Latest News
UK mid-market private equity investor Phoenix Equity Partners has invested GBP18 million to fund the management buyout of the engineering consulting business of ERA Technology (ERA) from Cobham plc.
ERA is a specialist engineering consulting business focused on industrial markets, with a unique set of technical skills and expertise, and a strong brand dating back to its foundation in 1920. ERA provides condition assessment, materials design and testing, forensic engineering, safety assessments and failure investigation services to a wide range of private and public sector clients.
Phoenix is backing a team led by Rob Dilworth, formerly a senior executive
With the Budget approaching next month, the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) is urging the Government to maintain its backing for VCTs as part of its programme to deliver support to small and growing companies.
AIC has published research demonstrating the VCT sector’s strong track record in providing development capital. This research illustrates that, even when bank lending was more freely available prior to 2008, VCTs performed an important role in SME (small and medium sized enterprises) lending.
The research analysed GBP1.3 billion of investments made by VCTs over the last 10 years. This showed that 753 companies received,
Pointing to large corporate cash reserves and low interest rates, US business executives are more optimistic about the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) outlook for this year, according to a survey of almost 1,000 executives conducted by KPMG and Knowledge@Wharton.
Two-thirds (66 per cent) of the senior executive respondents said they are more optimistic about the deal environment than they were a year ago. When asked to name the top two factors making it easier to complete deals in 2011, more than half (56 per cent) of respondents said low interest rates, followed by large cash reserves (47 per cent) and
The Gores Group, a leading Los Angeles based private equity investment firm, has closed its third private equity fund, Gores Capital Partners III, with capital commitments of USD2 billion. GCP III will acquire companies, primarily in the technology, telecommunications, business services, industrial, consumer, and healthcare sectors.
“We believe that the incredible success of our fundraising efforts reflects the strength of our acquisition and operations teams as well as our unique investment strategy and approach. In particular, we believe investors were attracted to our operating orientation and ability to transform undervalued or underperforming businesses,” says Alec Gores (pictured), Founder and Chairman
Demand for leverage to fund acquisitions is on the rise amongst private equity secondary funds, according to Investec Fund Finance (Investec), which says it has seen a five-fold increase in enquiries from these funds over the past year.
The latest example of this is Investec’s GBP10 million loan to Chamonix II LP, a fund managed by London-based Chamonix Private Equity, to purchase five non-core businesses from LINPAC.
LINPAC is a UK-based international plastic packaging manufacturer and the business units concerned are LINPAC Storage Systems, LINPAC Environmental, LINPAC Recycling, Intellident and LINPAC Metal Decorating – previously collectively known as the
Mark Decker and Mark Decker, Jr have joined Morgan Keegan as managing directors in the firm’s Real Estate Investment Banking group. Both were formerly with Robert W Baird & Co, and will be based in the firm’s recently-opened office in Washington, DC.
Decker will serve as co-head of the Real Estate Investment Banking group along with current managing director Chris Kollme (pictured).
“Mark Decker is an established banker with invaluable relationships throughout the REIT sector, and Mark Decker, Jr is a talented and well-respected banker in his own right,” says Rob Baird, executive managing director and president of Morgan Keegan’s
EIF Renewable Energy Holdings, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Landfill Energy Systems (LES), has acquired Innovative Energy Systems (IES) of Oakfield, New York.
IES, a privately held company, owns and operates a portfolio of 11 landfill gas-to-energy projects located in New York and Vermont. The IES portfolio includes developed projects with an installed capacity of 72 megawatts supplying over 42,000 homes with reliable renewable energy. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
With this acquisition, LES holds the rights to 45 landfills in 16 states, producing over 200 MW of base load renewable energy along with high and
Aurora Capital Group, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm with over USD2 billion of assets under management, has made three promotions within Aurora Resurgence Management Partners, an affiliate of the Company. Joshua Phillips, has been made Managing Director, while Peter Leibman and Ryan McCarthy have been promoted to Principals.
Anthony DiSimone, Managing Partner of Aurora Resurgence, say: "We are proud to acknowledge the accomplishments of these highly talented members of our investment team through well-deserved promotions. Josh, Peter and Ryan have been integral contributors to Aurora Resurgence’s successes and we look forward to continuing to benefit from their expertise."
Josh
NVM Private Equity’s oldest Venture Capital Trust (VCT), Northern Venture Trust, is the first VCT of the season to sell-out, having raised the full GBP15 million it was seeking, well ahead of the closing date of 28 April 2011.
The fund manager has also announced that it will launch a GBP3.15 million Northern 2 VCT and Northern 3 VCT linked top-up Offer on or around 23 February 2011.
Tim Levett, NVM Chairman, says: “NVM has never seen such a strong demand for one of its VCTs. This is not surprising if you look at Northern Venture Trust’s performance
Adam Hewitson, legal counsel to outsourcing provider Throgmorton, argues that although hedge fund managers benefit from the principle of proportionality under the UK’s newly-revised Remuneration Code for the financial industry, they will still face pressure on management time and resources in ensuring compliance.
The revisions to the UK Remuneration Code that came into effect on January 1 have been well publicised and will not be new ground for most hedge fund managers. The consultation process, both at European and UK level, has offered plenty of scope for debate and conjecture about the impact of the revisions, including the impact on
Special Reports
Featured
- Insight
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
