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GUEST ARTICLE
By Richard Beresford, partner and chairman of McCarthy Denning – Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) have been grabbing the headlines recently in the US, with record amounts being raised for these so-called “blank-cheque” companies: over USD27.5 billion so far this year, including the USD4 billion garnered by Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Tontine Holdings.
That is by far the largest amount ever raised by a single blank cheque vehicle. Not only have the amounts raised been rising, but there has been a shift in focus towards Silicon Valley, with veteran tech VC players, such as Kevin Hartz, who was an early backer of Airbnb
Q&A
Iron Pillar, a VC firm focused on investing in Indian high growth tech companies, recently onboarded Cyrus Wadia, head of sustainability at Amazon, to guide its companies on sustainability.
PEWLIVE EUROPE
Being at the forefront of ESG today means fully integrating it into the investment process rather than viewing ESG as a ‘parallel process’, according to Elin Ljung, director of sustainability and communication at Nordic Capital, one of the most prominent private equity firms in the Nordic region.
PEWLIVE EUROPE
The pandemic has made investors ask a different set of questions, and shown how a ‘hybrid-approach’ will increase efficiency in the new normal, according to Sebastian Junoy, speaking on the operational due diligence panel at the PEWlive event today (2 September).
Interview
Covid-19 has had an effect on the Chinese economy, but not on longer term trends in the Chinese private equity market, according to Ivo Naumann, Shanghai-based partner and leader of McKinsey’s private equity & principal investors practice in Greater China.
China is the third largest private capital market in the world, of which USD66 billion was invested in private equity in 2019. The country is the third largest market for private equity today, after the US and UK.
“If you look at the private equity industry in China, in many ways it’s a growth story. Looking at long term trends
WHITE PAPER
The latest CEPRES Private Capital Market Outlook shows how Q2 2020 M&A deal value in the US declined by 60 per cent quarter-on-quarter which also represents a 50 per cent decrease year-on-year. These developments in the US exit markets reflect the weak market and investor sentiment during Q2, most likely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Comparing to the last crisis, post-GFC private markets deal level median gross DPI (Distributions to Paid-in) recovered sharply to a 1.50x median DPI in 2009 compared to those deals with investment years between 2006 and 2008. This is followed by a softening of deal level
INTERVIEW
Unicorn VC deal value grew to EUR3.1 billion in H1 2020, and is on pace to surpass the EUR5.7 billion record set in 2019, according to PitchBook’s latest VC report, as companies like Deliveroo and N26 both closed substantial rounds in the first six months of the year.
WHITE PAPER
The latest CEPRES white paper explores trend developments in Private Debt, based on an analysis of deal level transactional data from the CEPRES Platform, encompassing 12,800 Private Debt deals and over 234,000 cash flow transactions, as well as over 800 Private Debt focused funds, from the millennium through to recent years.
THE NEW NORMAL
Texas-based private investment firm Andros Capital Partners closed its energy-focused inaugural investment fund Andros Energy Capital at its USD250 million hard cap last week. Private Equity Wire caught up with founder Phillip A Gayle JR (pictured) to find out about current developments within the energy sector, where the opportunities are and his thoughts on the new normal.
NEWS
Dutch family-backed impact investor DOB Equity has re-invested in Tanzania’s biggest dairy processor, Tanga Fresh.
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