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As the public markets warm up to venture-backed companies, corporate acquirers are pulling back. In the second quarter of 2011, 109 venture-backed companies achieved liquidity, netting USD11.2 billion, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. That represents a 13% decrease in exits and 26% increase in capital raised from the second quarter of 2010.
"Deal-making is in a limbo – unstable global markets and sky rocketing IPO valuations are giving both acquirers and companies sufficient cause to wait," says Jessica Canning (pictured), director of global research for Dow Jones VentureSource. "Everyone is watching the performance of recent IPOs to see how justifiable valuations really
Asset class performances were as hard to predict as ever during the first half of this year. While the global economic outlook has been more favorable than previously, sources of risk have shifted continuously, says Stefan Keller (pictured), head of MAP research and external relations at Lyxor Asset Management. As a result, unexpected shocks have derailed trends at work since the announcement of QEII end-August 2010. The unrest in the Middle East and North Africa has been on nobody’s agenda while the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear fallout in Japan were, by definition, unexpected.
Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) have given back
Abu Dhabi Capital Management has announced the final closing of its first fund; the ADCM Secondary Private Equity Fund at USD 45 million, three months after its launch in March 2011.
The fund is the first secondary private equity fund that mainly focuses on investing in secondary private equity funds in the MENA region, and is the first private equity fund in the MENA region to close since June 2009.
The fund acquired secondary private equity funds in the MENA, US and Europe regions in the past three months, and is currently 40% invested.
Abu Dhabi Capital Management will launch
Ogier has opened an office in Shanghai as the offshore law firm further expands its worldwide network. The move is at the heart of Ogier’s strategy to provide the most innovative and comprehensive multi-jurisdictional services, through a significant presence in each of the world’s key financial centres and across all time zones.
The new mainland China office will enable Ogier to provide the full range of Ogier’s services to its clients in a manner which is responsive to local conditions and practices. Ogier is the first offshore law firm to have an office in mainland China and is also the only
European private equity firm, Cinven has promoted two new partners in its London office. The appointments are effective from 1 July 2011.
Supraj Rajagopalan, partner, joined Cinven in 2004 and has worked on a number of transactions including Sebia, Spire Healthcare, Ahlsell, Partnerships in Care and Phadia. He is a member of the Healthcare and Industrials sector teams. Previously he was at The Boston Consulting Group, where he worked on projects in the financial service and healthcare sectors. Prior to this, he was a doctor in the UK National Health Service. Supraj graduated from Cambridge University with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees
MGPA, the independent private equity real estate investment advisory company, has successfully completed on the acquisition from Develica Deutschland Limited of a portfolio of 26 retail properties. The properties will be managed by MGPA Europe Fund III and will add further to MGPA’s current German retail portfolio.
The properties, mainly located in western Germany, concentrated in the Hesse, Baden-Wuertemberg and Bavaria districts provide a combined total net lettable area (NLA) of 41,200 sqm on a total site area of 127,700 sqm. The site comprises 21 food retail properties, of which 11 are supermarkets including the leading German retailers Edeka and
Bichot & Associés, a corporate law firm dedicated to M&A/private equity, has advised the Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC) on its investment in the company behind a new photovoltaic powerplant in Distré. CDC has taken a shareholding interest of 49% in the project with the 51% held by the QUENEA’CH group.
The new photovoltaic powerplant will have a capacity of 2MW, for a total investment of EUR6.2m financed by shareholders’ equity and debt.
Bichot & Associés’ team was led by Mathieu Odet (partner), Nicolas Bichot (partner) and Aurélie Thomas-Magnin (associate).
Odet says: "The structuring of investments in the fields
Tim Stracke, CEO of Chrono24 GmbH, has joined Munich venture capital firm Target Partners as a Venture Partner. At Target Partners, the serial entrepreneur and business angel will focus on startups and business concepts in the areas of ecommerce and software.
“I look forward to helping Target Partners build up a network with key Web and software companies in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region and the Karlsruhe area, with the goal of identifying promising investment opportunities,“ says Stracke (37) who, since 1999, has co-founded, led and sold a number of Internet companies including mentasys GmbH and Wohnen im Alter GmbH.
Stracke
The volume and value of lower mid-market investments completed during the first half of 2011 was the highest seen in any six month period since the onset of the financial crisis, according to research from Lyceum Capital and Cass Business School.
Data from The UK Growth Buyout Dashboard – a quarterly analysis of UK-headquartered private equity control deals in the GBP10 million to GBP100 million segment – shows that 41 transactions completed between 1 January 2011 and 30 June 2011. This compares to 34 investments in the previous six months (1 July 2010 – 31 December 2010), and 33
Growth Capital Partners (GCP), a provider of flexible structured equity to UK SMEs, has sold its 40% stake in Tangerine. Headquartered in Blackpool, Tangerine is the UK’s largest independent manufacturer of sugar confectionery and popcorn. It owns brands such as Butterkist popcorn, the iconic Barratt Sherbet Fountain and Dip Dabs, Henry Goode’s soft eating liquorice and Princess Marshmallows.
The sale to Blackstone Group represents a return of 4x over five years for GCP. This is the fourth realisation from GCP’s Fund II and its second exit this year. GCP closed its third fund, which was oversubscribed, at a level of
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