Guernsey’s position as a leading fund domicile has been further endorsed by a series of new administrators and managers establishing a presence in the island. J.P. Morgan and BNY Mellon have both added their names to the roster of fund administrators in Guernsey. BlueCrest Capital Management – one of Europe’s largest hedge fund managers – and stockbroker Shore Capital relocated their headquarters from London to the island during the first half of the year. Peter Niven, chief executive of Guernsey Finance, the promotional agency for the island’s finance industry, says: “We have seen several new entrants to the Guernsey market

New York University plans to create a USD20m venture fund to spur the commercialisation of select technologies developed at NYU and to provide seed funding for start-up companies based on those technologies.    The fund – which will be almost entirely funded from external sources – is expected to make its first set of investments in 2011.   The university has named Frank Rimalovski, who has extensive experience in the venture capital sector, as the fund’s managing director. He will have primary responsibility for building entrepreneurial leadership teams and structuring the efforts to form companies around promising technologies within NYU,

Mid-market private equity firm LDC has sold its stake in Kylmar, a designer and manufacturer of sensor and optical surveillance systems for military and security applications. The Andover-based company has been acquired for an undisclosed sum by General Dynamics UK.   The deal provides an attractive return for LDC, which took a significant minority stake in the business in April 2006.   Since then the business’ turnover has doubled and employee numbers have risen from 30 to 50.   Kevan Leggett, managing director of LDC in the South, says: “Kylmar is a perfect example of a private equity-backed UK manufacturing

Linden, a Chicago-based healthcare focused private equity firm, has completed fundraising for Linden Capital Partners II, which closed with USD375m of committed capital and exceeded its target of USD300m and initial cap of USD350m. Linden’s second fund continues the strategy from its first fund, executed through industry specialisation in healthcare and life science, a focus on building and maintaining corporate relationships, and integrating operating partners in investment decisions and management.  Linden received strong support from its institutional investors, 100 per cent of whom reinvested in LCP II. In addition, the firm attracted new global LPs, state pension plans, foundations, funds

ClearBridge Energy MLP Fund has raised approximately USD1.268bn in its common stock offering, assuming full exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option. Its shares have begun trading today on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CEM. The fund’s investment objective is to provide a high level of total return with an emphasis on cash distributions. The fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing primarily in master limited partnerships in the energy sector. The fund considers MLPs to be in the energy sector if they derive at least 50 per cent of their revenues from the businesses of exploring,

YRC Worldwide has entered into a definitive agreement to sell a portion of its YRC Logistics business to Austin Ventures, a private equity investor. This logistics business will operate as a private company owned by Austin Ventures. The sale will form the basis for a new company specialising in international freight forwarding, customs brokerage, transportation management, truckload services, and dedicated warehouse and fulfilment services in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. "This transaction enables YRC Worldwide to focus on our core transportation capabilities while continuing to offer full global logistics solutions for our customers through a strong business relationship

Origo Partners has made an investment of up to USD6.65m for a 20 per cent equity stake in Jinan Eco-Energy Technology, a Chinese provider and operator of recycling systems for waste plastic and scrap-tyres. This investment represents the third in a series of shortlisted investment opportunities for which Origo raised USD30m through a placing completed on 11 June 2010.   Eco-Energy designs, develops, markets and operates recycling systems which convert scrap tyres and plastics into fuel oils and other value-added by-products. The company benefits from technologies that are either protected by international patents or have patents pending. Eco-Energy’s systems are

Investment and advisory firm Manfield Partners has acquired WaverleyTBS, a supplier to the on-trade drinks sector, from Heineken UK. WaverleyTBS supplies 31,000 national and independent free trade outlets throughout the UK. It supplies a full of range beer, cider, spirits, wine and soft drinks. The company generated GBP500m of sales in 2009 and employs over 1,100 people in two main distribution centres and various sales points across the country. The acquisition was made through Huntingtower Investment Group, a newly created company. Manfield and third party funds have invested alongside WaverleyTBS’s existing management team, led by Jonathan Townsend. Managing director Jeremy