Southern Europe
Balance of power
Investors are putting a significant amount of pressure on buyout houses, pushing for better terms and in some cases scaling back commitments
Global trends, what comes next?
Presentation by Carsten Valgreen, partner at Benderly Economics
Second chance saloon
Predictions a year ago of a boom in secondaries transactions proved premature, as a dearth of draw-downs provided a stay of execution to liquidity-starved LPs. Twelve months on, there is a similar anticipation of a wave of secondaries sales, but will...
Adapt to survive
Despite recording a steep decline in investment activity over 2009, delegates at the 2009 unquote" Italia Private Equity Congress remained optimistic that Italy is well placed for future growth. Francinia Protti-Alvarez reports
After the storm
The run-up to year-end was decidedly slow in Southern Europe; the contents of this journal are testament to that. Fortunately, sentiment largely agrees that next year should be better
GLOBAL - Partners Group restructures management
Partners Group has promoted head of finance Roland Käslin and Guernsey head Denis O'Malley from senior vice presidents to managing directors, as part of a wider organisational restructuring of the firm.
EUROPE - HarbourVest promotes Soquar to vice president
HarbourVest Partners has promoted Abraham Soquar to vice president in the firm's London office.
EUROPE - Doughty Hanson promotes private equity co-heads
European buyout house Doughty Hanson has promoted Mark Corbidge and John Leahy to co-heads of private equity.
EUROPE - Still scope for secondaries?
Could the vast amounts of secondary funds raised recently and the limited deal completion lead to a capital overhang in the coming years? Francois Rowell asks Sergio Jovele of Partners Group, which yesterday announced the closing of its latest secondaries-focused...
EUROPE - Earth holds first close of £750m fund
Earth Capital Partners has held an undisclosed first close of its EON Climate & Renewables fund, which has a target of EUR 750m.
EUROPE - Environmental infrastructure: high returns, low risk?
Combining the low risk profile of traditional infrastructure investing with the potentially high returns from clean tech investing can prove a winning formula, argues Jamie Richards, partner at Foresight Group, in a recent video interview with unquote"...
EUROPE - Hendrik Brandis appointed Chairman of VC at EVCA
Hendrik Brandis, managing partner of German investor group Earlybird, has been appointed chairman of the venture capital platform of the European Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (EVCA), succeeding Patrick Sheehan of Environmental Technologies...
SPAIN - Aurica sells Telstar stake
Aurica, the private equity arm of Banco Sabadell, has divested its 20% stake in Telstar, a developer of atmospheric technology solutions in the life sciences sector, in a buy-back by the founding family, which is now the sole shareholder in the business.
EUROPE - Partners Group's Global Opportunites fund moves listing to Ireland
Partners Group's Global Opportunites investment fund has altered its status from a closed-end vehicle to an open-ended vehicle and has delisted from the London Stock Exchange in prepartion for shifting its shares to the Ireland Stock Exchange, due to...
EUROPE - F&C Private Equity holds EUR 30m first close of Aurora Fund
London-listed private equity investor F&C Private Equity has held a EUR 30m first close of its Aurora Fund, a new vehicle focused on acquiring secondary interests in predominately European private equity funds and co-investments.
Revised Directive angers trade bodies
Another chapter has been added to the long-running saga of the EU Commission's AIFM Directive, with a new report calling for a removal of all fund size exemption thresholds sparking anger within the industry
LPs sound warning over private equity performance
A new report has provided a damning assessment of LP confidence in private equity as an asset class, revealing dissatisfaction over performance and new demands in relation to due diligence and reporting
EUROPE - Venture: resilient, and proving lucrative
While 2009 was a grim year indeed for European buyouts, venture and growth investing has proven more resilient. By Mareen Goebel
EUROPE - Yield of dreams: unquote” explores high yield
The European high-yield market has opened once again, but, given its failings in the past, can the market shake off its reputation as a short-lived phenomenon and become a viable financing option for buyouts? To read Emanuel Eftimiu's feature see below,...
GLOBAL - Hudson reaches USD 1bn target for maiden fund
Hudson Clean Energy Partners reached its USD 1bn target for its maiden fund Hudson Clean Energy Partners LP, having secured USD 1.024bn in commitments.
ITALY - Permira-led consortium to acquire Valentino debt
Permira is reportedly nearing an agreement over fashion house Valentino's EUR 2.2bn debt pile, with reports suggesting the private equity house alongside the Marzotto family and other investors are preparing to pay EUR 200-300m to buy back EUR 730m of...
GLOBAL – CIC provides Apax with liquidity boost
Sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC), may invest up to EUR 800m in Apax' EUR 11.2bn fund. The move is not intended to boost the vehicle's size, which last year became Europe's largest private equity fund. Instead it is believed to...
ITALY - 360 Capital, Balderton-backed Yoox IPO raises EUR 27m
360 Capital Partners and Balderton Capital-backed online fashion retailer Yoox has completed a EUR27m IPO on the Star segment of the Milanese stock exchange, a deal that will see the company's private equity owners divest part of their stakes in the business.
EUROPE - Candover to “substantially” reduce fund
Following nearly 12 months of difficulties that stemmed from its parent's liquidity issues at the beginning of the year, Candover has today announced it will "substantially reduce" the size of its 2008 Fund, which had targeted EUR 5bn and reached a first...