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Encore Ventures, the secondaries division of European venture capital firm DFJ Esprit, has boosted its investment management team with the addition of Richard Marsh as partner and Jonathan Freuchet-Sibilia as investment manager.
Marsh will take responsibility for managing certain investments acquired from 3i in September 2009.
For the last three years Marsh was an investment manager at Oxford Capital Partners where he was responsible for its ICT portfolio. Prior to that, he spent over a decade working directly with early-stage and growth businesses, including founding the data quality software company Datanomic.
Freuchet-Sibilia joins Encore Ventures from Jefferies International where,
Sovereign Capital, a UK private equity firm has acquired certain trading assets of drain and sewer cleaning provider Future Environmental Services, the first transaction for the recently backed Euro Environmental Group.
Founded in 1999, Future’s customer base includes Balfour Beatty, Scottish Water, Thames Water, Clancy Dowcra, Mouchel and Enterprise.
Sovereign Capital says Future’s strong operational management and systems will complement EEG’s experienced team, led by Rod Spinks, chief executive officer.
EEG’s 330 strong workforce are now able to deploy their fleet of 250 vehicles from 12 sites across the UK to provide a full range of services, from cleaning
Alef Capital, a Cayman Island based investment management firm, has launched the Alef Mena Value Fund.
Hossam Shobokshi, head of Alef Capital, says: "The Mena markets offer some of the most interesting value investment opportunities in the world today. There are a good number of well managed and positioned companies trading at good discounts of the possible range of their fair values.”
The fund focuses on partnering with investors that exhibit demonstrable business acumen and experience, a heritage of ethics, modesty, and long term patience.
"It is almost as if Alef Capital has created a new and unique asset class
Sport Supply Group, a marketer, manufacturer and distributor of sporting goods and branded team uniforms, has entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of Oncap Management Partners, the mid-market private equity business of Onex.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Sport Supply Group, other than those held by certain participating stockholders, will be acquired for USD13.55 per share in cash.
CBT Holdings, an affiliate of Andell Holdings, which beneficially owns approximately 16 per cent of Sport Supply Group’s outstanding common stock, and certain members of
Phillips-Van Heusen has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tommy Hilfiger, which is controlled by funds affiliated with Apax Partners, for total consideration of EUR2.2bn (approximately USD3.0bn) plus the assumption of EUR100m in liabilities.
The consideration includes EUR1.924bn in cash and EUR276m in PVH common stock.
The combination will create one of the world’s largest apparel companies with combined revenue of approximately USD4.6bn.
PVH expects the transaction to be immediately accretive to earnings per share before one-time costs and accounting charges. PVH expects earnings accretion of USD0.20 to USD0.25 per share on a non-GAAP basis in the 2010 fiscal year
HarbourVest Global Private Equity, a closed-end investment company listed on Euronext Amsterdam, had an estimated net asset value of USD698m or USD8.41 per share as at 28 February 2010.
This represents a 0.1 per cent decrease from the 31 January 2010 estimated NAV per share of USD8.42.
The decrease was driven primarily by foreign currency movements and ongoing operating expenses, offset by increases in the value of publicly-traded holdings and valuation increases for privately-held companies in HarbourVest direct funds.
The company experienced net positive cash flow for the third consecutive month, with net USD3.6m received in February, resulting in a
David Bonrouhi, managing director at Calabasas Capital, says 99 per cent of private equity firms add significant value to a company without interfering with day to day operations.
While the multi-billion dollar funds get all the attention in the media, there are many private equity groups targeting privately held businesses with between USD10m and USD100m in revenue.
Calabasas Capital, for example, maintains relationships with over 1,000 such firms.
"Raising private equity does not always mean relinquishing control of a business,” says Bonrouhi. “Many private equity groups are comfortable taking a 30 per cent interest in a company. Those groups that
Private equity firm OpenGate Capital is acquiring fashion label Nicole Farhi from French Connection Group in a transaction expected to close within the next 90 days.
The deal is the third major equity investment by OpenGate in the past 12 months.
Under the terms of the agreement, the design house will continue to be based in London with offices and showrooms in Milan.
OpenGate Capital founder and chief executive Andrew Nikou will be named the chairman of Nicole Farhi.
“Nicole Farhi is an iconic designer and her elegant and sophisticated fashion sense has been a runway landmark since the brand’s
European venture capital firm DFJ Esprit has appointed Mikko Suonenlahti as a senior adviser, focusing on investments in B2B and B2C software, med-tech, Bio-IT and energy efficiency.
Suonenlahti (pictured) has over 25 years’ experience of global management in business building and spent 15 years as a venture capitalist in the US, Middle East and Finland.
He has been a board member of over 20 venture capital financed businesses, of which 15 have been realised, as a co-founder of SFK Finance and a partner with 3i USA.
His investments include IObox, a European case study of early stage investing, and Enfo
Dr Richard Reid (pictured), director of research at the International Centre for Financial Regulation in London, says the controversy surrounding the role of credit default swaps in allegedly aggravating Greece’s fiscal problems illustrate differences between countries in Europe and beyond on the priorities for financial sector reforms.
One of the persistent issues facing the implementation of international regulatory reform of financial services is the danger of regulatory arbitrage. Given the volume of global capital flows, the ease with which the financial sector can adapt, and, in some cases, the political will of some countries to either underpin or promote their
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