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AXA Private Equity, the leading European diversified private equity firm, is to acquire a 23.48% stake in Enovos from ArcelorMittal for EUR330 million through its latest Infrastructure fund.
Headquartered in Luxembourg, Enovos is an integrated utility company focused on electricity and gas transmission and supply as well as power generation including renewables. Its core activities are based in Luxembourg and Germany. With this investment AXA Private Equity now becomes the company’s second largest shareholder after the State of Luxembourg with a 23.48% equity stake.
Enovos is a highly strategic company, geographically well-positioned at the heart of the EU
Maven Capital Partners (Maven) has appointed Ben Bolt as investment director. Bolt will work alongside Andrew Ferguson in Maven’s Midlands and Southern England team, and will be based out of the Birmingham and London offices.
Bolt will focus on sourcing and executing new investment opportunities in UK companies requiring GBP2m-GBP10m of equity finance, including MBOs/MBIs, expansion capital, replacement capital and acquisition finance. He has built up extensive experience of investing in UK businesses over the course of a 15 year career in Corporate Finance. For the past three years he has been an Investment Director with Catapult Venture Managers, and prior to
German venture capital company eCAPITAL entrepreneurial Partners AG has participated in the second round of funding of Smart Hydro Power GmbH with its Cleantech Fond.
In this round, the company, which develops, manufactures, sells and markets micro-hydro power plants, will receive further capital to the amount of EUR2.7 million. The capital increase is earmarked for the financing of reference projects and the development of international sales and marketing. High-Tech Gruenderfonds (HTGF) is also involved in Smart Hydro Power GmbH.
"Smart Hydro Power has developed a promising product with an enormous market potential. With our investment via eCAPITAL Cleantech Fonds, we
On the 23 April 2012, Germany and Luxembourg signed a new Double Tax Treaty ("the Treaty") which is to replace the previous treaty dating back to 1958. And according to Dechert, the new Treaty may impact on many US, UK and other non-German investors as Luxembourg is often used as a tax efficient jurisdiction for German inbound investments (particularly used by funds, private equity and real estate investors).
The main changes include:
Explicit Treaty access for funds – Luxembourg investment funds in the legal form of a SICAV, SIVAF or SICAR are to be able to claim Treaty benefits in
The Riverside Company has promoted Juan Barnechea, the leader of its Origination team in Europe, to Managing Director.
Barnechea leads the deal sourcing efforts for Riverside, which was recently recognised as the world’s most active private equity firm. The work of the firm’s global Origination team is the driving force behind much of that activity.
“Juan has done an outstanding job since joining us in 2008,” said Riverside Chief Operating Officer Pam Hendrickson, who oversees the global Origination team as part of her duties. “Under Juan’s leadership of the team, Riverside has continued to see increasing quantities of high-quality deal
Strand Hanson, the independent advisory-led, merchant bank, has appointed Lek van Cruyningen and Naiem Hussain to lead a new division, Strand Ventures.
Strand Ventures specialises in advising and investing in early stage companies and larger private companies, primarily in the natural resources, agriculture, energy, technology, healthcare, and chemical sectors.
Strand Hanson’s advisory team are introduced to a significant number of businesses each year looking for growth capital, which are not necessarily yet at a stage to undertake a stock market listing, and which are therefore seeking access to private equity and pre-IPO funding. Strand Ventures has been established to identify
Gresham, the mid market private equity firm, has appointed Adam Rudd as Investment Manager. Rudd joins the Manchester office as part of the firm’s deal team.
Rudd joins from KPMG where he worked as Corporate Finance Manager in their northern corporate finance team. Whilst there he had national responsibility for targeting the e-commerce sector and advised on numerous transactions including private equity and public to private transactions.
Andy Marsh, Partner, Gresham Manchester says: “We are delighted to have recruited Adam to our team. He is a talented individual who has a natural instinct for origination with experience in
Lion Capital has been granted a period of exclusivity ina bid to reach a definitive agreement to acquire European optical retailer Alain Affelou in conjunction with Mr Alain Affelou and management of the Group.
Alain Affelou will commence the communication and consultation process with employee representatives this week. This should result in completion of the transaction by June 2012, after it has been approved by the European Competition Authorities.
Founded in France in 1972, Alain Affelou is the largest optical franchisor in Europe, with a network of nearly 1,100 optical retail stores across France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Morocco,
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) has appointed Christophe Florin as Head of Emerging Markets Fund Investments in its Private Equities Department, effective immediately.
In his new role, Florin will lead a team of portfolio managers and associates and be responsible for managing existing investments in emerging market funds and for driving future investments. He will also manage and develop key external relationships with GPs, portfolio companies and other relevant parties. Based in Abu Dhabi, Florin will report to Hareb Al Darmaki, Executive Director of the Private Equities Department.
With over 20 years of experience in the private equity industry,
A withholding tax ruling expected from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) could lead to investment funds receiving a EUR4.2bn tax rebate, says Deloitte, the business advisory firm.
The case, which relates to the French withholding tax regime, will provide guidance for similar challenges being taken against several EU member states by portfolio investors such as investment funds, pension funds and charities.
France and several EU member states levy a withholding tax on dividend payments to some foreign investment funds while comparable domestic investors are exempt. EU and US-based institutional investors argue that the French rules amount to
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