McCann FitzGerald advised Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company on the launch of its Irish UCITS umbrella fund platform. Birla Sun Life AMC is the first Indian asset manager to launch a UCITS fund in Ireland. The Irish UCITS platform offers two Indian equity funds, each of which will invest primarily in Indian large and mid cap companies and will help European investors gain exposure to Indian equities. Birla is targeting to raise upwards of $200 million for the two funds in their first year of operation.

Fieldfisher's Space Projects team, led by partner John Worthy, is advising the unique and innovative Lunar Mission One, which has successfully completed its initial crowdfunding campaign.

Ashurst has advised Core Capital Management Co., Ltd (Core Captial) in a US$60m (approx. A$72 million) issue of shares and convertible notes to provide US$60m funding to Range Resources.

Core Capital and the ASX-listed Range Resources Ltd (Range Resources) entered into a Subscription Agreement and Convertible Note Deed Poll under which Core Capital will provide up to US$60m funding to Range Resources by way of subscription for shares and convertible notes.

DLA Piper's Paris team has advised on Aloe Private Equity's acquisition of Eco Delta's solar business.  Ardian, Debiopharm Investment and Nixdorf Foundation acquired, in equal shares, a 92.4% stake in Eco Delta subsidiaries Delta Solar and Eco Delta Opération & Maintenance, through Aloe Invest, their renewable energies investment vehicle. Bernis Energy acquired the other 7.6%.

YFM Equity Partners, one of the UK’s most active investors in small businesses is providing funding to support the management buyout and future growth plans of Wakefield Acoustics, a specialist industrial acoustic engineering business, in a £4m deal.
 
The MBO is being led by Lee Nicholson who, with over 12 years’ experience in the business, will become Managing Director. Chris Brown, current chairman of Thermal Energy Ventures with almost 25 years’ experience in the engineering sector, will join as non-executive Chairman.
 

Borenius represented CapMan, a private equity firm,  in its cooperation arrangements with Eufex Fund Administration Ltd, which is part of Elite Group and the manager of CapMan Collection, a new non-UCITS fund of funds. CapMan Collection invests mainly in funds managed by CapMan, and it is the first Finnish fund open to a broader investor base and offering the opportunity to invest indirectly in unlisted companies and real estate.

Mills & Reeve have advised fund manager, IQ Capital Partners LLP, on the creation of the IQ Capital Fund II LP (IQ Capital Fund II).  IQ Capital Partner’s predecessor fund, IQ Capital Fund I LP, on which we also advised, was one of the UK’s first £25 million Enterprise Capital Funds (ECF). ECFs are commercially focused funds which combine private and public money to make equity investments in high growth businesses in the UK. So far under the ECF programme, now managed by the British Business Bank, over £200 million has been invested in 169 fast-growing UK businesses.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Japanese telecommunications and Internet corporation SoftBank Corp. on a US$250 million investment in GrabTaxi Holdings Pte Ltd, the largest mobile taxi booking app provider in Southeast Asia.

The deal, which was announced on 4 December 2014, represents SoftBank's largest ever investment in a Southeast Asian internet company. The deal also makes SoftBank the largest investor in GrabTaxi, which offers services in 17 cities across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Philippines.

We have advised Inivata Limited, a new spin-out from Cancer Research UK Limited, on up to £4 million worth of funding from Imperial Innovations, Cambridge Innovation Capital and Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation.

Inivata are a clinical cancer genomics company focused on harnessing the potential of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) analysis to improve cancer testing and treatment. Inivata has raised up to £4 million in a tranched funding round by Imperial Innovations, Cambridge Innovation Capital and Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation.

Travers Smith LLP has advised Pinewood Shepperton (Pinewood), Europe's largest provider of stage and studio space, on the acquisition of the 50% interest in the Shepperton Studios Property Partnership, formerly owned by clients of Aviva Investors. As a result, Pinewood has become the sole owner of the Shepperton Studios.