The Teamsters Union has requested that private equity firms be prohibited from acting as underwriters for the public offerings of companies they control in a letter to the chief executives of NYSE Euronext and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Teamster-affiliated pension and benefit funds have more than USD100bn invested in

Vanguard Management, a business unit of Vanguard Minerals, has entered into a business development agreement with Genesis Venture Fund India I, a private venture capital fund that makes investments in emerging growth companies in India. Under the terms of the agreement, Vanguard Management will provide ongoing business development and management

Partners Group, the private markets investment manager, has closed its latest European mezzanine programme at EUR553m, making it the largest dedicated direct private debt investment programme raised by the company to date. Investors including corporate and public pension plans, insurance companies, financial institutions, endowments and high net worth individuals from

IK Investment Partners, a Pan-European private equity firm, has signed an agreement with Trallfa, founding owner Gard Lauvsnes and other shareholders to acquire a majority stake in Norwegian Colosseum Dental, a provider of dental care in Scandinavia. Lauvsnes will reinvest a significant proportion of the sale proceeds alongside IK to

Research into companies in the developing world published by CDC, the UK’s development finance institution, shows a strong link between good financial performance and good environmental, social and corporate governance practices.   The research is part of a report detailing the developmental impact of CDC, which is owned by the UK

M/C Venture Partners has closed the sale of the firm’s portfolio company Fusepoint, a privately held managed hosting and collocation services company, to Savvis, a cloud infrastructure and hosted IT solutions provider. The base all-cash consideration for Fusepoint’s stock was valued at the previously-announced USD124.5m, or 10.4x annualized Q1 2010

Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association, has applauded President Obama’s 15 June call to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. He says the President remains committed to finding the most promising clean technology innovations and building companies around them, creating millions of US jobs and

LifeShield Security, an all digital home security system, has closed its second round of funding. Formerly InGrid Home Security, LifeShield is the first national, professional grade and professionally monitored wireless security system that can be set up through a "plug and protect" process. Since December 2009, LifeShield has raised nearly

Soligenix, a late-stage biopharmaceutical company, has entered into common stock purchase agreements with existing and new investors totalling approximately USD5.16m. Soligenix’s North American commercial partner, Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals, participated in this financing. Upon closing of the private placement, Soligenix will issue approximately 25,178,180 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase