Careem, a Dubai-based ride-hailing company, was founded in 2012 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by two ex-McKinsey consultants who saw a gap in the transport market. Started as a web-based car booking service for corporate clients, Careem had evolved into a leading application-based booking service in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with a differentiated business model tailored to the tastes and preferences of Middle Eastern consumers. Fuelled by venture capital funding rounds in September 2013 and December 2014, Careem was again on the fundraising trail in 2015 for a Series C investment round to further scale its existing business and continue its roll-out across MENA. The Abraaj Group, a leading emerging markets private equity investor, was interested, but with Uber competing fiercely in the MENA region, it had to decide whether Careem could compete with its well-funded global competitor.
In 2011, Partners Group is nearing the end of a year-long quest for a new mandate from a European pension fund, Future Plan. The fund has struggled with its 6-year old PE programme, consistently falling short of its target allocation to the asset class and generating poor returns, seemingly always one step behind the opportunity in the market. Future Plan has built its PE programme by investing in closed-end funds of PE products managed by two executives, one focused on European markets, the other on global markets. But the fallout from the global economic crisis wreaked havoc with Future Plan's PE programme and something has to change. With an interest in expanding its PE activity to include secondary and direct investment strategies, Future Plan begins a manager search process with one goal in mind: to achieve the target return to the asset class by 2014. The case charts Partners Group's role in the selection process and how its expertise and services, along with a novel holding structure, offer a way to achieve Future Plan's goals. Please visit the dedicated case website http://cases.insead.edu/partners-group to access supplementary material.
The case describes how the Pro-invest Group - a boutique investment firm specialising in private equity real estate and real estate asset management - built its business and raised a first-time private equity fund. The Pro-invest founders had boot-strapped the business since its inception in 2013, but in-house funds were running out by mid-2014 and they needed third-party capital to take the venture to the next level. After deciding on a suitable fund structure, the Pro-invest team hits the fundraising trail. Turmoil erupts when a potential investor pulls out at the last minute, leaving the team in shock to re-evaluate its fundraising options. The case explores the pros and cons of each option in detail. Please visit the dedicated case website http://cases.insead.edu/pro-invest to access supplementary material.
In 2013, the long-delayed IPO of the Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Co. Ltd. (BTSC) took place, but in an unusually complex form. Instead of selling the shares of the company that owned the elevated railway concession, what was offered were investment units in Thailand's first publicly listed infrastructure mutual fund: the BTS Rail Mass Transit Growth Infrastructure Fund (BTSGIF). Proceeds from the IPO were used to acquire from BTSC the rights to the net farebox revenue generated from the railway. The investment exposed investors not only to the operating risk of the railway but to other types such as political risk.
In 2013, the long-delayed IPO of the Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Co. Ltd. (BTSC) took place, but in an unusually complex form. Instead of selling the shares of the company that owned the elevated railway concession, what was offered were investment units in Thailand's first publicly listed infrastructure mutual fund: the BTS Rail Mass Transit Growth Infrastructure Fund (BTSGIF). Proceeds from the IPO were used to acquire from BTSC the rights to the net farebox revenue generated from the railway. The investment exposed investors not only to the operating risk of the railway but to other types such as political risk.
BrisConnections won the bid to construct the Airport Link toll road under a BOOT (Build, Own, Operate and Transfer) PPP model just as the global financial crisis took hold in 2008. Soon the project would take its place among a string of Australian toll road project failures.
In September 2010, Dürr AG issued a corporate bond without the use of underwriters or rating agencies via a new bond issuance platform developed by Boerse Stuttgart. This reflected a growing trend among European corporations to tap capital markets instead of bank debt to secure debt financing.