Latest News
The value of investment funds in Guernsey grew by GBP12bn, or seven per cent, in the third quarter of 2009, according to figures from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission.
This is a reverse of the trend experienced during the previous 12 months and takes the net asset value of funds under management and administration in Guernsey to GBP181.5bn at the end of September.
However, this still represents a contraction of GBP20bn (ten per cent) year on year.
Tom Carey (pictured), partner at law firm Carey Olsen, says the results support the growing optimism recently shown by many practitioners in the
Hudson Clean Energy Partners has officially closed its debut fund with commitments of USD1.024bn, successfully achieving its USD1bn target.
Hudson will deploy this capital along with co-investment commitments to expand the firm’s current investment portfolio in the clean energy markets.
Founded in 2007, Hudson Clean Energy Partners is led by renewable energy executives Neil Auerbach (pictured) and John Cavalier.
Auerbach previously founded the US alternative energy investing business within Goldman Sachs’ special situations group, where he led several of Goldman’s most successful investments in renewable energy.
Cavalier was formerly vice chairman of Credit Suisse’s investment banking department and served as
Mark Spinner (pictured), partner and Head of Private Equity at international law firm Evershed, outlines the significance of Candover’s latest agreement with investors to terminate the EUR 3bn (GBP 2.73bn) buy-out fund it raised last year.
This news is indicative of what is happening in the bigger end of the buy-out market. Traditionally the bigger buy-out funds have relied upon the availability of significant amounts of reasonably cheap debt – debt that is just not available at this time. This makes deals at the top end of the private equity value range much more difficult to structure and close.
Added
Motorola’s venture capital arm, Motorola Ventures, has invested an undisclosed amount in Sensitive Object, a developer of multi-touch platforms and natural user interfaces.
Sensitive Object was created in October 2004 to develop a patent protected technology which uses acoustics to analyse sound waves departing from the point of touch, allowing any surface to be used as a touch device.
The software based technology can be used in any product that might benefit from touch based user interfaces, including mobile devices.
Sensitive Object is a spin-off from the French Science National Research Centre. It had previously received funding from venture capital
William Hill, Head of Property (pictured) and Mark Callender, Head of Property Research, at Schroder Property Investment Management Limited, predict that the recent turnaround in the performance of UK commercial property will continue through the first six months of 2010, however, the picture after that is less clear.
In the first half of 2010, Schroders believes that there is sufficient momentum in the investment market to support a further recovery in capital values. In turn, yields will continue to fall, particularly as rental values are expected to reach a trough.
What happens in the second half of 2010 and beyond
Concerns about inadequate GP reporting, conflicts of interest, and fund terms and conditions will lead over three quarters of investors to refuse commitments to new funds from their current managers in 2010, according to Coller Capital’s latest Global Private Equity Barometer.
The report found that 79 per cent of LPs will refuse re-ups in 2010 because of fund terms and conditions, versus 57 per cent in the Winter 2008-09 Barometer.
Of those, 76 per cent will do so because of inadequate GP transparency (versus 39 per cent in 2008-09), and 76 per cent will do so because of perceived conflicts
Anheuser-Busch InBev and CVC Capital Partners have completed the sale of AB InBev’s Central European operations to funds advised by CVC for an enterprise value of approximately USD2.2bn.
Additional rights to a future payment are estimated to be as much as USD800m, contingent on the CVC funds’ return on their initial investment.
Included in the sale are AB InBev’s operations, to be renamed StarBev, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.
As part of the agreement, StarBev will brew Stella Artois, Beck’s, Löwenbräu and Spaten and distribute Hoegaarden and Leffe in the above countries under
The online B2B audience targeting platform and advertising network Bizo has completed a USD6m round of equity financing led by Bessemer Venture Partners.
Existing investors Venrock, Vulcan and Ascent also participated.
Bizo will use the funding to accelerate its growth in the B2B audience data space by increasing its sales and marketing teams and investing in product development to further refine the capabilities of its proprietary Bizographic Targeting Platform.
The platform allows B2B marketers to learn more about the business-oriented demographics of their audience and target them more precisely, while preserving their anonymity.
American Express, Hoover’s and JPMorgan Chase are
Stockport-based WFEL, a provider of tactical military bridging systems and a specialist defence manufacturer, has secured an increase in its banking facilities from GBP20m to GBP30m.
As part of the refinancing WFEL, backed by mid-market private equity house Dunedin in a GBP48m buyout in 2006, has replaced Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander with Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets acquisition finance and has retained Barclays in its banking syndicate.
Currently WFEL is expanding its operations to accommodate a recently awarded five year contract to repair and refurbish US deployed mobile military bridges. It has also extended its offering to include training and revision
Plantronics has sold Altec Lansing, the Audio Entertainment Group segment, to an affiliate of Texas-based private equity firm Prophet Equity for approximately USD16.2m in cash.
The transaction was completed on 1 December 2009.
The change in the consideration from USD18m as previously announced to USD16.2m reflects the change in the estimated value of net assets being delivered at closing together with the negotiated after-tax value of income in November.
Under the terms of the sale, Plantronics will retain certain Altec Lansing assets and liabilities, including accounts receivable, accounts payable and certain other liabilities. As a result, Plantronics expects these net
Special Reports
Featured
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
