Alpha PB, a division of SecureVest Financial Group, will use J.P. Morgan Clearing as custodian and clearing agent beginning 1 June 2010.  Alpha PB provides front-end execution, portfolio management and a risk management platform supporting a wide range of assets including equities, options, fixed income and futures products.  Alpha PB delivers services to small and mid-size private investment funds, family offices and separately managed accounts that need to become more proactive in managing market, execution and counterparty risk.  "There is a need for our clients to have access to the best risk and portfolio management tools," says August Cellitti, chief

Hercules Technology Growth Capital, a finance company providing venture debt and equity to venture capital and private equity-backed technology and life science companies, has received final agency committee approval by the US Small Business Administration for a second Small Business Investment Company license. Hercules expects that the SBIC license will be issued following final action by the SBA administrator. This additional license has a ten-year term and will provide up to USD75m of fixed-rate capital for investment. The SBIC programme represents a partnership between the SBA, Hercules, and the private sector economy. The new access to capital will fund needed

The Association of Investment Companies is now publishing enhanced venture capital trust data on its website. The new enhanced data now shows the following: – The last reported NAV, as published by the company – The date of the last reported NAV – The Morningstar adjusted NAV – Discount/premium data based on the Morningstar adjusted NAV – NAV total return performance with dividends reinvested based on the Morningstar adjusted NAV – NAV cumulative performance total return where cumulative dividends are simply added to the Morningstar adjusted NAV The data will be sourced from both the data provided by members to the AIC via the Monthly Information

MerchantBridge, a direct investment and private equity company focused on Middle East investments, has been awarded an existing cement plant contract under a 15-year lease in the Kerbala Governerate, 80 miles south west of the capital Baghdad. The contract was awarded by the Government of Iraq’s Ministry of Industry and Minerals. This transaction marks the largest privatisation and debt arrangement in Iraq (outside oil and gas), as well as the largest contract in the Middle East region so far this year. The plant will go through a complete rehabilitation programme via an investment of USD200m and it is expected the

Private equity is a hot topic for European family offices, with 57 per cent considering increasing their exposure to private equity this year, according to research by LPEQ, the group of European listed private equity companies. The study of 50 family offices across Europe shows they are looking to access private equity through a wide range of strategies and investment vehicles. Nearly all of the family offices that took part in the study, which was carried out by Scorpio Partnership, regard private equity as a key asset class for families, reflecting the fact that the majority of families have accumulated

As the world’s largest oil producer Saudi Arabia holds an immense amount of potential as it builds a broad-based economy and continues to liberalise and modernise its business climate, a private equity leader told participants at a conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ahmed Heikal, founder and chairman of Citadel Capital, a private equity firm in the Middle East and Africa, said: “Our firm has long attracted private equity funds from the Riyadh, but today we are actively studying potential investments in Saudi Arabia.” Heikal was a participant at the Fifth Annual Euromoney Saudi Arabia Conference held in Riyadh on 18-19

Huddle, a company that lets people connect and work together regardless of their location, has closed a USD10.2m series B round of funding led by Matrix Partners, with participation from existing investors Eden Ventures and Charles McGregor, Huddle’s chairman. Huddle, which employs more than 40 staff in the UK and US and recently became cashflow positive, expects to quadruple in size in the next year. Including the most recent investment, Huddle has raised in excess of USD15m in equity funding since its launch in 2007. The company is using the capital to expand its US presence and build a team

Amalgamated Capital, a recently formed division of Amalgamated Bank, has served as lead arranger and administrative agent for a USD29.5m senior secured credit facility in support of the acquisition of Salvage Direct by QCSA Holdings, a portfolio company of Kinderhook Industries. Amalgamated Capital provides cash flow senior debt financing to facilitate investments made by private equity sponsors in lower middle market companies. Based in Davenport, Iowa, QSCA Holdings (d/b/a QCSA Auto Auctions) is an independent salvage auction company. Founded in 1998 with headquarters in Titusville, Pennsylvania, Salvage Direct established the first online auction in the total-loss salvage industry. Kinderhook Industries