Almost every sponsor and capital source you speak to believes that interest rates are going up. It might not be next week, next month, or even by the end of this year. But it’s hard to imagine that this incredibly low rate environment will go on forever. So, wouldn’t it make sense for mid-market lenders to structure their loans so that they benefit from the imminent increase in rates?
4 min read · 11 July 2014
The San Bernardino County Employees’ Retirement Association is preparing to commit $50 million to Ares Management’s fourth special situations fund, Buyouts has learned. The $7.6 billion retirement association would make the commitment through a $536 million separate account it established with the publicly-traded asset management firm last year.
2 min read · 10 July 2014
Kelso & Company expects to hold a first close on its ninth buyout fund in October, two market sources told Buyouts. The firm is targeting $2.5 billion with a $2.75 billion hard-cap.
2 min read · 10 July 2014
New Zealand's biggest unlisted property investment trust said on Thursday it had sold a portfolio of 18 commercial and office buildings to Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) for more than US$881.7 million, Reuters reported. Among the properties being sold are two large retail centers in the biggest city, Auckland, and a central city office block and shops in the capital, Wellington. AMP Capital will provide management services for the properties.
1 min read · 10 July 2014
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has acquired a 24.7 percent interest in Invenergy Wind, a wind power generation company owned by the Chicago-based Invenergy LLC. The deal's financial terms were not published. In early 2013, the Caisse bought an interest in an Invenergy wind farm portfolio, comprising 13 projects in the United States and Canada, including Le Plateau in Gaspésie. Last April, it added a second Québec wind farm, investing $42 million in the Parc des Moulins project at Thetford Mines. The Caisse will be a minority shareholder of the operating company as a result of the latest transaction.
2 min read · 10 July 2014
French energy and communications services group Spie plans to raise 500 million euros (US$682 million) in new capital as part of an initial public offering that should be completed by the end of this year, Reuters reported. The group, currently owned by private equity funds Ardian, Clayton Dublier & Rice and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, is also expected to sell existing stock in an offering that could value the group at about 4 billion euros (US$5.5 billion). Spie provides mechanical and electrical engineering services to improve energy efficiency.
1 min read · 10 July 2014
Dartmouth College and RCP Advisors helped propel turnaround specialist Prophet Equity to a $345 million final close on its second fund after a five-month, oversubscribed fundraise.
2 min read · 10 July 2014
Northern Blizzard Resources Inc, a portfolio company of U.S. private equity firms Riverstone Holdings and NGP Energy Capital Management, is planning to launch an initial public offering, according to a report by Bloomberg. The report said the Canadian oil and gas company is seeking $500 million from the IPO. Riverstone and NGP plan to sell their $150 million of stock through the same offering. Based in Calgary, Northern Blizzard was founded in late 2009.
1 min read · 09 July 2014
Glen Silvestri has been named a partner at Canadian mid-market private equity firm Imperial Capital Group. Silvestri previously served for nearly 13 years in the private equity group of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. While at Teachers, he headed up investment activity in telecom, media, technology and energy and power divisions, and chaired the group's investment committee. In March, the Toronto-based Imperial Capital closed its fifth fund, Imperial Capital Acquisition Fund V, raising $295 million in total, exceeding its $250 million target.
2 min read · 09 July 2014
Many advisers preach to their clients the importance of maintaining a steady commitment pace to alternative investments, in part to ensure money gets deployed during both good times and bad. In practice, limited partners often fall short of this ideal.
3 min read · 09 July 2014
