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Media finance and consulting firm Noci Pictures is in discussions with US and international private equity partners in closing a USD300m dollar structured media and entertainment fund that would finance 20 to 30 films.
The firm says many hedge funds, including New York’s Elliott Associates, are seeing premium returns from investing in film and media.
"As a non correlated asset class, films and film finance has outperformed every non correlated asset class in the world," says Yuri Rutman, head of media finance and consulting firm Noci Pictures. "If you look at the more than USD6bn poured into motion picture finance
TJ Hughes, a big brand discount department store backed by European private equity firm Silverfleet Capital, has outstripped retail sector performance in its year end results to 31 January 2009.
The 49 store strong chain saw an increase in turnover of 9.1 per cent to GBP261.3m and an increase in Ebitda of 30 per cent on last year to GBP9.2m.
The firm says the increase in sales has been driven by a new band of “smart shoppers” who are looking for branded products at discounted prices.
Sue Tennant, chief executive of TJ Hughes, says: ‘‘We have always had a strong
Acero Capital Management has appointed Ralph A. Shaoul as chief financial officer.
Shaoul joins Acero from Blavin where he spent five years serving in various capacities including chief financial officer, chief administrative officer and compliance officer.
Prior to Blavin, Shaoul spent four years with Gilbert Global Equity Partners as the controller and six years with Soros Fund Management as a senior accountant and operations manager.
“We are extremely fortunate to attract someone of Ralph’s calibre to our team. Ralph has extensive experience running the back office at highly respected institutions, and has an impeccable reputation among his former colleagues,” says
ITS, a provider of oilfield equipment and services to the global oil and gas industry, has received a USD55m equity investment from energy-focused private equity firm Lime Rock Partners.
The agreement provides Lime Rock with a minority stake in ITS in return for providing growth capital.
Bob Kidd, ITS Group executive chairman, says: “This is an exciting time for the group with unprecedented levels of opportunity in a challenging environment. The investment strengthens our balance sheet allowing us to continue investing organically and also to pursue the acquisition opportunities that are prevalent in the current market. Lime Rock Partners has
Ounavarra Capital has appointed Laurence B. Siegel as a senior adviser.
Siegel (pictured) will continue as research director of the Research Foundation of CFA Institute.
He was most recently and since 1994, the director of research in the investment division of the Ford Foundation. He was part of a team of six senior professionals managing their USD10bn endowment fund, which is invested in stocks, bonds, real estate, private equity, and hedge funds.
Before that, he was a managing director of Ibbotson Associates, an investment consulting firm that he helped to establish in 1979.
Siegel also chairs the investment committee of
Asian institutions are joining their peers in other markets by refraining from making wholesale changes to their portfolio investment strategies in the wake of the global financial crisis.
However, the results of Greenwich Associates’ 2009 Asian Investment Management Study reveal that institutions across Asia (excluding Japan) are reconsidering plans to outsource more of their assets to external investment managers after a year in which many managers fell far short of performance expectations.
Among Asian institutions, average fixed income allocations increased to 68.6 per cent of total assets in 2009 from 62.5 per cent in 2008, while overall equity allocations dropped
Hargreave Hale, a stockbroker and investment manager, has renamed the Keydata Aim VCT and the Keydata Aim VCT 2 as Hargreave Hale Aim VCT 1 and Hargreave Hale Aim VCT 2 respectively.
The Hargreave Hale Aim VCTs invest in a diversified portfolio of equity investments in small UK based VCT qualifying companies, targeted non-qualifying equity investments to boost the fund’s performance, as well as a range of other non-qualifying investments such as gilts, other fixed interest securities and bank deposits.
The rebrand follows the appointment of Hargreave Hale chief executive Giles Hargreave (pictured) to the board of both funds and
Graphite Capital, a UK mid-market private equity specialist, has added to its growing investment team with the appointment of Rachael Whittaker as investment manager.
Whittaker joins Graphite from pan-European private equity house Cognetas, where she was an investment associate focusing on healthcare and financial services.
She began her career as an associate with LEK Consulting in London and Sydney, working on private equity due diligence, post transactional strategy and modelling on projects across six industries.
Rod Richards (pictured), Graphite managing partner, says: “We are delighted to welcome Rachael to the team. Her experience in healthcare fits well with our long
Assets managed by the world’s largest 500 fund managers fell by over 23 per cent in 2008 to USD53.4trn, down from USD69.4trn the year before, according to the Pensions & Investments/Watson Wyatt World 500 ranking.
The fall in assets is the first since 2002 and the largest since the research began in 1996.
Carl Hess, global head of investment consulting at Watson Wyatt, says: “2008 was a dreadful year for fund managers with the majority posting record losses. Even after the strong market recoveries since March this year, our expectation is that values will remain below 2007 levels, meaning
KKR Private Equity Investors and KKR have completed the transaction to combine the two businesses.
Going forward, KPE will be known as KKR Guernsey and its common units will trade on Euronext Amsterdam from 2 October.
Henry R. Kravis and George R. Roberts (pictured), co-founders of KKR, said: “For over 33 years, KKR has prided itself on being an industry leader that does not stand still. KKR has grown into a leading investment firm with capabilities to invest in multiple industries globally and across the capital structure. Our mission is to create attractive returns for our investors. This transaction is
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