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Changes in the way food is grown will soon represent risk to existing dominant players worldwide and create new opportunities in agriculture, according to a report by cleantech analysis and consulting company Kachan & Co.
Increasing population, climate change, rising fossil fuel prices, ecosystem degradation and water and land scarcity are making today’s food production methods increasingly unsustainable and driving important new innovation in agricultural technology, according the report entitled Latest Agricultural Technology Innovation: Companies and breakthroughs most likely to help the world produce more food with less.
“Agricultural technology innovation hasn’t been as high profile as other cleantech sectors
Nineteen per cent of private equity companies plan to invest in the manufacturing sector over next 12 months, according to the 2013 Capital Markets Report by Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management.
Overall, private equity investors said that they expect further increases in demand for private equity, deal multiples, value of portfolio companies and slightly improving business conditions.
Based on a survey of 1,613 lenders, investors and business owners, the report is the latest edition in an annual release from the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project, examining capital trends and condition across ten segments.
“Private equity investment in
ECI, the UK growth focused mid-market private equity firm, has sold healthcare outsourcer Harmoni to CareUK.
Harmoni is a UK provider of outsourced healthcare services including Out of Hours, 111, prisoner healthcare and IT services, providing services to over eight million people in the UK.
Harmoni has grown considerably over recent years with annualised sales growth of 39 per cent (CAGR) since 2008, reaching GBP99m for the year ending 31 March 2012. The company almost tripled its workforce over the same period of time.
Harmoni was a spinout from a former ECI healthcare investment WCI Group, which in
Mid-market private equity firm GI Partners has sold its 75 per cent ownership stake in FlatIron Crossing, a 1.7 million square foot class-A regional mall located in Broomfield, Colorado, to its joint venture partner Macerich.
GI Partners invested in FlatIron Crossing in 2009, acquiring its 75 per cent interest in the mall from Macerich, who remained the operating partner in the venture.
The sale of FlatIron Crossing generated a return of approximately two times invested capital and over a 25 per cent gross internal rate of return to limited partners of GI Partners Fund III.
Developed in 2000 by a
ADP, a provider of human capital management services, is to sell the ADP Taxware business to Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on investments in software and technology-enabled services.
Terms of the sale have not been disclosed.
ADP Taxware, provider of automated solutions for sales, use and value-added tax compliance, is based in Salem, New Hampshire, and serves more than 1,200 clients.
Vista invests in companies that develop and market enterprise mission-critical software, software-as-a-service, and technology-enabled business services.
Robert F Smith, chairman and chief executive of Vista Equity Partners, says: “We are long-term investors in enterprise application software
Guernsey is planning to have two parallel regulatory regimes for investment funds as a way to best meet client needs when the EU’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) comes into force.
Fiona Le Poidevin (pictured), chief executive of Guernsey Finance, the promotional agency for the Island’s finance industry, has reiterated Guernsey’s intention to introduce a regime which is fully AIFMD compliant, while also maintaining the existing regulations for those investors and managers not requiring an AIFMD fund.
It had been expected that the final Level 2 rules for the detailed implementation of AIFMD would be published in early autumn
August Equity’s portfolio company SecureData Europe has completed the acquisition of Quadrant Networks.
Quadrant provides application delivery and security services to a blue chip customer base including the UK’s leading e-commerce and corporate clients such as Ocado, Rightmove and Easyjet.
It ensures customers’ mission critical applications are operating in a fast, secure and available manner.
Both Paul Risk and Peter Ledger, shareholders in Quadrant, will continue to work within the consolidated group.
SecureData is a specialist IT security provider and is recognised for customer service and the delivery of high quality managed security services either on a customer’s site, in
Myanmar President Thein Sein signed a much anticipated Foreign Investment Law on 2 November, after the bill was passed by Parliament a day earlier.
At his first domestic press conference last month, President Sein said that Myanmar needed foreign investments to create jobs.
The country reportedly attracted USD660m in foreign investments in the first seven months of 2012.
Global and regional multinationals are eyeing opportunities in Myanmar, and clarity in legal environment will allow them to commit long-term investments. The law is set to create new legal framework for foreign investments. It effectively opens the country to foreign strategic and
Wellington Financial has provided a USD2.4m venture debt financing for TIM Group, a SaaS developer of applications serving the financial services industry.
Under the terms of the venture loan facility, Wellington Financial provided a term loan of USD2.4m to TIM Group and Barclays Bank provided an additional GBP500,000 overdraft facility.
"TIM Group generates new revenue for administrators, brokers and other customers. Delivering market-beating analysis to investors, TIM Group is a trusted partner to both investors and service providers," says Craig Netterfield, senior vice president of Wellington Financial. "With significant revenue growth since 2005, TIM Group is a leader in all
Harbinger Group has formed a joint venture with EXCO Resources to create a private oil and gas limited partnership that will purchase and operate EXCO’s US conventional oil and gas assets, for a total consideration of USD725m.
Under the terms of the agreement, the partnership will own EXCO’s conventional oil and natural gas assets in West Texas including and above the Canyon Sand formation as well as in the Danville, Waskom, Holly and Vernon fields in East Texas and North Louisiana.
The more than 520 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe) of estimated proved reserves are approximately 82 per cent proved
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