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XL Group plc’s insurance operations has launched a new suite of five products designed to meet the specific insurance needs of financial institutions.
The products recognise that not all financial institutions are the same and that these organisations are facing ever more complex risks. In addition, these institutions have to deal with the effects of continued uncertainty in financial and investment markets.
For the first time there is a commitment within each policy to minimum service standards, including in relation to claims handling and responsiveness, as well as a built-in confidentiality agreement. Furthermore the policies are designed to respond
While the strong yen and the European crisis continue to pose challenges, Invesco’s investment professionals are quite positive about the long-term prospects for Japanese equities, says Kunihiko Sugio, CIO & Chief Portfolio Manager at Invesco Japan…
Today, Japanese equities appear to be extraordinarily cheap, trading at an average P/B of 1.0x, an average P/E of 13-14x, and offering an average dividend yield of 2.1%-2.2%, compared to a 10-year government bond yield of just 1%. Of about 3,600 listed companies in Japan, more than 60% are trading below their book values, with numerous global leaders being among them.
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KPS Capital Partners has completed the acquisition of Robert Bosch’s global automotive foundation brakes business, through a newly-formed affiliate, Chassis Brakes International Group. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Lazard Freres & Co. LLC acted as financial advisor, and Hengeler Mueller as legal counsel, to KPS and its affiliates.
Activa Capital, the French mid-market private equity firm, is merging Armatis and Laser Contact (a spin-off of Laser – itself a subsidiary of BNP Paribas and Group Galeries Lafayette), two major French call centre companies, to create the leading independent French onshore call centre company with combined sales of over EUR200 million and 14 call centres.
Activa Capital will become lead majority shareholder of the combined group alongside CM-CIC LBO Partners, Omnes Capital, CDC Entreprises, Ouest Croissance and Multicroissance.
The management team will be headed by Denis Akriche, CEO of Armatis, and will benefit from the complementarity of the two
Benson Elliot Capital Management, the UK-based private equity real estate fund manager, has reopened the Sophia Country Club following an extensive refurbishment.
The hotel complex offers significantly enhanced facilities, including 155 modern rooms, 900 sq m of conference space with capacity for up to 450 delegates, a revamped restaurant and leisure facilities including a state-of-the-art spa centre, a 20-court tennis academy and a golf academy.
The Sophia Country Club is a landmark corporate and leisure hotel in the French Riviera, located in the heart of the French ‘Silicon Valley’, within the Sophia-Antipolis business park, which employs 30,000 people across
Symington’s Ltd, the convenience food manufacturer and Intermediate Capital Group plc (ICG), the FTSE 250 alternative investment firm and Asset Manager, have announced a new private equity partnership to support a management buy-out of the food manufacturer.
The move follows after a five year investment period with current private equity partner Bridgepoint. ICG are investing junior debt and equity, and will hold a minority stake of 49.9% in the food company, with the existing management team taking 50.1%.
The partnership with ICG will also see Symington’s replace their funding package from Yorkshire Bank with banking support from a
Hutton Collins Partners has sold portfolio company Windsor Limited, a leading Lloyd’s specialty insurance broker, to Hyperion Insurance Group Limited. The sale remains subject to FSA approval.
Hutton Collins backed the management and employees of Windsor in a public to private buy out in 2007. A GBP15m preferred equity investment from Hutton Collins Capital Partners II LP, alongside Windsor’s management and employee equity reinvestment, enabled the team to increase their shareholdings from 10% to 78%, with Hutton Collins holding the remaining 22%. Against a lacklustre market backdrop, this concentration of team ownership helped fuel a five year period of sustained
Daniel Stewart, stockbroker and corporate finance adviser to smaller and medium-sized companies, has appointed Jane Zhu as a Non Executive Director of its Asian Subsidiary business, Daniel Stewart & Co (Asia) Ltd.
Zhu, who is based in Hong Kong, is Senior Adviser Asia pacific with the London Stock Exchange. She will take up her Non-Executive role with Daniel Stewart Asia with effect from 1 June 2012.
Peter Shea, Chief Executive Daniel Stewart, says: “We are of course delighted to have agreed the appointment of Jane, whose deep experience and wide regional knowledge and network will be of considerable value to
Leonard Green & Partners has closed the firm’s sixth private equity investment fund, Green Equity Investors VI, LP (GEI VI). GEI VI substantially exceeded its original target, closing at its hard cap of USD6 billion in limited partner commitments along with USD250 million from affiliates of LGP.
Investors in GEI VI include a diverse group of domestic and international pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, foundations and family offices. LGP engaged no intermediary to assist in the raising of the Fund.
LGP’s philosophy is to invest in middle-market companies with market-leading franchises and defensible competitive positions, attractive growth prospects
Mark Hawtin, fund manager of the GAM Star Technology Fund has recently returned from a regular visit to the Silicon Valley and Seattle. Her he provides an update on finding value in the Technology sector…
Our core investment themes are cloud, mobility, social networking, video and mobile payments. I believe mobility is currently the most attractive because of the huge opportunity presented by an installed base of 4 billion users, over four times the size of the PC installed base.
Everyone identifies that mobility will drive the adoption of video, social networking and mobile payments. These are the services that
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