Last word

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  • In a clear indication of the growing size of private equity funds across the board, HgCapital, the UK mid-market house, has announced a final closing on its latest fund on £950m (€1.4bn). HgCapital 5 will provide broad coverage of the European middle market through sector teams and offices in London, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. The fund, which was formally launched in late October, exceeded its £750m target when it announced a first close on £850m in mid-January and the hard-cap of £950m was achieved in the second close. Limited partners in the latest fund include Gartmore, Goldman Sachs, Harvard Management, Ilmarinen, LGT, MetLife, Morley, Pantheon, Rolls-Royce, Standard Life and Texas Teachers. In total, HgCapital 5 is supported by approximately 50 institutional and private investors from around the world.
  • UBS has recruited John Sinik from Deutsche Bank as a managing director and co-head of European leveraged finance. Starting in May, Sinik, will be based in London, and will work with Giles Borten and report to Steve Conway, head of financial sponsors and leveraged finance Europe and Asia-Pacific. He joins from Deutsche Bank, where he was involved with clients such as Apax, BC Partners and Carlyle. Prior to Deutsche, John worked for Barclays Capital and Bankers Trust. Borten has been with the firm for five years in both London and Hong Kong and has been involved with many buyout and corporate transactions for the firm, including Gas Natural/Endesa, Nippon Sheet Glass/Pilkington and Almatis.
  • France-listed financial investment company Eurazeo has entered into exclusive negotiations with German car manufacturer Volkswagen to buy its vehicle hire subsidiary Europcar. Eurazeo reportedly fought off competition from US hedge fund Cerberus, UK buyout firms Cinven and Apax, US private equity firm Bain and banks Morgan Stanley and Sumitomo to win exclusivity.