The winners of IAIR PRIVATE EQUITY AWARDS 2011 have been finally announced on May 4^th.

The IAIR (International Alternative Investment Review) winners and nominees were selected through an independent survey of readers covering different key practice areas. The online survey was conducted through the IAIR’s readership, an international editorial staff, reporters and global opinion leaders.

According to Alexa – Amazon in terms of international ranking and number of readers, IAIR is one of the leading and fastest growing alternative independent investment magazines worldwide. In fact, IAIR has recently surpassed well known international magazines like Euromoney, Institutional Investor, Reuters Hedgeworld, Financial Time Wealth Monitor.

The online survey showed how our readers and our editorial staff viewed the firms in terms of performance in management and leadership in their range.

Here is the complete list of The Top 10 European Private Equity Excellence:

EUROPEAN FUNDRAISING OF THE YEAR (GILDE BUY OUT PARTNERS)

SECONDARIES DEAL OF THE YEAR (LEXINGTON PARTNERS – CITIGROUP)

EUROPEAN INVESTMENT OF THE YEAR (TAKKO HOLDINGS – APAX PARTNERS)

EUROPEAN EXIT OF THE YEAR (BALCO – 3i GROUP)

EUROPEAN VENTURE CAPITAL FIRM OF THE YEAR (AUSTRALIA, MINING)

EUROPEAN MEZZANINE OF THE YEAR (GOLDMAN SACHS MEZZANINE PARTNERS)

EUROPEAN RESTRUCTURING FIRM OF THE YEAR (OAKTREE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT)

EUROPEAN SECUNDARIES FIRM OF THE YEAR (COLLER CAPITAL)

EUROPEAN MID-MARKET BUY-OUT FIRM (BRIDGEPOINT CAPITAL)

EUROPEAN LARGE BUYOUT FIRM OF THE YEAR (BAIN CAPITAL)

Regional Award: for Italy  www.premiolefonti.it

The winners of IAIR CORPORATE AWARDS 2011 have been finally announced on March 20^th.

The IAIR (International Alternative Investment Review) winners and nominees were selected through an independent survey of readers covering different key practice areas. The online survey was conducted through the IAIR’s readership, an international editorial staff, reporters and global opinion leaders.

According to Alexa – Amazon in terms of international ranking and number of readers, IAIR is one of the leading and fastest growing alternative independent investment magazines worldwide. In fact, IAIR has recently surpassed well known international magazines like Euromoney, Institutional Investor, Reuters Hedgeworld, Financial Time Wealth Monitor.

The online survey showed how our readers and our editorial staff viewed the firms in terms of performance in management and leadership in their range. Among the Corporate Excellence awarded can be found: Vodafone, Louis Vuitton, Novartis, Daimler, Basf, Htc, Christian Dior.

Here is the complete list of The Top 20 Global Corporate Excellence:

TENCENT HOLDINGS (CHINA, TELECOMS)

VODAFONE (UK, TELECOMS)

NOVARTIS (SWITZERLAND, PHARMACEUTICALS)

MERKK KGaA (GERMANY, PHARMACEUTICALS)

NEWCREST MINING (AUSTRALIA, MINING)

SHANDONG GOLD MINING (CHINA, MINING)

ARCELOR MITTAL (INDIA, MANUFACTURING)

CHINA LIFE INSURANCE (CHINA, INSURANCE)

CONOCOPHILIPS (US, ENERGY)

BASF (GERMANY, CHEMICALS)

DAIMLER (GERMANY, AUTOMOTIVE)

ABB (SWITZERLAND, AUTOMOTIVE)

BHARTI AIRTEL (INDIA, TELECOMS)

HTC (TAIWAN, TELECOMS)

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL (ENERGY, NETHERLANDS)

CHRISTIAN DIOR (LUXURY GOODS, FRANCE)

SAP (SOFTWARE, GERMANY)

CARTIER (LUXURY GOODS, FRANCE)

LOUIS VUITTON (LUXURY GOODS, FRANCE)

FeDeX (LOGISTICS, US)

For the complete list please visit also the following link:

http://www.iaireview.org/award2011/?page_id=367

The winners of IAIR LEGAL AWARDS 2011 have been announced on December 15^th. The IAIR (International Alternative Investment Review) winners and nominees were selected through an independent survey of readers covering different key practice areas.

CAREY Y CIA ABOGADOS was awarded as winner of IAIR Legal Awards 2011 (Chile).

Since its foundation (1905), Carey y Cìa has been committed to professional excellence. It is a core conviction of the firm that the practice of law is an honorable and enriching activity, which carries with it the responsibility of following the highest ethical standards.

