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The role of shareholders in the governance of risk is currently a major issue for institutional investors. Shareholders have been criticised for failing to challenge the high risk business strategies of many banks and other financial institutions prior to the financial crisis, says Miles Templeman (pictured), Director General of the Institute of Directors.
Indeed there is a good deal of anecdotal evidence which suggests that, in certain cases, investors actually encouraged banks to take on additional risk in the name of “balance sheet efficiency”. This has caste doubt on the ability of shareholders to act as effective governance safeguards within
Edhec, in partnership with Ville de Nice, Nice Côte d’Azur, EPA de la Plaine du Var, Team Côte d’Azur and CCI Nice Côte d’Azur, has decided to launch an international conference to promote green investing.
By organising the Nice Côte d’Azur International Sustainable Development Financing Conference, Edhec and its partners are seeking to present the latest research on investment criteria in sustainable development and on new findings and innovative projects in the field of green business.
The morning will be broken down into plenary sessions presenting research on the financial assessment of sustainable development investment. These sessions will be followed
GB Merchant Partners’ 1903 Equity Fund, the institutional private equity affiliate of Gordon Brothers Group, has acquired Ashley Stewart, a retailer in the plus-size fashion industry.
Headquartered in Secaucus, New Jersey and founded in 1991, Ashley Stewart currently operates over 200 stores and a complementary e-commerce business.
The company is led by chief executive Laura Weil and president Steve Newman.
"Ashley Stewart is an iconic brand in the plus-size fashion industry," says James Rhee, managing director of GB Merchant Partners. "The brand commands intense loyalty amongst a loyal customer base. By funding the business with a significant amount of permanent
Wheb Ventures, a European clean technology private equity firm, has changed its name to Wheb Partners.
"Wheb has evolved during the last three years from being a relatively small cleantech venture capital firm into a diversified but integrated environmental specialist fund management firm," says James McNaught-Davis, managing partner. "We have grown the private equity team alone from four to ten investment professionals, opened an office in Munich and successfully raised GBP105m for our second cleantech private equity fund. The change in name from Wheb Ventures to Wheb Partners is designed to reflect the firm’s expansion."
Wheb Partners is part of
Matrix Private Equity Partners, the small buyout specialist, has invested GBP5m in the management buyout of RDL, the European recruitment provider within the pharmaceutical, business intelligence and IT sectors.
The purchase comes amidst a crop of private equity takeovers in the recruitment sector, following a rebound in the jobs market as market confidence returns.
Matrix Private Equity Partners is taking a significant minority stake in the business.
Jonathan Gregory, who led the deal for Matrix Private Equity Partners, says: “There has been a flurry of M&A activity across the recruitment sector and the pharmaceutical and business intelligence markets have seen
GT Solar International, a provider of polysilicon production technology and sapphire and silicon crystalline growth systems and materials for the solar and LED markets, has entered into a definitive agreement to repurchase shares of common stock from GT Solar Holdings, whose members include all of the company’s private equity investors.
Under the terms of this agreement, GT Solar has agreed to purchase 26.5 million shares of its common stock at a price of approximately USD7.66 per share for a total purchase price of approximately USD203m.
The share repurchase is expected to close on or before 12 November 2010.
As a
PineBridge Investments has hired George R. Hornig as senior managing director and chief operating officer.
He will oversee the finance, operations, legal and compliance, technology, product development, and marketing and communications divisions.
Based in New York, will also serve on the firm’s executive committee.
“I am delighted that we have found someone of George’s calibre for this important position at PineBridge,” says Win J. Neuger, chief executive officer. “His ability to identify and execute business strategy solutions, in addition to his proven track record in managing the functional areas of large global asset management firms, will be a major driving
Darwin Ventures, a private equity firm focused on venture capital, has appointed Jay Bhatti as a general partner and Zach Heilman as lead engineering manager.
"Expanding the Darwin Ventures team with Jay and Zach will allow us to focus on new opportunities in the burgeoning New York City business environment," says Peter Freudenthal, managing general partner of Darwin Ventures. "We are very excited to have Jay aboard as our new partner and Zach as our lead engineering manager. We feel that their unique skill sets will allow us to expand our existing business interests in Manhattan."
Prior to Darwin, Bhatti
Offshore jurisdictions should join forces to lobby larger nations and international organisations on matters affecting them, according to members of the offshore financial services industry.
While there are obvious ways in which Jersey, Guernsey and the Cayman Islands are competitors, there are also issues of common interest, such as the European Union’s Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers and potential business synergies, according to speakers at a recent debate organised in Guernsey by international law firm Appleby that considered the relative strengths of the three jurisdictions as fund domiciles and service centres as well as possible avenues for co-operation.
Technology company Edwards saw its net sales rise by 75 per cent to USD257.3m for the three months ended 30 September 2010, up from USD147.3m in quarter three 2009.
Ebitda (IFRS) increased by 552 per cent to USD74.0m from USD11.0m the previous year.
Cash and cash equivalents increased to USD187m at 30 September 2010, an increase in cash in the quarter of USD35m.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of Edwards, says: “We have successfully gained market share in 2010 driven by a clear customer and applications strategy utilising our new innovative dry pump and abatement products to target identified opportunities such
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