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DFJ Mercury, a seed and early-stage venture capital firm investing in IT, advanced materials, and bioscience companies, had closed DFJ Mercury Fund II with USD70m in total commitments.
As part of Fund II, several new institutional investors joined the support already provided by DFJ Mercury Fund I’s high-net-worth and family office investors.
The closing of Fund II brings the firm’s total capital under management to USD100m.
“DFJ Mercury has a core focus on technology transfer and incubation, with many of our investments originating through partnerships with universities, research institutions and regional technology incubators,” says Blair Garrou, managing director of DFJ
Kneip, a service provider to the asset management industry, has repurchased all shares held by private equity firm 3i, following strong growth for the group during the last three years.
3i first invested for a significant minority stake in Kneip during May 2007 to help increase the company’s service offering and expand its geographical reach.
Over the last three years Kneip has launched new offices in London and Paris, attracting customers across both regions.
In addition, Kneip has made three acquisitions. In 2009 it purchased La Cote Bleue in Paris, a press agency and supplier of fund listings to the
Cosmo founder to leave firm
Cosmo Investment Management, the South Korean arm of SPARX Group Co., Ltd., has confirmed that its founder, Kevin Choi, is to leave the firm. Choi has carved out a reputation as a leading Korea equity long/short specialist, turning Cosmo into one of South Korea’s largest independent advisory firms. Choi was unavailable to comment.
Boyer Allan launches UCITS Asian L/S fund
Boyer Allan, the London and Hong Kong-based Asian equity shop with USD800 million in assets, has rolled out its first UCITS-compliant fund on the Merrill Lynch platform. Hot on the heels of a long-only China-focused
Law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman has promoted five lawyers across its British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Hong Kong and Singapore offices and corporate, litigation and insurance practices to partner status.
Richard Evans (pictured) of Conyers’ BVI litigation department has over 15 years’ experience in commercial litigation and all contentious aspects of commercial and insolvency law. He has appeared as lead counsel in a number of leading decisions in BVI.
Evans specialises in obtaining and securing the enforcement of all forms of urgent interim relief, shareholders’ and connected disputes, and disputed debt/distressed funds matters.
Jeffrey Elkinson JP of Conyers’ Bermuda litigation
RoundTable Healthcare Partners, a private equity firm focused exclusively on the healthcare industry, has made a controlling investment in Aqua Pharmaceuticals.
Founded in 2004, Aqua is a dermatology pharmaceutical company focused on acquiring, developing and marketing under-promoted, branded, pharmaceutical products in the US.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Jack McGinley (pictured), founding partner of RoundTable, will serve as chairman of the board of Aqua. Jay Gooding and Craig Ballaron, the owner/founders of Aqua, will retain a significant ownership stake in the company and will continue to serve in their current roles as chief executive and president and
Law firm Kaye Scholer has appointed Andrew B. Harris, a private equity, M&A and corporate finance lawyer, as managing partner of its London office.
Harris joins Kaye Scholer from DLA Piper, where he was a senior equity partner and served as head of its private equity practice.
Harris acts for private equity houses, management teams and both listed- and non-listed corporations.
Barry Willner, Kaye Scholer’s co-managing partner, says “Andrew’s joining our firm furthers the major investment by Kaye Scholer in UK and European private equity, corporate and M&A, and supplements our existing transactional practice in London. London is
Albion Ventures has invested GBP2.65m in Masters Pharmaceuticals as sole investor.
Masters is a supplier and distributor of pharmaceutical products.
The investment will be used for continued expansion in its core markets of Latin America, the Middle East and the Caribbean. Masters is also seeking to open new markets in Asia.
Masters has appointed Bill Burns as non-executive chairman of its board. Burns is a high profile figure in the pharmaceutical industry with over 40 years’ experience in the sector most recently as chief executive of Roche Pharmaceuticals.
Masters was founded in 1984 by Zulf Masters, OBE, who
The Cevian Capital II Funds have a shareholding in Wolseley of 14,690,088 shares, corresponding to 5.2 per cent of the company’s voting rights.
Marcus Alexanderson, partner at Cevian Capital, says: “As the world’s leading distributor of plumbing and heating products to the professional markets, Wolseley has a strong set of businesses in an attractive industry. We believe that there is significant value potential in Wolseley, and we support the initiatives pursued by the company to improve the performance of the group.”
Cevian Capital is an investment firm acquiring significant ownership positions in European public companies. It manages EUR3bn for institutional
Investor demands for more clearly-defined, transparent and lower-risk products combined with regulators’ desire to exercise more control over the industry may result in the unwanted consequences of lower returns and constraint on innovation.
This is according to KPMG’s recent survey, “Keeping Ahead of the Curve: Investment Management in the New Regulatory Landscape”.
While regulatory constraints, including limits on short selling and leverage, higher capital requirements and restrictions on the use of certain instruments, may lead to greater investor and regulator comfort and confidence, they will also impact the ability for firms to generate alpha and, therefore, returns.
Tom
Energy price risk management company Encore International has been sold for GBP6.25m to McKinnon & Clarke, an energy procurement and compliance specialist headquartered in Edinburgh.
McKinnon & Clarke is a portfolio company of private equity business Lyceum Capital.
The enlarged business will be re-named M&C Energy Group on 1 July.
Fusion Corporate Partners acted as exclusive advisers to the shareholders of Encore International. Paul Kelly led the transaction at Fusion. It is the third energy consultancy sector deal completed by Fusion.
Lyceum Capital acquired McKinnon & Clark in January this year for GBP22m.
Founded in 2001, London-headquartered Encore is an
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