| Secondaries set for a bounce back This week Laundryheap raised USD3.5 million as part of Series A round led by Sova VC, a London based VC firm launched in 2020, with plans to invest over EUR50 million of capital in building a portfolio of more than 20 early-stage tech companies. It's the firm’s second deal since launch following its investment of USD2.5 million in the Series B round of translation platform Smartcat.
Blackstone is seeking to raise around USD15 billion for two secondaries funds, through its Blackstone Strategic Partners vehicle with the aim to raise USD12 billion to USD13 billion for its ninth flagship fund. And Oatly, a Blackstone-backed vegan food and drink producer which is also backed by Oprah Winfrey and Jay-Z , is planning an IPO. The company raised a USD200 million round in mid-2020 from a group of investors, including Blackstone, Winfrey and ex Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
Investec said they
expect the backlog of deals due to LPs biding their time to progress throughout 2021 and beyond. According to Investec’s latest secondaries research report, more than three-quarters, or 77 per cent, of secondary fund managers expect a return to 2018 deal flow levels within the next 12 months.
"The secondaries market continues to evolve and, while it has not escaped the effects of Covid-19, neither has it suffered the long-term impact some feared," said Ian Wiese, head of secondaries at Investec.
According to Joseph Lee, head of Asia at Atwater Capital, the history of Hollywood is littered with unsympathetic portrayals of the financial industry, from Oliver Stone’s 'Wall Street' to 'American Pyscho' and 'The Wolf of Wall Street'.
"The late law professor Larry E Ribstein, who studied the relationships between the financial industry and the media and entertainment sector, once wrote that such portrayals reflected an underlying
resentment felt by filmmakers and other artists towards financiers, and in particular the capitalists’ presumed preference for commercial over artistic success," writes Lee. Read his feature to find out more about the dynamic relationship between the entertainment industry and private equity investments.
In another thought-provoking piece for Private Equity Wire this week Alex Di Santo, group head of private equity at Crestbridge, outlines how – despite Covid – venture capital activity across the globe remained robust throughout 2020 and deal activity, thus far in 2021, suggests venture capital will continue to fly high this year.
Di Santo takes us through some of the Covid winners, challenges and opportunities in ESG within the VC space, and discusses what managers can do to thrive in this new financial environment.
Karin Wasteson
Editor, Private Equity Wire
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| Unlocking the potential for private equity investment in the entertainment industry | | Fri | 26 Feb 2021, 14:01 | | By Joseph Lee, Head of Asia, Atwater Capital – From Oliver Stone’s "Wall Street" to "American Pyscho" and "The Wolf of Wall Street", the history of Hollywood is littered with unsympathetic portrayals of the financial industry. The late law professor Larry E Ribstein, who studied the relationships between the financial industry and the media and entertainment sector, once wrote that such portrayals reflected an underlying resentment felt by filmmakers and other artists towards financiers, and in particular the capitalists’ presumed preference for commercial over artistic success. |
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