Tiger Global Management’s private equity and venture capital arm has made yet another investment in an Indian Internet company. The New York–based investment firm founded by Charles “Chase” Coleman III participated in a $41.5 million Series C funding of Olacabs, a Bangalore-based car rental service, according to crunchbase.com. It reportedly made its first investment in the company more than two years ago.
This is Tiger Global’s second disclosed venture investment this week alone. It led a $5 million fund-raising for Reviews42, described as an India-based product reviews platform, according to livemint.com. The private equity group, run by Scott Shleifer, who started the business, and Lee Fixel, is separate from the firm’s hedge fund and long-only businesses.
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Shares of Microsoft initially climbed a half of a percentage point before settling around its opening price after new chief executive Satya Nadella suggested a major shake-up is coming soon to the software giant. According to the Wall Street Journal, the executive fired off a 3,000-word email asserting that Microsoft needed to “hone in on our unique strategy,” which could be different than its previous “devices and services” focus, and said the company planned to spend July conducting “a dialogue about this bold ambition and our core focus.” Nadella also called on Microsoft senior executives “to evaluate opportunities to advance their innovation processes and simplify their operations and how they work,” according to the report. The stock is a major holding of activist hedge fund ValueAct Capital. Microsoft’s stock is up more than 11 percent so far this year.
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CQS founder Michael Hintze is joining the board of directors of the Vatican bank, which has suffered a number of major resignations and is the target of a criminal investigation over suspicious transactions. Officially known as the Institute for the Works of Religion, it is now headed up by Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, a former CEO of Invesco’s European business.
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Stifel Nicolaus raised its rating on CommonWealth REIT to Buy from Hold, citing several factors, including the recent sale of its 22 million shares of Select Income REIT, a large owner of industrial land in Hawaii and the arrival of new management with a new strategy. Remember, in May the New York–based activist hedge fund firm Corvex Management and New York–based real estate investment firm Related Fund Management saw their entire slate of director nominees elected to the REIT’s board at a special meeting of shareholders.
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In its latest monthly report, Deutsche Bank’s prime brokerage unit states that European and U.S. investors are still interested in event-driven strategies. However, it also found that over the past few months, there seems to be a growing demand for longer-dated credit and special situations opportunities from allocators based in the U.K., Germany and the Nordic region.
