News from August 2008

RMB’s Mike Pfaff goes small, CAVI

Michael Pfaff, outgoing CEO of RMB, is to join a close friend to offer long term private-equity-type services when he leaves the bank at the end of the year.

Measuring the economic impact of private equity funds: the South African experience

Private equity financing is undertaken for various reasons: from increasing the working capital base to restructuring the ownership and management of a business. In line with financial globalisation over the past few decades, the private equity industry has grown significantly both in value and geographic extension. This has raised concerns about the global impact of private equity and underlined the need to understand it well.

Actis announces its fifth Africa deal in a month

Actis, the emerging private equity firm, has announced its fifth African deal in the space of a month by taking a minority stake in Tunisian conglomerate Poulina Group Holding.

The origins of Islamic private equity in the Gulf

The Islamic private equity industry is a very young one and traces its roots back less than a decade. In 2003 Kuwait’s Global Investment House appears to have been one of the first institutions to explore Islamic private equity through the launch of a Kuwaiti dinar denominated Private Equity Fund where the investments were channelled into little-known unlisted Kuwaiti companies. Also in Kuwait during the same year, Kuwait Finance House’s $100m New Zealand Australia Private Equity Fund was launched.

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