Hugh Courtney

We've raised $1.3B Balderton Capital in new funds across early and growth to continue supporting UK & European technology founders. This is the 8th(!) fundraise I've been part of and have shared some thoughts on why venture matters, how fundraising in Europe has changed and how we differentiate ourselves through conviction here: https://lnkd.in/e2XRcagq

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#Hargreaves_Lansdown Hargreaves Lansdown backed the £5.4 billion bid for the FTSE 100 fund manager today from a private equity consortium, a deal that will end its time as a listed company. The Bristol-based finance firm has been listed in London since 2007. It said today that the final offer valued its shares at 1140p in cash and would include a 30p per share dividend for the financial year which ended on 30 June. Compared to the Hargreaves Lansdown share price before the approach was first made in April, the price is at a premium of over 54%. The consortium is made up of CVC, Nordic Capital and ADIA. Hargreaves Lansdown is named after its founders – Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown – who set it up as an investment tip sheet. It now runs a state-of-the-art trading platform from which clients can run their own portfolios and pensions. https://lnkd.in/dKpizupy

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Great webinar with FT Live on the Global M&A Outlook in the EMEA Region. There is a feel of the optimism in EMEA’s M&A landscape, with private equity leading the charge and valuations on the rise. Geopolitical certaintly, growth agenda, and interest rates certainly will provide confidence in the market, therefore, the future is looking really good. #wheredealsaremade #privateequity #mergers

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The latest monthly report from Phenix Capital Group shows growth of more than 10% in both the number of infrastructure impact funds on its database and the amount of capital raised by them over the last year, writes Ian Lewis. #impactinvesting #infrastructure #realassets https://lnkd.in/ewzizs_U

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The next instalment of “A Word in Private” is out. Watch our latest vodcast to hear from our panel on exit readiness: - Identify and evidence your equity story - Collection of data should prove the equity story beyond the last 12 months - Start early. Preparation is key to a successful exit. Use KPMG’s proprietary Exit Readiness tool 18-24 months pre-exit to make sure you’re ready. - Maintain business as usual. Create an effective process that gives management enough bandwidth to run the business and deliver on the deal by getting advisors involved early. Watch the latest instalment of A Word in Private, now! Chris Stott, Claire Elcock Matthew Linehan Naveen Sharma #KPMGdealadvisory; #privateequity; #exitreadiness #valuecreation #deals #data

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Interesting thoughts from Houlihan on Direct PE (and the maturation of the market around independent sponsors) - "global volume (will) rise from $6 billion in 2019 to an estimated $50 billion this year, with annual deal numbers tripling over that period. We’ll see over 780 transactions this year... Directs have the promise to account for half of all annual capital raised for private equity in 10–15 years." #privateequity #independentsponsors

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Great conversation yesterday at Preqin with Preqin's Cameron Joyce, CFA, CAIA, Blue Owl Capital's Cara Griffiths, Bain Capital's Tom Sargeant on the future of fundraising for private markets. Where will AUM come from going forward? What are the challenges that funds will face in fundraising? What strategies will be most popular going forward? It was fascinating to hear the perspectives of some of the industry's biggest platforms in Blue Owl Capital and Bain Capital from Cara and Tom, respectively, as to where fundraising is headed given their purview on the market and from Cameron on his data-driven insights from market research and plenty of numbers crunching on what it will take for private markets to grow to $30T AUM by 2030.

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UK Cleantech VC panel takeaways Oh the joy of hosting a panel with the experience and gravitas to speak unequivocally! Great job, Avent Bezuidenhoudt, Rowan Bird, Sarah Mackintosh We focused on the UK’s strengths (which don’t need repeating) and some ideas for improvement, which really do. What does UK cleantech need? - UK policy stability (maybe years, not months) - policy credibility - dialogue between policy and climate tech: collaboration beats distrust - policy priority on outcomes - continued financial innovation, especially around hardware, manufacturing, working capital, FOAK - blended finance that crowds in, not crowds out - more targeted collaboration from industry (pilot projects are a mixed blessing) - better relations with Europe To achieve our (government mandated) obligation to net zero, cleantech VC is not asking for stimuli or subsidies, but for government consistency. It’s Kafka-esque, yet an extraordinary statement of strength. #venturecapital, #cleantech, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Cleantech for UK, Solar Energy UK, BGF, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

