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Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm focused on growth investing, has appointed Francesco Granata as an Executive-in-Residence focusing on the healthcare sector.
Dr Granata will support the firm in the identification and evaluation of new investments in the biopharmaceutical sector, particularly in Europe, and provide strategic counsel across the firm’s global healthcare portfolio. He will be based in Warburg Pincus’ London office.
Dr Granata is an accomplished healthcare executive, with over 35 years experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries including most recently as Executive Vice President at Biogen Idec, a leading global biotechnology company where he led the global
Guinness Asset Management’s third EIS fund, Guinness EIS Fund 3, is now open for investment. This fund will invest in UK sustainable infrastructure companies through the tax-efficient EIS structure.
The Guinness EIS Fund 3 will target attractive risk-weighted returns by making investments in Sustainable Infrastructure companies which have predictable revenues, low technology risk and low correlation with other asset classes.
Guinness believes it has identified investment opportunities in renewable energy and energy efficiency companies which have these investment characteristics. Renewable energy investment opportunities include hydroelectric and biomass projects, while energy efficiency projects focus on reducing energy costs in office and
Private equity real estate firm, Benson Elliot Capital Management, has made two significant appointments since the New Year, with Georg Strassner and James Jakeman joining the company in senior roles.
Strassner and Jakeman will focus on the German-speaking and UK markets respectively, adding to Benson Elliot’s already strong capabilities in these strategically important regions.
Strassner was previously Managing Director and Head of Real Estate Management at Strategic Value Partners in Frankfurt, where he led a team of twelve real estate professionals responsible for managing a 180-asset, EUR1.5 billion German property portfolio. Before that, he was Regional Head, South, at
IK Investment Partners is to sell Europris, the leading Norwegian integrated mixed discount retailer focused on non-food retail, to Nordic Capital. Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
IK acquired Europris in September 2004, at which time the Company consisted of a wholesale business, a penny store concept and a franchise operation with a network of 136 stores across Norway. During its ownership, IK has successfully transformed Europris into an integrated wholesale/retail business and doubled chain revenues close to EUR 500 million in 2011.
IK has, together with management, also implemented a number of strategic initiatives and operational
Maven Capital Partners (Maven) has realised a return of 1.7x on its initial investment from the sale of its holding in ATR Group via a secondary buyout funded to the private equity manager NBGI.
ATR is a market leading provider of rental services for specialist plant, equipment and consumables, with an extensive client base of offshore and onshore energy services maintenance contractors operating in highly regulated environments. The group provides a comprehensive range of added value support services, including health and safety compliance solutions and the inspection and certification of equipment.
Maven client funds invested in the MBI of ATR
The proportion of senior private equity roles held by women in Asia and Rest of World-based private equity firms has increased from 8.7% in 2011 to 10.4% in 2012, the latest Preqin research shows.
The increase puts firms in the region ahead of their counterparts in North America and Europe, where averages of 9.2% and 9.9% of senior roles respectively are filled by women.
There has been an increase across all geographies in the proportion of women employed in senior roles; in 2011 8.9% of senior roles were undertaken by women at North America-based firms, while the figure stood at
William Yonge, a private investment funds practitioner focusing on financial services regulation, has joined Morgan Lewis as a partner in the firm’s Business & Finance practice, based in London. Yonge’s arrival at Morgan Lewis comes shortly after funds partner Noel Ainsworth joined the firm in January.
“It is more important than ever to be able to offer clients guidance on ever-changing regulations,” says Louis Singer, leader of the Private Investment Funds team in the Business & Finance practice at Morgan Lewis. “William’s extensive knowledge of United Kingdom and European Union regulatory issues will be tremendously valuable to our clients.”
Yammer, Inc, a provider of enterprise social networks, has received USD85 million in its fifth round of funding, bringing its total financing to USD142 million. DFJ Growth, part of the core team at leading venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, led the round, with participation by new investors Meritech Capital Partners; Capricorn Investment Group LLC, the investment arm of Jeff Skoll; Khosla Ventures; and CrunchFund.
Previous investors Charles River Ventures, Emergence Capital, Founders Fund, Social+Capital Partnership, and US Venture Partners also participated, as did angel investors Bill Lee, Max Levchin, and NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott. Randy Glein, managing
Blackstone portfolio company Center Parcs is to start construction on a fifth site at Woburn (Bedfordshire) to complement its four existing sites.
Investment funds managed by Blackstone, will support this important capital project by committing to invest approximately GBP100m of new cash equity into the business. Four leading UK banks – RBS, Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group – have committed to a construction loan of approximately GBP150m.
The development will inject over GBP250m into the British economy, and will employ over 1200 contractors during the construction phase. Once opened, Center Parcs Woburn Forest will employ 1500 people on a
Private equity firm Teakwood Capital has acquired staff paging and management systems specialist Long Range Systems Inc (LRS).
LRS is best known for its patented “coaster pager” that most people have received when waiting for a table or an order at a restaurant. LRS currently serves customers across twenty industries, from restaurants, hospitals, daycares, and amusement parks to churches and retirement homes. LRS has millions of devices deployed globally at approximately 75,000 locations. The Company has offices in ten countries spread across six continents.
LRS systems demonstrate fast payback and high return on investment by delivering streamlined operations, improved service,
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