Solutions
Genstar Capital, a private equity firm focused on the healthcare, software, financial services, and industrial technology industries, is to sell ERT, a provider of high-quality patient data collection solutions for use in clinical drug development, to Nordic Capital Fund VIII.
Genstar acquired ERT in 2012 for approximately USD400 million in a take-private transaction. Since then, Genstar's investment professionals implemented significant enhancements to reposition the business, accelerate growth, and build a world-class management team. Genstar invested resources and capital in ERT, including the acquisitions of invivodata, eClinical Insights, and PHT Corporation, that complemented substantial internal investments in people and technology to
Investment in UK technology companies by private equity firms has reached its highest level since 2012, totalling GBP1.93 billion in 2015, according to international investment bank Altium.
The latest figures represent a 124 per cent rise on 2014, where deal values reached GBP865 million. The data, provided by Experian Corpfin, showed that average deal size value stood at GBP50.9 million in 2015 – up 189 per cent from the GBP17.6 million average in 2014.
The largest transaction in the last 12 months was the GBP499 million buyout of insurance technology firm Innovation Group by American private equity firm Carlyle.
Pacific Fund Systems is a global leader in supporting investment fund accounting and administration through its integrated share registry/fund accounting platform, PFS-PAXUS. With fund administrators under increasing pressure from AIFMs to provide a broader suite of regulatory reporting services – most notably Annex IV reporting under AIFMD – demand has grown for integrated systems that can house fund data on a single platform. This is precisely what PFS-PAXUS offers, avoiding the need for reliance on multiple systems by utilising a single database infrastructure to deliver greater workflow efficiencies, reduced risk, and more timely valuations.
Two years ago, to keep pace
One of the biggest decisions for fund managers under AIFMD is whether or not to appoint an external AIFM. But as management companies, many of whom have experience supporting traditional managers under the UCITS framework, continue to espouse the virtues of outsourcing the ManCo function, alternative fund managers in different geographies are beginning to understand the benefits of going down this path.
"In the US, especially, fund managers are getting to grips with the concept that someone else can take over and run the governance function and do all the necessary risk management without necessarily giving up too much control,"
Under Article 21 of the AIFMD, any AIFM running an EU-based AIF is required to appoint a single full scope depositary to carry out four core duties: cash monitoring, safekeeping and verification of assets and general oversight of the AIF. For EU managers with experience of running UCITS funds alongside their offshore Cayman fund(s), this arrangement is a familiar one, but for AIFMs marketing non-EU AIFs into Europe, the concept of appointing a depositary is unfamiliar.
This is made slightly easier in the sense that the AIFM of a non-EU AIF can, under article 36 of the Directive, avail of
For EU and non-EU managers, the ability to choose between AIFMD or UCITS regimes to bring a regulated fund product to market with minimal fuss is a compelling one. With its unique business model, ML Capital has proven to the marketplace that there are many ways to scale the walls of so-called "Fortress Europe".
ML Capital operates two Dublin-domiciled platforms that between them are capable of supporting a wide range of alternative investment strategies, from the most liquid end of the scale to the most illiquid end. The MontLake UCITS Platform was established in October 2010, while the MontLake QIAIF
Two of the most important considerations for any hedge fund manager under AIFMD are deciding on who to appoint as an external AIFM (or "Management Company") and also who to appoint as a depositary; the latter of which is discussed later in this report.
As registered AIFMs, European hedge fund managers are required to separate out their portfolio management and risk management functions. That is fine for established managers with well-developed front to back teams.
But for smaller managers, who only just qualify as AIFMs by exceeding the EUR100m, they may not have sufficient capital and may not be
Ogier in Jersey has assisted Slaughter and May in advising US infrastructure investor Global Infrastructure Partners on its sale of London City Airport to a consortium of buyers for around GBP2 billion.
The group of investors comprises Ontario Teachers’ Pensions Plan Board, Alberta Investment Management Corporation, Borealis Infrastructure and Wren House Infrastructure.
London City Airport serves around four million passengers a year, a figure that has almost doubled since 2005.
The Ogier team was led by partners Matthew Shaxson and Raulin Amy and assisted by Dilmun Leach (senior associate).
Commenting on the deal Matthew Shaxson says: “We are
Kohlberg & Company LLC and PPG Industries Inc agreed to sell Pittsburgh Glass Works, an automotive glass and services business, to LKQ Corp for an enterprise value of USD635 million.
PPG sold a majority stake in Pittsburgh Glass Works to Kohlberg & Co in 2008. Jefferies and Nomura Securities International served as financial advisor, and Ropes and Gray LLP acted as legal counsel, to Pittsburgh Glass Works. K&L Gates served as legal counsel to LKQ.
LKQ Corporation is to acquire Pittsburgh Glass Works (PGW) from private equity firm Kohlberg & Company (Kohlberg) and PPG Industries for an enterprise value
Stephenson Harwood LLP has advised Shield Therapeutics (Shield) on its GBP162 million AIM IPO, which involved the placing and subscription of GBP32.5m of new ordinary shares, and the issue of warrants to subscribe for ordinary shares.
If these warrants were exercised in full, they would generate an additional GBP17.5m of gross proceeds for Shield. Shield is seeking admission to trading on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange. Admission to AIM is expected to take place tomorrow, 26 February 2016.
Shield is a specialty pharmaceutical company which focusses on the development and commercialisation of secondary care-focused pharmaceuticals.
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12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