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Following a comprehensive strategic review by its Board, Witan Investment Trust plc’s assets are to be rolled into Alliance Trust to form Alliance Witan in the UK’s largest ever investment trust merger 👉 https://lnkd.in/dnTxHcJK With net assets of around £5 billion, the two Boards believe the combination of Alliance and Witan will create an even more liquid and cost efficient one-stop shop for global equities, while Alliance Trust’s award-winning multi-manager investment strategy remains unchanged. "A combination of the two companies made a lot of sense and represents continuity for both sets of shareholders. Witan has a large pool of assets. And when combined with ours, the net asset value of the combined company will be in excess of £5 billion." — Dean Buckley, Alliance Trust

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Very much looking forward to joining the discussion and sharing the importance of embedded finance within our products. Embedded finance has the potential to revolutionise customer experience across a number of verticals, offering unparalleled convenience to keep up with evolving consumer expectations. #FTTEmFin #FintechTalents #embeddedfinance

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Actively or passively looking at FD or CFO level in the funds space? Here’s some key trends: > It’s been a tight market, driven by difficult fund raising conditions, a flat deals/exit market, liquidity challenges, and a whole host of broader economic challenges that have impacted growth. You know this and I’m sure like me you’re bored of hearing it! Net result, stagnant Senior Finance market across most asset classes. > Q2 so far has seen a very slight uptick in activity, linked to the usual seasonal movement of people post YE and bonus payouts. Remember to rattle your network and look under every rock. Your network is vital when the markets are tight. > A bit of a generalisation, but bigger funds seem to be in the early stages of growing again and in a few cases are adding senior Finance/Operations hires BUT it’s still slim pickings out there. I’ve spoken to a lot of senior Finance folk, especially from smaller houses, looking to move to bigger managers for perceived stability, ie: bigger fundraising funnel, more likely to be growing in a flat market, long term ability to weather future storms etc. > Reasons to be positive: Q2 always sees the highest volume of Senior Finance mandates hit the market. This year my best guess is that three quarters of those hires will be linked to attrition - ie: normal churn of people retiring, going on sabbatical, moving internally, leaving completely or falling on their sword/being replaced - and a quarter will be related to growth or new hires. What we need is the growth number to increase, as that fuels the attrition number. > I’ve spoken to a lot of people in number 1 or number 2 Finance roles in smaller managers across private markets funds who are concerned their current firm is running on fumes or lacking any growth plans or a way out; usually down to struggles with fund raising and/or inability to sell or buy assets. If you’re in this boat you’re not alone and that’s always the blessing and the curse of being in a senior Finance role, seeing the numbers before anyone else. Stay put and don’t jump for anything is obvious advice here. > Compensation. There’s (un)fortunately a lot of very passive or ‘casually browsing’ senior Funds Finance people with half an eye on the market. Base salaries and total cash comp continue to remain flat. The market in terms of base salary below £150k is ‘busier’. North of this it’s still very patchy. > Golden rule: more is more and you need to reach out to as many people as possible who can help you. Hustle hard, stay positive.

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We were asked by a prominent UK VC fund to look at their debt options. normally one would start at the top - the manager - that's the "cool" bit and focus there. We started at the bottom - the quick wins, the underlying companies and their finance - working capital,  revolving credit, invoice finance lines and asset finance. It's a hard part - and it's often overlooked but it makes a huge difference to the performance of the businesses - there are options for high growth / loss making and low ebitda businesses. Then we looked at the rest. #vc #venturecapital #eis #seis #businessfinance #angelinvestor #privateequity

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A very interesting but substantial opinion piece from Bloomberg on Starmer’s government and its apparently vindictive approach to policy and delight in paying off its union support. They are indulging their core support from deeply vested interests while not seeking improved productivity and modern work practices. This is bold when the landslide vote result obscures the meagre 34% share of vote. “A deeper reason is that needlessly antagonizing Middle England will do nothing to address the country’s underlying problem, its dismal growth rate. Labour’s central promise was to improve productivity. Yet it failed to use pay rises as a way of pushing through productivity improvements — and now risks setting off a competitive round of wage inflation. It was all quid and no quo. Giving productivity-free pay rises to strike-prone workers while claiming that there’s a financial crisis is not a good way of building sustainable support for your policies”.

