Latest News
The Bermuda Monetary Authority is advancing preparations to sign a cooperation agreement with Europe under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD).
The AIFMD is due to be implemented across Europe by 22 July 2013. The Authority has been in discussions with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), and is aiming to sign the co-operation agreement required for third country regulators under the Directive before the July deadline.
“Bermuda’s existing regulatory framework for investment funds already provides the foundation to support the level of cooperation ESMA is seeking,” says Jeremy Cox, chief executive of the Authority. “Therefore, we
The European Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (EVCA) has released an interactive map of European case studies to illustrate how private equity works in practice.
The map is a resource of concrete examples of companies all over Europe that have worked with private equity in order to grow and develop.
It features 63 case studies of private equity investments from 20 European countries and shows the diversity of Europe’s 21,000 private equity-backed businesses, from the smallest start-ups to the largest multinational companies. Private equity’s impact is seen across sectors, from business and industrial products to consumer goods and retail or communications.
Private equity firm GMT Communications Partners’ portfolio company MeetingZone has completed its third bolt-on acquisition in 18 months.
MeetingZone, the independent global audio/web conferencing and collaboration services provider, has acquired Atia Communications, the UK based provider of Unified Communications (UC) services and a Microsoft Lync 2010 accredited specialist.
The acquisition enables MeetingZone to build on its portfolio of products and services to address the rapidly growing UC market with Atia’s Microsoft Lync solutions, in addition to its current range of Cisco WebEx services.
UC combines voice, video, instant messaging, mobile voice and data and other multimedia services in
Electra Private Equity has reported an uplift in its diluted net asset value per share of 33p as a result of the successful IPO of UK motor insurer esure, its third largest investment at 30 September 2012.
In 2010, Electra invested GBP30m (via the Tosca Penta Investments LP fund) in the management buyout of esure from Lloyds Banking Group, led by Peter Wood, founder and executive chairman of esure. GBP15.3m of Electra’s original investment had been repaid prior to the IPO.
As a result of esure’s IPO, Electra is due to receive further cash proceeds of GBP51.5m. In
Aligned Asset Managers, a portfolio company of private equity firm GTCR, has named R Barney Walker as director of institutional investments.
Walker will drive Aligned’s distribution and client service activities for its member firms.
Walker will focus on implementing Aligned’s strategic marketing plan across all institutional and retail distribution channels. Aligned expects to add additional resources to the distribution activity as it increases its member firms and products. Walker has extensive industry contacts in the institutional marketplace and will also assist Aligned in sourcing new potential investments.
Walker was previously a senior vice president and director of
A framework for incorporated cell companies in the insurance sector was created in the Cayman Islands on 25 March, when the Legislative Assembly passed an amendment to allow the registration of portfolio insurance companies (PICs) within segregated portfolio company insurers (SPCs).
PICs offer four main advantages over existing SPCs, which also are offered in the Cayman Islands, says the Minister for Financial Services, the Honourable Rolston Anglin (pictured), who presented the Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013 to the Legislative Assembly.
1. A PIC is a separate legal entity, whereas a segregated portfolio of an SPC is not. This means
Governments and supranational organisations have a crucial role to play in helping the world secure its natural resources but they cannot solve these problems on their own – the private sector will have to make a major contribution, says Pictet Asset Management.
Overall, the world will need to invest USD1trn per year through to 2030 to safeguard its water resources.
It is against this backdrop that the water services sector can be expected to sustain its strong rate of growth, which is currently running at six per cent per year. For investors this presents an attractive opportunity; much of the
While 86 per cent of respondents to a Northern Trust survey say they broadly understand the implications of the Alternative Investment Fund Manager Directive, close to 70 per cent feel their investors are not engaged in AIFMD considerations.
“The AIFMD will ultimately affect every fund manager and their investors in Europe,” says Ian Headon, head of product development, Northern Trust Hedge Fund Services. “Across the industry, fund managers, fund advisors, custodians and administrators have been monitoring the development of AIFMD and doing research and development work to prepare, however with the majority of attendees at our event citing their
Kazyna Capital Management (KCM) has gone live with eFront’s flagship solution for managing private equity investments, FrontInvest.
This implementation marks the first foray for eFront into the alternative investment market in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Kazakhstan, Samruk-Kazyna, and based in Almaty, KCM’s primary mission is to develop the private equity market in Kazakhstan. As a fund of funds, KCM invests in local and regional Kazakhstan-focused funds.
KCM sought to rapidly modernise its investment monitoring operations, which were heavily dependent on Excel and various manual processes. KCM
Chinese distressed debt and special situation investments specialist Shoreline Capital has closed its second fund at USD303m.
The fund significantly surpassed the size of Shoreline’s first fund, which secured USD178.2m of commitments in 2008.
The firm has already invested over one third of the new fund’s committed capital.
The new fund, Shoreline China Value II, received commitments from a broad investor base across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Investors include endowments, foundations, pensions, funds-of-funds, family offices and high-net-worth individuals.
Since the firm’s inception in 2004, Shoreline has focused on credit-related opportunities arising from the
Special Reports
Featured
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
