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South America is becoming increasingly popular with European private equity-backed companies pursuing buy & build strategies, according to detailed analysis by Silverfleet Capital, in conjunction with mergermarket, of the sector in Q2 2011.
The number and size of add-on deals made outside of Europe, particularly in South America, in the quarter stands out. Given the relatively modest current prospects for economic growth in Europe it is no surprise that European private equity backed companies have decided to acquire in other regions. This trend also illustrates private equity’s ability to support such transactions.
The second quarter of 2011 saw overall volumes
First Reserve Corporation, a global private investment firm focussed on the energy and natural resource industries, has made an investment in Amromco Energy (Amromco), the largest and leading independent oil and gas producer in Romania.
The investment is the first stage in First Reserve’s plans to build an oil and gas platform in the Central and Eastern European region.
Amromco is the third largest gas producer in Romania, after Romgaz and Petrom, and is focused on the acquisition of upstream oil and gas projects in emerging markets and their subsequent enhancement through the application of state of the art
Guernsey has signed Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) with the Czech Republic and the Bahamas.
Guernsey’s Chief Minister, Lyndon Trott (pictured), signed the Czech TIEA at the Republic’s Embassy in London last week. The Bahamas TIEA was signed last month, by correspondence.
The signature of these two agreements brings the total number of TIEAs signed by Guernsey to 28*.
“Guernsey is resolutely committed to meeting international standards of tax transparency, and the signature of these agreements further enables us to do so”, said the Chief Minister.
“I am particularly delighted that, with the completion of the Czech agreement, Guernsey has
Matrix Asset Management has appointed Rebecca Ledlie as Head of Product and Marketing to spearhead the division’s ambitious growth strategy.
Ledlie has an 18 year track record in the financial services industry and joins from Gartmore where she was Head of Product. During her eight years at Gartmore, Ledlie was responsible for the development and maintenance of Gartmore’s product range including hedge funds, offshore and onshore fund ranges and segregated accounts. Previous roles include Deutsche Asset Management as Product Manager and Dexia Group where she started as a Money Market Trader.
Ledlie holds both a Master of Business Administration and
NICE Systems has agreed to acquire Advent portfolio company Fizzback, a leading provider of real time customer experience management software, for approximately USD80m.
Advent Venture Partners’ team built a strong partnership with Fizzback, having backed its founder and CEO Rob Keve in late 2006, and becoming the company’s largest shareholder. Advent was instrumental in bringing important hires, customers, partners and advisors to the company, both in Europe and the US. The deal is expected to complete during autumn 2011.
The sale generated a multiple of over 5x Advent’s investment, and is the fourth exit by the Technology team in 2011.
ActivePath, developer of ActiveMail Interactive Email and Messaging solutions, has secured a USD10 million financing round led by Battery Ventures and Gimv NV, with participation from existing investors including Genesis Partners.
ActivePath will deploy the capital to accelerate product development and drive sales and marketing penetration in the Americas and Europe. In connection with the funding, Scott Tobin, General Partner at Battery Ventures, and Steven Coppens, partner at Gimv’s Venture Capital team, will join ActivePath’s Board of Directors.
“Email marketing is an enormously huge and rapidly growing market that’s on the cusp of a major transformation. Whether it’s commercial
Steadfast Capital has achieved a first close of its third fund at EUR104 million in just four months.
Support from existing investors Electra, Axa and F&C combined with the addition of some well regarded new institutions including EIF, Goldman Sachs, IdInvest, Graphite and Swiss Re enabled the fund, which launched early this year with a final target of EUR250 million, to reach this important milestone.
Steadfast Capital’s ongoing commitment to its proven investment strategy, which has been undertaken successfully for preceding funds, played a key role in securing investor support. The firm, which specialises in the German mid-market, targets
Low Carbon and Palmer Capital have launched the first fund formed specifically to invest in UK solar parks. The UK Solar Income Partnership (the Solar Fund) aims to raise GBP52 million from institutional investors, which will be used to acquire three existing solar parks from Low Carbon, the first 5MW sites to receive OfGem accreditation in the UK.
The Solar Fund will be a 10 year, closed-ended, tax efficient investment vehicle, which aims to provide investors with the opportunity to receive an attractive long term rate of return supported by Government backed income in the form of the Feed in
Global growth private equity firm TA Associates has appointed Dietrich Hauptmeier as a Senior Vice President in the firm’s London office.
Hauptmeier will focus on growth equity investments, recapitalisations and management-led buyouts in Germany and other European markets.
Hauptmeier joins TA from Palamon Capital Partners, where he served as an Associate Principal, originating, evaluating and executing investments, primarily in Germany, in the financial services, environmental services, healthcare, retail and education sectors. He previously served as Finance Director for DCisions, a start-up company providing data analytics to the retail investment industry. Prior to this, Hauptmeier was a Principal at Kohlberg Kravis
Cortus has closed a funding round led by financial partners Credit Agricole Entreprises and Banque Dupuy de Parseval and institutional partners OSEO and the Region of Languedoc-Roussillon.
Since starting in 2005, Cortus has completed the development of an extensive ecosystem for its APS3 core and achieved key design wins in a variety of rapidly growing market segments. The new funding secures the international expansion and development plans over the next three years allowing Cortus to scale their technical and business development activities. Cortus are now accelerating the recruitment of talented individuals for both engineering and sales roles.
Cortus’ 32 bit
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