“ We are very pleased to have won an award from IAIR – said Jorge Carey, Senior Partner of Carey y Cìa – and very much appreciate the honor and we hope to continue recognized as being one of the leading full service law firms in Chile.”

What are the goals of your law firm for 2012?

“We look forward to continue expanding and strengthening our practice areas and to continue being able to recruit the best law graduates in our country.”

The winners of IAIR LEGAL AWARDS 2011 have been announced on December 15^th. The IAIR (International Alternative Investment Review) winners and nominees were selected through an independent survey of readers covering different key practice areas.

KIRKLAND & ELLIS was awarded as winner of IAIR Legal Awards 2011 (USA).

Kirkland & Ellis has a 100-year history of providing exceptional service to clients around the world in complex litigation, corporate and tax, intellectual property, restructuring and counseling matters. The groundwork has been established for another century of superior legal work and client service.

“We are honored to be recognized by IAIR as among the top USA law firms for alternative investment managers – commented Scott Moehrke, Partner -. Over the last few years, Kirkland has increased its commitment to growing the hedge fund practice. We believe our efforts have been successful, as evidenced by the growing number of hedge fund formations and related projects on which we have been retained. This award is a testament to those efforts.”

What are the goals of your law firm  for 2012?

“We hope to continue gaining market share with large hedge fund managers in 2012. Over the last two years, we have steadily gained market share in this area. We believe this growth is fueled by the desire of large hedge fund managers to have one law firm that can handle their global needs for fund formation, regulatory compliance and, if needed, litigation and enforcement cases. We believe this trend will continue, and with a dedicated team of investment management attorneys and private funds lawyers offering creative solutions and superior service to clients across the range of investment and advisory services, we are well-positioned for continued success.”

The winners of IAIR LEGAL AWARDS 2011 have been announced on December 15^th. The IAIR (International Alternative Investment Review) winners and nominees were selected through an independent survey of readers covering different key practice areas.

GENCS VALTERS LAW FIRM was awarded as winner of IAIR Legal Awards 2011 (Estonia).

Gencs Valters Law Firm in Latvia was established in 2000, Riga (Latvia), where the firm’s main office is located. In 2007 the firm expanded in the Baltic’s by establishing offices in Tallinn (Estonia) and in 2008 in Vilnius (Lithuania).

“We are full service law firm in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania – said Valters Gencs, Founder of Gencs Valters Law Firm – general practice international business law firm, which specializes in tax, mergers and acquisitions, labour, corporate, intellectual property, immigration and litigation in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia. The law firm has 13 lawyers and tax consultants in the Baltic’s. The firm has particularly strong ties with Scandinavian clients due to its involvement in the Scandinavian chamber of commerce’s activities”.

Mr. Valters Gencs serves as the Chairman of the Norwegian Chamber of Commerce in Latvia and has lectured in the Stockholm’s School of Economics in Riga.

“We are glad to receive the award from the honorable publication IAIR which news we follow constantly and appreciate insider look at various subjects, specifically succession planning and green energy issues – commented Valters Gencs -. As regards to the Baltic states, due to drastic decrease of real property prices, there is plenty of opportunities in investing long term in real estate and actually the banking industry is putting a bet on that in many occasions overtaking mortgaged properties of non performing loans into related real estate companies for a fraction of the value, hoping in long term earn on the increase of the property value.  Secondly, government offices and municipalities in the Baltic states has become more flexible in retaining and obtain new strategic investments and interested parties are welcome to negotiate terms of investments. Especially in respect is ahead Lithuanian and Estonian governments. Thirdly, the Baltic’s as part of the EU from 2004 has excellent place for VAT transactions, especially Estonia and Latvia for companies outside EU. Attractive may be also Estonia corporate income tax regime which does not tax undistributed profits.”

IAIR Awards 2011, II edition, took place successfully on November 11, 2011 at the Visconti palace in Milan, Italy.  The IAIR winners and nominees were selected through an independent survey of investors covering all different areas of alternative investments.  The online survey was conducted through the IAIR’s readership, an international editorial staff, reporters and global opinion leaders.  The survey showed how market professionals, individual and institutional investors viewed their service providers in terms of overall quality of service.

The Excellence for FX Services in Australia was awarded to Vantage FX in recognition of their expertise.

Vantage FX is an Australian registered company providing competitive foreign exchange (Forex) trading services to Australian and International clients. Through our Vantage FX MetaTrader 4 platform, clients have access to world leading trading software with fast execution and low spreads, all backed with our quality service. With Vantage FX clients can get maximum leverage, straight through processing and extensive educational resources available at a click of a button.

