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In the first quarter, US and European private equity funds held more closings and raised more capital than in the same period last year, but more than half the capital raised in each region went to a small contingent of firms.
US private equity funds raised USD38.1 billion for 136 funds, a 4% increase in capital raised and 5% increase in fund closings from the first quarter of 2011. In Europe, private equity fund-raising spiked to USD22.3 billion raised for 43 funds, an 82% increase in capital and 10% increase in fund closings, according to Dow Jones LP Source.
Brookfield Asset Management has appointed Grant Berlin as Senior Vice President responsible for institutional investor relations in the Private Funds Group, with a focus on real estate funds. He is based in New York City.
Berlin, who is based in new York City, brings over 20 years of real estate experience to Brookfield. Most recently, he was managing director and head of real estate fundraising at Alliance Bernstein. Prior to this, he served as a managing director at Tishman Speyer, where he was the firm’s primary relationship manager with consultants and covered many of the firm’s US institutional investors. He
Piper, a private equity specialist in consumer brands, has taken a significant minority stake in Loungers, the operator behind the highly successful Lounge café-bar chain.
Loungers was founded in 2002 by a trio of longstanding friends, Alex Reilley, Jake Bishop and Dave Reid, who saw an opportunity to create a new chain of informal, neighbourhood all-day café-bars. Their idea was to provide customers with a ‘third space’ between work and home to meet, chat, eat and drink – a much more attractive and appealing alternative to the surrounding local pubs and coffee bars. Loungers opened its first unit in Bristol and there are now five Lounges in Bristol and more than
Mistral Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on the consumer, retail and consumer media sectors, has invested growth capital in XpresSpa, a leading airport retailer of spa services and spa and travel related products, with thirty-eight locations in the United States and the Netherlands.
"This concept pioneered and defined the airport spa segment,” says Andrew Heyer (pictured), Managing Partner of Mistral Equity Partners. “XpresSpa has enormous untapped growth potential and a differentiated concept that has become a cornerstone of airport retail offerings, playing a crucial role in delivering health and wellness services to travellers in over 19 airports. Through
Advanced Capital, the European alternative investment specialist headed up by financier Robert Tomei, has hired energy expert, academic and former government minister Alberto Clô as a Special Advisor for investments in the energy industry.
Clô’s addition to the team deepens the firm’s expertise in the energy sector, after its recent move into the area with the launch of the Advanced Capital Energy Fund niche energy fund of funds.
A highly respected figure in academia, industry and Italian politics, Clô is an independent director at infrastructure titans Iren, Atlantia, and Italcementi. He holds the Professorship of Applied Economics at Bologna
Oak Hill Advisors (OHA) has promoted William H Bohnsack, Jr (pictured) to President. Bohnsack has served as the investment management firm’s Chief Operating Officer since 2001 and one of its four senior partners since 2005.
As President, Bohnsack will have expanded oversight of several activities at OHA, including firm management, business development and strategic initiatives. In executing these and other responsibilities, he will continue to work alongside the firm’s other senior partners, including Mr. August, Scott D. Krase and Robert Okun.
Glenn R August, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of OHA, says: “Bill has been an outstanding partner and
Appleby (Cayman) has formed a dedicated Regulatory and Financial Services Team to provide advice to local and international clients on regulatory matters in the Cayman Islands.
The Regulatory and Financial Services Team will build on the wealth of the firm’s current expertise in this growing field. The focus of the team will include licensing and regulatory approvals, regulatory reporting, compliance, corporate governance, and risk management.
The team is led by corporate partner, Sherice Arman (pictured), and comprises leading practitioners from across various Appleby practice groups and teams, including banking and finance, insurance, local business, litigation, and private client and trusts.
Private equity investment firm HIG Capital’s real estate investment affiliate HIG Realty Partners has appointed Ira Weidhorn as co-head and Managing Director. HIG Realty Partners will make opportunistic investments in real estate across all property types, with a specific focus on special situations. Weidhorn has fifteen years of experience in real estate investing and will be located in HIG’s New York office.
“I am delighted to welcome Ira to the firm. Ira brings a wealth of real estate knowledge and experience to HIG Under his leadership, we are committed to expanding our real estate business focused on opportunistic and value
WTP Advisors has expanded its services to include a comprehensive Form PF Diagnostic. Form PF, a reporting obligation adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission is a challenging and lengthy undertaking for many hedge funds that are confronting quickly-approaching filing deadlines.
“With all the confusion surrounding Form PF it really comes down to ‘data’. Firms need to take stock of what they have, what they need and how it all comes together,“ says Lou Sala, CEO of WTP’s Capital Markets division.
Leveraging its middle and back office expertise, the Capital Markets team at WTP Advisors provides full data discovery
Peakside Capital, a specialist European real estate private equity firm, is to acquire Allied Irish Banks, plc’s (AIB) Polish property fund management subsidiary and its interests in two Polonia Property Funds.
This represents both Peakside’s first direct investment into Poland through its Peakside Real Estate Fund I (PREF) and its strategic acquisition of a fund and asset management business in a core market.
As a result of this agreement, Peakside will acquire AIB’s Polish property fund management subsidiary, AIB PPM sp zoo. In addition, separate agreements have also been signed by PREF and Partners Group to acquire AIB’s
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