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In this article Elaine Gray (pictured), Partner in AO Hall – Legal Specialists, looks at a key opportunity offered by Guernsey’s new patent regime to international patent portfolios: the ditching of the domino effect and the potential ‘Bilski bonus’.
Across the world, countries offer different levels of legal protection for developments in technology. For example, software developers in the USA can often obtain patent protection for their new software, whereas such protection is unlikely to be available within the UK and Europe.
Guernsey is leading the way in developing a range of cutting-edge intellectual property (“IP”) legislation. Its latest offering will
Apex Fund Services, a fund administration business, has opened its Luxembourg office.
Apex will begin providing administration services from Europe’s largest fund domicile.
The Luxembourg office opens with ten Ucits and regulated SIF Sicav funds.
In addition to offering services for all types of public and private Luxembourg funds, the Luxembourg office has also been appointed as fund administrator for three fund platforms. These are:
1. Luxembourg Fund Partners Platform for the re-domiciliation of offshore funds, alternative investment fund manager activities and the set-up of non-Ucits vehicles;
2. Amiri Shariah Equities Platform, a plug and play solution for establishing a Luxembourg Shariah
GTCR, a US-based private equity firm, has entered into a partnership with Dale Wolf to form Jessamine Healthcare.
The new company, headquartered in Maryland, will focus on acquiring companies in the healthcare payer and outsourced payer services industries.
Wolf (pictured), who will serve as Jessamine’s chief executive officer, is a 34-year industry veteran who most recently served for 12 years as a senior executive of Coventry Health Care, a national managed healthcare company.
Prior to serving as chief executive, Wolf served as Coventry’s chief financial officer, where in addition to managing the company’s finance functions, he was responsible for underwriting
Accedian Networks, a provider of solutions for carrier ethernet and IP networks, has secured USD19.5m in a round of financing led by Summit Partners, a growth equity firm with offices in Boston, Palo Alto and London.
Rho Ventures and Skypoint Capital, existing investors in Accedian, also participated in the round.
The funds raised will primarily be used to accelerate Accedian’s commercial efforts and support its market share expansion.
“The rapid increase of mobile device usage and network traffic has left carriers struggling to meet consumer demand and service level agreements, with the backhaul function representing a notable bottleneck on
Hispania Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity firm headquartered in Chicago, has acquired an interest in Language Stars, a provider of language instruction to the pre-school and elementary school market.
Founded in 1998 by chief executive officer Leslie Lancry, Language Stars delivers programmes in Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese, German and Italian.
The company currently operates seven foreign language centres, eight satellite locations, and approximately 100 at-school programmes in the Chicago area, educating over 5,000 students each week.
The acquisition of Language Stars marks the first investment in Hispania Capital Partners’ newest fund and its first investment in the educational services
A robust recovery is underway in emerging markets private equity as investment pace is picking up significantly post-crisis and appears on track to beat 2009 totals.
In the first half of this year, investment totals stood at USD13bn versus USD8bn at this time last year, an increase of 55 per cent, according to Emerging Markets Private Equity Association.
The total value of private equity investments made in the first two quarters of 2010 was USD4.5bn more than that invested through the same period last year, led by an investment surge in Latin America and continued strong activity levels in China
The former Banc of America Capital Investors private equity team has spun off from Bank of America to form Ridgemont Equity Partners.
The principals of Ridgemont, who have invested over USD3bn in 140 companies, will seek to raise a new private equity fund in the near future.
During Ridgemont’s fundraising process, the group will have capital available to continue to pursue new investment opportunities.
In addition, the principals will continue to manage the legacy Banc of America Capital Investors portfolio on behalf of Bank of America.
Ridgemont Equity Partners will focus on middle market buyout and growth equity investments of
Arsenal Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm that invests in middle market industrial, healthcare and financial services companies, has appointed Stephen M. McLean as a partner.
McLean will strengthen Arsenal’s seven-member healthcare practice, help shape the sector investment strategy, and lead the sourcing, evaluation and management of investments.
McLean, a founding partner of Merrill Lynch Capital Partners and its successor funds, has also been an active investor and board member in the healthcare industry for the past 13 years focusing on the areas of life sciences, medical devices and information services.
"Steve has an exceptional track record of
Equity Risk Partners, an insurance brokerage and consulting firm focused exclusively on the needs of the private equity industry, has appointed Joseph Fitzpatrick as director – executive liability.
Fitzpatrick will focus his efforts on the firm’s financial institutions practice group, specifically on the brokering and servicing of hedge funds, mutual funds, alternative asset managers and other financial lines.
Fitzpatrick joins from Frank Crystal, where he was an associate director specialising in professional and management liability insurance products for major hedge fund managers including structured credit, event-driven arbitrage, global macro, real estate, equity long-short, emerging markets, activist funds and fund of
Alter Domus, an independent provider of outsourced administration services to multinationals and alternative investment funds, has opened its office in Singapore.
The firm says Singapore is fast emerging as a key destination for multinational corporations and for the fund management industry.
It views Singapore as a critical component of its strategy to become a key player in the Asian administration space.
Dominique Robyns, chief executive of Alter Domus Group, says: “Opening an office in Singapore underscores our commitment to provide comprehensive support to our clients across Asia.”
Javed Rahman, managing director of the new entity, adds: “Alter Domus has maintained
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