Mourant Ozannes BVI has advised MegaFon, a Russian telecommunications company, on its USD740 million acquisition of a controlling stake in Mail.Ru Group, the internet and social media group. Mail.Ru was acquired from USM Holdings, MegaFon's controlling shareholder.    Cleary Gottlieb acted as onshore counsel to MegaFon.   MegaFon has acquired

Sovereign Capital is to back the management buy-out of Arachas Corporate Brokers, an insurance brokerage operating in Ireland. Sovereign will work with the management team to further grow and develop the business through a strategy of buy and build.   The transaction is subject to approval from the Central Bank

Middle market private equity firm Calera Capital has acquired a majority stake in the Evans Network of Companies, a provider of intermodal and other trucking services through a non-asset based agency model. Bo Bates, Evans’ CEO, the Evans family and management will retain a significant equity interest in the business.

Palatine Private Equity-backed holiday park group Verdant Leisure has acquired its seventh leisure park. Crosslaw Caravan Park in the Scottish Borders is the third holiday park purchase in the last nine months for the bespoke leisure park operator.   The park will be renamed Coldingham Bay Leisure Park with immediate

Cloud solutions provider (CSP) Cloud Direct has acquired Connect Support Services, following hot on the heels of its January acquisition of AOG Group, a Microsoft gold partner for hosting and communications. In previous months, Cloud Direct acquired Redblade in July 2016, ihotdesk in December 2015 and Datel Business Systems in June 2015.   The acquisition of Connect

Private equity firm Lovell Minnick Partners is to acquire a majority stake in Foreside Financial Group, a provider of a variety of regulatory compliance and distribution solutions to clients in the investment management industry. Financial terms of the private transaction have not been disclosed.   Established in 2005 and based

Unigestion and Akina are to merge their private equity businesses to create a specialist in global small and mid-market private equity. The company will have USD6 billion in assets under management and 54 dedicated professionals located in Geneva, Zurich, London, New York and Singapore.   The combination brings together two

Offshore law firm Mourant Ozannes has advised China CITIC Bank Corporation and The Export-Import Bank of China on facilities with a total commitment of around USD2.63 billion for a consortium led by Apex Technology, PAG and Legend Capital Management. The facilities support the consortium's acquisition of Lexmark International, a US-incorporated

Private equity firm ORIX Capital Partners has sponsored a private equity investment and acquired Hoffman Southwest Corp (HSW), a provider of water flow inspection, repair and cleaning services. A former portfolio company of the private equity firm Sterling Partners, HSW provides underground pipe inspection, trenchless pipe repair, excavation and cleaning

HIG Growth Partners’ portfolio company Centerfield Media has acquired Qology Direct. Centerfield is a digital media company that leverages its proprietary technology platform, Dugout, to optimise the customer acquisition process by identifying high value and intent driven consumers at scale across a variety of digital media platforms including search, display,