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Munich venture capital firm Target Partners has made an early round investment in Hetras, an Austrian-based developer of hotel management software.
Hetras will use the funds to complete development and launch of the first internet-based management and reservation system for international hotel chains.
Software technology in hotel chains traditionally consists of several standalone solutions from different vendors. As a result, hotel companies must maintain redundant data.
“A single change to a room rate can require updating five or more different systems manually,” says Olaf Jacobi (pictured), partner at Target Partners. “The Hetras solution combines all business-critical functions in a
Low Carbon Accelerator has made a further investment of USD533,333 (approximately GBP330,000) in LUMEnergi as part of an overall funding round of USD1m with its existing co-investor, Noventi Ventures.
The funding has been provided as an extension to the existing convertible loan note that was announced on 11 August 2009.
This investment takes LCA’s total investment in LUMEnergi to USD5,333,333 (approximately GBP3,300,000) of which USD4,000,000 represents an equity stake of 25.3 per cent and USD1,333,333 represents the convertible loan.
Andrew Affleck (pictured), executive chairman for Low Carbon Investors, the investment manager for Low Carbon Accelerator, says: "LUMEnergi is in late
Jonathan Denton, partner in law firm Mishcon de Reya’s Finance and Banking Group, examines the implications of the UK Chancellor’s proposed “bank payroll tax”.
The Chancellor Alistair Darling announced in the Pre-Budget Report that the Government would introduce a temporary "bank payroll tax" payable by banks on the value of any bonuses paid or awarded in the period from 9 December 2009 until 5 April 2010 which exceed GBP 25,000.
Bonuses in respect of which a contractual obligation to pay arose before the announcement are excluded but other than that, most payments will be caught, including deferred payments and
The hedge fund industry will grow in 2010 with risk management continuing to be the key to success and macro, long/short equity and long/short credit will be the best performing hedge fund strategies in 2010, according to Morten Spenner (pictured), CEO at fund of hedge funds manager International Asset Management (IAM), and Andrew Gibson, Head of Asset Allocation.
Stabilisation of the industry: Outflows have subsided greatly, inflows have returned and a large core set of managers have demonstrated their ability to remain successful. Allocations to hedge funds will continue to grow in 2010 in response to the uncertain macro-economic environment.
Marlin Management has completed the first and final closing of Marlin Equity III, a USD650m institutional private equity fund that seeks capital appreciation through investments in businesses undergoing operational, financial or market driven change.
Marlin targets companies across a variety of industries, including technology, healthcare, business services, consumer products, and manufacturing.
Marlin has closed three private equity funds since its inception in 2005 and has over USD1bn of capital under management.
Fund III’s limited partners comprise a mix of existing and new investors from leading endowments and foundations, public and private sector pension funds, family offices, financial institutions, and insurance
Venture capital firms IDG Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures and Founders Fund Management have agreed to sell their stake in Friendster, a US-based online social network company, to MOL Global.
MOL Global is a Malaysia-based affiliate of online payment solutions provider MOL AccessPortal Berhad.
MOL Global has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 per cent of Friendster for approximately USD100m.
Morgan Stanley is acting as financial adviser to Friendster.
The acquisition will enable MOL to strengthen its end-to-end content, distribution and commerce network in Asia.
Iveagh Private Investment House, the Guinness family office, is to launch a new share class for the Iveagh Wealth Fund to enable charities to invest in the fund at a reduced charge.
As part of a long-term partnership with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the share class will be branded the “NCVO share class” and will be aimed primarily at UK charities.
In addition to the reduced charge, a portion of the fees generated by investment in the NCVO share class will be used to create The Iveagh Bursary, a new educational fund that is being established to help
Affiliates of Patriarch Partners have entered into an agreement to recapitalise and acquire a majority interest in Dura Automotive Systems.
Under the agreement, Patriarch will invest up to USD125m of capital and will take a controlling stake in Dura.
This transaction completes the transformation of Dura, a company that emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2008, into an automotive supplier with a strong balance sheet and a broad low-cost global presence.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including German regulatory approval.
Patriarch also intends to pursue an integration of Global Automotive Systems, another Patriarch-affiliated company, with
RPM Ventures, a seed and early-stage venture capital firm, has closed its second venture capital fund, RPM Ventures II.
The firm reached its target goal of USD60m with commitments from a mix of foundations, fund of funds, large family offices, and partners from venture funds.
Building on the success of its first fund, RPM will continue to invest principally in information technology and physical sciences companies from across the country whose primary customer is the Midwest industrial base. It will also continue to target companies based on research at major universities in the Midwest.
"We believe that achieving our fund
Gartmore Group, a traditional equity and alternative asset management firm, has priced its initial public offering of ordinary shares at 220 pence per share.
Based upon the offer price, the market capitalisation of Gartmore at the commencement of conditional dealings will be approximately GBP676m.
The offer consists of 127.3 million new ordinary shares and 27.3 million existing ordinary shares (prior to the exercise of the over-allotment option), in total representing in aggregate 50.3 per cent of 307.3 million ordinary shares in issue.
As stabilising manager, UBS has been granted an over-allotment option by certain selling shareholders of up
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