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Silverfleet Capital, the European mid-market private equity firm that specialises in buy & build, has expanded its Paris team with the addition of two new members with the appointment of Alexandre Lefebvre and Cyril Bourdarot.
Lefebvre will become a partner of Silverfleet Capital and co-head the Paris office alongside Maïré Deslandes, who has been at Silverfleet Capital for 11 years and a Partner since 2007.
Lefebvre was until last year a managing partner at IXEN, the former buyout arm of the French bank Natixis, which he joined in 1999 from Arthur Andersen. Lefebvre has an MBA from the Rouen Business
Carlyle’s decision to sell Moncler in a secondary buyout is consistent with a pattern we have seen established in the Europe over the last 12-18 months, says Ed Griffiths, private equity partner at DLA Piper…
The continued prevalence of buyouts or trade sales highlights the unease felt within the Private Equity community over the exposure of IPOs to short term swings in sentiment regarding the macro economic outlook. However, our perception is that this view is not as entrenched in the US where certain institutional investors, particularly in key sectors such as technology, have demonstrated greater confidence in the public
San Francisco investment firm CMEA Capital has appointed Brett Cummings (pictured) as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). As CFO, he will assist the firm’s portfolio companies to help share knowledge and best practices across management teams.
John Haag, who previously handled the roles of COO and CFO, has been promoted to Chief Operating Partner, charged with managing the overall operations for CMEA. He will continue to work with the firm’s Managing Directors to set and execute the company’s strategy.
Cummings joined CMEA Capital in 2007 as Controller and was previously a senior associate at Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC). While at PwC, he
Henning Gebhardt (pictured), head of European equities at DWS Investments, looks at why investors are continuing to see Germany as the European growth engine…
The German economy continues to boom. Just a few weeks ago leading German economic research houses raised their forecasts for the German GDP growth to 2.8%. We forecast a growth of 3% year over year. In 2011, there is a high likelihood that Germany will again show the highest growth within the euro zone – as it did in 2010.
While strong exports contributed mostly to the growth in 2010, the recovery is now broadening further.
Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment organisation, has led a USD13 million investment in Aldebaran Robotics, the world-leading European humanoid robotics company. The investment is Intel Capital’s first within the robotics industry and demonstrates its commitment to supporting innovative businesses and to advancing new classes of computing devices.
Aldebaran Robotics currently manufactures and sells advanced, programmable humanoid robots focused on the education, personal services and research markets. Its products combine a range of facial and voice recognition technologies with location awareness capabilities, providing a flexible platform for application development.
The additional funding led by Intel Capital will play a key role
Arma Partners has hired Andrés Pieczanski as a partner in the firm’s London office where he will provide strategic advisory services to clients globally and will lead the Communications Technology and Semiconductor practice.
Previously, Pieczanski was a Managing Director and Head of the European Communications Practice at Jefferies, which he joined in 2003 following the acquisition of Broadview International.
Paul Guely, Arma’s Managing Partner, says: “Andrés is an accomplished Technology M&A advisor, with deep domain expertise, a broad network of relationships and extensive transaction experience. I am delighted that he has agreed to join Arma.”
Pieczanski has
A select group of innovative businesses in the UK planning for rapid expansion in world markets are being given access to a new funding package from Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks.
The banks’ Growth Finance programme is designed for companies with rapid sales growth and which are expecting to deliver profits in the next 9 – 24 months.
Growth Finance was introduced to respond to business demand for bank funding which would provide companies with the confidence to make the investments required to fulfil their longer term business plans. The scheme is not intended for start-ups but will benefit businesses
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP has appointed Ian Schwartz (pictured)as a Corporate partner in the Firm’s Asset Management/Private Equity Funds Group resident in the New York office.
Schwartz focuses his practice primarily on the formation and operation of private equity funds. He has also served as counsel in numerous multi-billion dollar and middle-market private investment fund-raisings for institutional and boutique sponsors both in and outside the United States across a wide variety of investment strategies.
"Ian’s depth of knowledge and expertise will complement our preeminent private equity practice. His addition to the Firm further strengthens our ability to
Michael E Ducey has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Apollo Global Management, LLC, and to the Board’s Audit and Conflicts Committees, effective immediately. Ducey’s appointment will bring the number of independent directors on Apollo’s Board to four out of a total of eight Board seats.
Ducey was most recently with Compass Minerals International, Inc, from March 2002 to May 2006, where he served in a variety of roles, including as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director prior to his retirement in May 2006. Prior to joining Compass Minerals International, Inc, Ducey worked for nearly 30 years at
Better Capital’s BECAP Fund has advanced GBP6m to allow one of its portfolio investments, Calyx Software Limited to make two strategic, bolt-on acquisitions.
The first acquisition comprises certain of the assets and obligations of a division of Touchstone Group Plc (Touchstone). This division of Touchstone is a leading supplier of integrated business software products to mid-sized UK organisations. The division had unaudited turnover for the financial year ending 31 March 2011 of GBP3.2m.
The second acquisition comprises the entire issued share capital of Trinity Computer Services Holdings Limited (Trinity). Trinity is a specialist developer of wholesale and distribution application
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