Industry
GERMANY - Oaktree and DIC team up for Almatis
According to reports, US loan-to-own investor Oaktree Capital has joined forces with Dubai International Capital (DIC) in a bid to acquire a majority interest in alumina maker Almatis, a portfolio company of DIC that is currently undergoing a debt restructuring....
EUROPE - EVCA placement code highlights need for transparency
In response to the ongoing reverberations relating to the New York kickback scandal the EVCA has published a draft code of conduct for placement agents, which highlights the need for greater transparency within the sector.
SWEDEN - Bank takes over ex-Nordic Capital owned Plastal units
Swedish bank Handelsbanken, which underwrote Nordic Capital's EUR 352m buyout of automotive industry player Plastal Holding in 2005, has now taken over the Belgian, Norwegian and Swedish units of the group which went bankrupt in March this year.
UK - ICG launches £351m capital raising
Mezzanine specialist Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) is to raise ТЃ351m in a 7-for-2 rights issue.
FRANCE - Siparex opens Strasbourg office
Siparex has opened an office in Strasbourg, its sixth office in France.
Trouble ahead
Industry LPs reveal their sombre side, predicting that a quarter of all private equity fund managers will go out of business and a tenth of investors could default on capital calls. By Ashley Wassall
LP/GP relations - No more Mr Nice Guy?
There is a general feeling that all is not well in LP land, with fees increasingly becoming an area of concern and a swathe of defaults thought to be around the corner. AVCJ chairman emeritus Dan Schwartz discusses the issues facing institutional investors...
Caution ... is key
Director of private equity at SVG Advisers, Sam Robinson, speaks on LPs' decreased appetite for risk and the need to make vehicles more efficient in this economic climate. By Sam Robinson, SVG Advisers.
Jockeying for position
A private equity landscape in subsidence, a barren fundraising market and stateside-kickback scandals: placement agents are having to change their modus operandi. By Ashley Wassall
Essent Milieu auction scrapped
It is understood that Essent has decided against the sale of its waste management division, Essent Milieu, stating that the offers were too low.
Lorenzo Lorenzotti - ACG Private Equity
Francois Rowell speaks to Lorenzo Lorenzotti, managing director of ACG Private Equity, about LP/GP relationships and opportunities in the CEE region