News highlights
Private equity news
EVCA warns of tax and legal inefficiencies
UK 2003 performance measurement and investment activity figures
Ripplewood to join forces with MidOcean
S&P launches recovery ratings for Euro secured loans
Philip Yea new 3i chief exec
Pensions Bill causes concern for investors
SCM looks to real estate
Vandevelde focuses on Change Capital
Venture capital news
Israel: investments up
AIM to become exchange-regulated market
Business confidence high
Ariadne add investors to network
Fund news
Lehman Brothers mezzanine fund exceeds €500m target
North Atlantic Value begins raising second fund
New fund targets real estate
Vintage closes debut secondaries fund
DEWB raises €6.2m
Finatem holds first close on second fund
Gresham exceeds target for third fund
Exit news
2e2 seeks AIM listing
First biotech IPO monitor launched
Warburg Pincus’ Czech IPO
Europe’s first high yield IPO
AIM: room for improvement?
CVC exits Trench Electric
Doughty Hanson to float Umbro
Halfords’ IPO pending
More cash from Alfa for IK
IPO for Telenet?
Close VM realizes care homes
Granville IPOs Public Recruitment
BBI Holdings floats on AIM
Wendel seeks bioMérieux IPO
EAC floats Star Energy
Doughty Hanson to list ATU
3i sells Reeves Oilfield Svcs
Candover & LGV exit Earls Court
AMJPE exits Conveco
LDC exits Phones Int’l
3i floats Pinewood
BC Partners IPOs C&C
Alchemy backs ATH listing
Apax floats Moneybox on AIM
Gresham exits office2office
NeSBIC sells Scana Noliko in secondary
Gresham exits Sterling
People
Sagitta new hires
CAM PE boosts team
SCM strengthens team
Pinsents appts
ISIS recruits
SCM looks to real estate
BLP boosts business
Taylor to Barclays?
CIBC hires
Baker Tilly wins
Two join AMJPE
Avanti Capital recruits
Duke Street builds team
Augusta appts
Bridges’ new director
Linklaters boosts team
New 3i chief exec
RPPE recruits
Altium grows team
Features
Turnarounds: an acquired taste
The restructuring landscape in Europe is going through great changes brought on by a combination of market conditions and legal and regulatory issues. While there is some pressure to adopt the US Chapter 11 method of restructuring, there is a natural resistance to change and the complexities of insolvency procedures across Europe present further obstacles to company rescue techniques. Where do the opportunities lie for private equity players in the restructuring universe? Angela Sormani takes a look at what private equity does and doesn’t do in turnarounds.
Assessing CEE private equity post Accession
Accession day is past and the European Union finds itself with ten new members. As the largest single expansion of the EU in its history, things will undoubtedly never be the same again, be that socially, politically or economically. Since 1990, it is estimated a total of between €5bn and €7bn of private equity has been raised in the nascent Central and Eastern European market. ‘Will Accession affect its development, or will it mature at its own pace?’, asks Tom Allchorne.
Corporate venturing: state of the market
Most corporate venturers have been out of the market for the last three years. But with the pick-up in the wider economy and a renewed business interest in technology expenditure, Vicky Meek asks ‘are we finally seeing increased investment activity among some of Europe’s largest companies?’
Buyouts: Strong liquidity drives structural aggression
As investor demand continues to outstrip deal supply across Europe’s leveraged buyout financing markets, sponsors are demanding increasingly aggressive structures. Equity components are plummeting and US features, such as second liens, are pushing up total leverage multiples. Joanna Hickey reports.
LP Corner: Working out where the value lies
Analysing the performance of private equity investments remains an imprecise science, with most institutional investors opting to use the long established return multiple (cash in versus cash out) and internal rate of return (IRR) calculations. But Oliver Gottschalg of INSEAD’s Buyout Research Group, Nicolaus Loos of JP Morgan and University of St Gallen and Anne-Laure Alviset of Paris-based consultancy PERA suggest institutional investors could make their performance assessment more relevant by benchmarking them against the performance of alternative investment options.
Due diligence gets commercial
Market, or commercial due diligence as it tends now to be known, is increasingly biting into the pot of advisory fees put aside for a private equity transaction. Lisa Bushrod finds out why.
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