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There's been palpable discontent that the UK Labour government is likely to increase in the capital gains tax and close the loopholes that set how carried interest — the lucrative performance fees that PE/VC fund managers receive from asset sales — is taxed. There is understandable concern that raising taxes risks stifling the UK's technology industry, by making the UK less attractive for PE/VC talent, investors and entrepreneurs - so the entre the country will end up losing. Investors argue that they should be treated differently to PE/VC. What do you think? https://lnkd.in/ecSMab7S

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FCA eyes extension of SDR remit to include portfolio managers. The Financial Conduct Authority has published a consultation paper looking to extend the remit of the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) to portfolio managers. Sacha Sadan. Check out Cristian Angeloni’'s latest article 👇 https://incm.pub/3Uw3Kfk #investing #assetmanagement #wealthmanagement #finance

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🌍 Upcoming fund close – SEIS 🌍 Following the launch of our SEIS fund we are now counting down to the first close of the fund on the 9th August. The SEIS fund will invest in early-stage startups across the UK that are accelerating the transition to net zero and a green economy.    The SEIS fund will build on the progress of OnePlanetCapital’s EIS fund which was launched in 2021 and has grown to £10m of assets under management with 31 investments made.  For further information visit our website - https://lnkd.in/eqdcwBMf Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high‑risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Investment in the OnePlanetCapital Climate Change SEIS is restricted to Professional Clients, High Net-Worth Investors and Self-Certified Sophisticated Investors. Always take time when considering your investment decisions. Financial advice is recommended.

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Panel 2 of the Hedgeweek European Emerging Managers Summit is titled, 'Recruitment and retention: How founders can staff up their new businesses'. Will Wainewright, Head of Hedge Fund Research at Hedgeweek, Fahd Ahmed, CEO at Iguana Investments, Fabio D., Managing Partner at Stalwart Holdings and Declan McEvoy, CEO at Nazaré Point discuss the most efficient ways of hiring talent. Points include: Which functions are most important to have in-house – and where does outsourcing help? Retention: once you have attracted talent, how to keep them? Culture - how to build a strong foundation of belonging and drive success #HWEmergingManagers #hedgefunds #emergingmanagers

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Alphalytix Consulting, a portfolio company of the Islamic Fintech Fund, has released the Islamic Analytix Scorecard (IAS) covering the UK 🇬🇧 market. The report assesses companies in the FTSE 350 based on a 4 quadrant methodology to evaluate their Islamic Score, ESG Score, Financial Score, and Analyst Score across six pivotal sectors: Basic Materials, Healthcare, Energy, Communication, Technology and Utilities. The top 10 FTSE 350 companies based on the Islamic Alphalytix Scorecard are: Genus PLC (#GNS) South32 Limited (#S32) Oxford Instruments PLC (#OXIG) Informa PLC (#INF) DCC PLC (#DCC) BHP Group Limited (#BHP) GSK PLC (#GSK) Astrazeneca PLC (#AZN) Shell PLC (#SHEL) Pearson PLC (#PSON) The IAS report provides valuable insights to investors seeking alignment with Shariah-compliant principles. This methodology can be applied to other markets where data quality allows for comparative analysis. To learn more, reach out to the team at [email protected] Read the previous report covering the US 🇺🇸 market here: https://lnkd.in/g-qwNvv5 #IslamicFinance #IslamicAnalytix Omar R Aftab Sabir Mita Anwar Harris Irfan David (Daud) Vicary (Abdullah)Islamic Analytix #FTSE350

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