“Vantage FX is very proud to receive the IAIR award for Excellence for FX Services in Australia. We would like to thank everyone who nominated and voted for us”, stated Antony Goddard, Director of Vantage FX.

“Throughout 2012 we will continue to maintain our high standard of customer service and continue to reinvest into the trading infrastructure to provide a superior trading experience for our clients.”

IAIR Awards 2011, II edition, took place successfully on November 11, 2011 at the Visconti palace in Milan, Italy.  The IAIR winners and nominees were selected through an independent survey of investors covering all different areas of alternative investments.  The online survey was conducted through the IAIR’s readership, an international editorial staff, reporters and global opinion leaders.  The survey showed how market professionals, individual and institutional investors viewed their service providers in terms of overall quality of service.

The Excellence in Alternative Investments North America was awarded to Blott Asset Management in recognition of their expertise for alternative investments.

Founded in 2005, Blott Asset Management is a leading middle market, solution oriented investment firm. The firm works on behalf of blue chip institutional investors, managing positions in companies facing difficult strategic, ownership, operational, and liquidity challenges.

The IAIR Award was given to Blott Asset Management in recognition for its distinguished performance in the US equity market since 2005. Blott Asset demonstrates skill, guile, and an ability to manage a broad range of complex scenario investments, at a time when solution oriented capital is ingrowing need in Europe,America, and around the world.

“We are pleased to be recognized by IAIR and our institutional investors and partners for delivering a six year record of achievement during this difficult credit environment”, commented Patrick Blott, the firm’s Managing Partner. “We oversee investments that are complex to structure and manage. They require tireless commitment to diligence, active leadership, and creativity to shape outcomes. And we’ve been fortunate to work with, and learn from, some of the very best. We pursue a disciplined approach toachieve forecasted exits. IAIR is the number one ranked survey of institutional investors allocated to our sector. So it is an honor for us and our advisors to be singled out by them, alongside other notable firms such as Blackrock and Rothschild.”

In particular, the firm was recognized by IAIR for the important role it played as a leader of the Official Shareholders Committee of Canwest Global Communications Corp, Canada’s third largest media company. In presenting the award, David Ward, of the European Commission, commented “Blott Asset’s two years of active engagement with Canwesthelped realize value for many stakeholders, including shareholders, the founding family, creditors, customers, employees, and Goldman Sachs private equity.It demonstrates their strong ability to invest, restructure complex securities, and manage legal aspects that impact value.”

Focus and Outlook for 2012

Most recently, Blott Asset has been working with European financial institutions to achieve FSA and European Banking Authority mandatesforJune 2012. According to Mr. Blott,some institutional lenders are moving beyond cosmetic swap arrangements. “It’s hard to insist on mark-to-market performance when valuations are down. But there’s anurgent need to raise cash and keep credit flowing. We work with the managers who are focused on fundamentals. They makehard decisions, sell assets, and restructure. That process creates opportunities for our investors.Similarly, in North America we’re actively engaged with government regulated sectors, such as defense, infrastructure, media, technology, banking, and energy. New issue loan volume is doing well, with 40% coming from European corporates seeking alternative funding from their EU lenders, most of which are cutting back. However, CLOs still fund a large percentage of that demand. That cannot last. Almost half of existing CLO funds will reach the end of their re-investment period in 2012. As this occurs, the market will struggle to fund loans and extend maturities for existing broken issues. In aggregate, CLO funding represents approximately US$160 billion of inexpensive leveraged loan purchasers that will go away before 2014. There are more than $300 billion of leveraged loans outstanding. As they begin to roll-over, itshouldcreate a lot of opportunities for solution oriented equity investors.”

IAIR Awards 2011, II edition, took place successfully on November 11, 2011 at the Visconti palace in Milan, Italy.  The IAIR winners and nominees were selected through an independent survey of investors covering all different areas of alternative investments.  The online survey was conducted through the IAIR’s readership, an international editorial staff, reporters and global opinion leaders.  The survey showed how market professionals, individual and institutional investors viewed their service providers in terms of overall quality of service.

The Excellence in Alternative Investments, Hedge – Rising Star was awarded to Beneficentia Fund Management in recognition of their expertise for alternative investments.  Beneficential Fund Management achieved excellent performance and confirmed itself as one of the leading companies in the sector of managed futures, private equity special solutions, and multi-asset defensive strategy.

Gino Vandersteen and Stefaan De Jaeger-Braet, founding and executive directors of Beneficentia Fund Management, were very pleased with the results, particularly as this young management company had its beginnings through a dynamic partnership only 3 years ago following a decade of excellence in managed accounts.

