group, says: “Peter’s appointment is yet another decisive step forward in the continuing expansion
Following the comments from Ben Bernanke in May, investors have clearly priced in some form of tapering with government bond yields having risen and prices having fallen. The decision by the Fed not to reduce the amount of QE each month therefore came as a big surprise, says Adrian Lowcock, Hargreaves Lansdown…
It appears the Fed were concerned by recent fiscal tightening, i.e. bond yields rising, which were largely caused by the Feds comments in May that they were going to implement tapering, So talk of tapering seems to have delayed the real thing.
Stock Markets in the US
Dramatic shifts in the retail grocery business continue to create opportunities for asset-based lenders and private-equity investors alike.
But as a Tiger Group expert noted in a 12 September panel discussion with colleagues from Nixon Peabody and Deloitte, these deals tend to hinge on a host of practical and legal challenges that are unique to the fast-changing retail grocery sector.
"Traditional grocers are under the gun amid the economic downturn and the fierce competition posed by the likes of Walmart, Target, Amazon, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods," said Jason Rae, director of business development for Tiger Group, which
Fund sponsors are upgrading to more sophisticated fund governance solutions by moving beyond the friction of limited service providers to more widely-adopted institutional protocols.
This growth is reflected in DMS Offshore Investment Services’ 54 per cent increase in assets under management of its client funds from the prior year – which jumped from USD214bn to USD330bn – and is based on significant demand for its institutional fund governance services, particularly regulated directors, fund governance transparency reports, and independent director reports.
The firm increased its talent to more than 200 professionals during the same period.
"DMS is a
SYZ Asset Management, the institutional asset management arm of the Swiss banking Group SYZ & Co, has appointed Ian Penrose as distribution director for the UK.
Penrose, who will be responsible for promoting SYZ Asset Management’s (SYZ AM) capabilities, including the SYZ AM and Oyster funds, joins from Barclays Capital Funds & Advisory, where he was responsible for leading fund distribution to UK professional clients.
Penrose will be in charge of promoting the full range of SYZ Asset Management’s capabilities to the UK domestic market, including segregated mandates as well as the SYZ AM and OYSTER funds. With
TA Associates has completed a majority investment in Arxan Technologies, a provider of software security solutions.
Terms of the investment have not been disclosed.
Arxan’s product suite offers a full range of application security solutions. The Arxan solutions, designed to withstand persistent and sophisticated attacks launched across mobile, desktop, embedded and server-based environments, secure applications by “hardening” them against hacking of all types such as tampering, piracy, reverse engineering, malware insertion and key discovery. Arxan serves Fortune 500 and other commercial clients around the world in a variety of industries, including financial services, digital media, gaming, healthcare and
Mercia Fund Management (MFM) has appointed Mike Hayes to spearhead the venture capital fund’s new digital and e-commerce division.
The new division will provide investment opportunities for high-growth potential businesses in the e-commerce, digital media and gaming sectors.
Hayes brings over 23 years’ experience in interactive businesses. He was CEO of gaming giants, SEGA Europe and SEGA of America, and was instrumental in setting up and coordinating a successful digital division within the company. After joining SEGA in 2004 as managing director, he quickly progressed to become president and transformed the console manufacturer into a multiplatform software publisher
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