“Since the launch of our Managed Accounts in 2003, our performance has been exceptional and consistent with a net yield of more than 2800%.  Our funds are replicating this consistency and our award confirms the value of Beneficentia’s trading methodology and approach to risk management” said Gino Vandersteen.

“This award recognizes our achievements but also strengthens the confidence in our model and values as we continue to deliver growth with improvement,” said Stefaan De Jaeger-Braet.

What are the goals of your company for 2012?

In 2012, Beneficentia Limited aims to pursue growth by developing specialised solutions in niche asset classes for our Institutional investors, Private Banks, Fund of Fund Managers, Family Offices and High Net-Worth Investors.

After considerably strengthening our management team, we now concentrate on further growing our expert teams and technical resources to match our development plans, which include our UCITS management company license.

We have recently expanded our product range with the Essentia Diversified Managed Futures Fund and will soon be launching the Beneficentia Real Assets Fund – capturing real asset growth opportunities while providing liquidity through partial allocation in managed futures.

The firm’s Founder – Piotr Kochanski is delighted with winning the IAIR Legal Award (Section: Poland) and agreed to comment about it to IAIR Magazine.

Could you let us know what  it is, in your opinion, that brought you to win the IAIR Legal Awards (Section: Poland)?

It is a great honor for us to be given such an award from such an innovative and influential publication. This confirms our belief that our unique approach to client service continues to be appreciated. As IAIR (International Alternative Investment Review) is one of the fastest growing alternative investment magazines worldwide, without a doubt the IAIR LEGAL Award will help us gain wider recognition both in Poland and abroad.

What are the goals of your law firm for 2012?

We are a full scope business law firm in Poland with 3 branches across the country, providing
a multi-lingual service to international and local clients. Client service is of primary importance and we aim to offer our current and future clients more services tailored to their individual needs and contributing to resolving their business problems. We are continuously expanding and developing our departments to the benefit of our clients.

Could you give us an example?

Of course, one recent example is the formation of our New Connect Law Practice, which provides comprehensive legal advice on any and all issues related to the alternative trading system on the New Connect market, organized and regulated by the Warsaw Stock Exchange, which is the largest national stock exchange in CEE and one of the fastest-growing exchanges in Europe.

Your law firm is also up to date, especially in the IT sector…

Yes, in fact another example is the creation of our unique and innovative internet application called IRAAPORT, which allows clients to access their files and view the status of all work carried out remotely 24/7 from any corner of the globe.

What is the importance of focusing on new ambitious lawyers?

As we see it, quality also means building professional development and promotion opportunities for our lawyers, to help build an “at your service” mentality for the benefit of clients. When we employ new lawyers, we ask ourselves if they have what it takes to become one of our partners in the future. This is the foundation we build our firm on and it allows us to recruit high caliber talent, which is then reflected in the high quality, great value of our services.

2012 promises to be successful for you and for your clients…

So yes, more services and greater value for our clients will be our top priority in 2012.

The IAIR AWARDS 2011, II edition, took place successfully on November 11^th at the Visconti Palace in Milan. INDIA CAPITAL MANAGEMENT won as Excellence in Alternative Investments – Hedge – Asian Funds.

Jon Thorn, Co-Founder & Director, commented the Award:

We greatly appreciate the support from the investment community, Le Fonti publishers and IAIR in awarding India Capital Management winner of Excellence in Alternative Investments – Hedge – Asian Funds, in recognition of our long and distinguished service in the alternative investment sector and Indian public equities. It is even more rewarding to have won this in an extremely difficult year for the Indian equity market. Battling the challenges of the most aggressive monetary tightening in the world and a weakening currency, the Fund maintained its discipline and investment strategy. Despite this landscape, or perhaps because of the value now available, we were very happy to receive also a strong net inflow of investor capital for 2011. This IAIR award complements our flagship fund’s award of Best India Fund by Eurekahedge last year. These, together with the awards we have won in the past, will serve as benchmarks of excellence which India Capital is confident of maintaining in the years ahead.

And talked about the goals of his company for 2012.

As 2012 begins, we are positioning the Fund for what we think is an unusually attractive set of opportunities ahead. This includes increasing exposure to companies and sectors that we expect to capitalize on the next leg of India’s growth, a number of them not well researched or understood in the wider market. We are also continuing to develop our team and those of our affiliates, which have more than forty five years of combined experience in India investing and research and have been instrumental to the Fund’s distinctive approach. In addition, we are investing in the further enhancement of Compass, our proprietary research database, which gives us access to a range of information and analytics not available to other investors in the Indian market. All of this reflects an ongoing commitment to the fundamental, research-heavy strategy that has underpinned our results to date and will in our view lead to continued performance in the years ahead.