Alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group has agreed to invest up to USD800m in Genesee & Wyoming Inc (GWI), which will enable GWI to acquire RailAmerica for an all cash purchase price of USD2bn (USD27.50 per share). Equity for the investment will come from Carlyle Partners V, a USD13.7bn US

US-based companies raised USD8.1bn through 863 venture capital deals during the second quarter of 2012, a nine per cent decline in capital and three per cent decline in deals from the same period last year, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. Through the first six months of the year, venture capital

Mercia Fund Management has launched the Mercia Growth Fund, capitalising on the recent introduction of Seed EIS (SEIS) and the marked enhancements to EIS in the Finance Act. Mercia Fund Management believes a hybrid fund will provide investors with a combination of maximised tax efficiency and the flexibility to invest

Private equity firm Cartesian Capital Group and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s USD10bn government-sponsored private equity fund, have acquired stakes in the Moscow Exchange MICEX-RTS from ZAO UniCredit Bank. Following the transaction, the RDIF will own approximately 2.7 per cent and Cartesian will own approximately 2.5 per cent

RIT Capital Partners, the London listed investment trust chaired by Lord (Jacob) Rothschild, has made a long-term investment in Corsair Capital, resulting in it having a minority investment in the GP of the firm. This investment is consistent with RIT’s strategy of identifying and investing in high quality asset managers,

Bain Capital Ventures, a venture capital and growth equity firm, has launched StartUp Academy, an initiative to provide students with exposure to entrepreneurship and insights on how to build a business and work with innovative technologies. Through the StartUp Academy programme, Bain Capital Ventures will seek elite technical talent from

The Aureos Latin America Fund (ALAF) has invested USD10m in a Mexican clinical research organisation, Investigación Farmacológica y Biofarmacéutica (IFaB). ALAF is a fund established by Aureos Capital, a small and mid-cap private equity fund manager investing in global growth markets.   IFaB is a provider of outsourced research and

Coller Capital, an investor in private equity secondaries, has held the final closing of Coller International Partners VI (CIP VI) with commitments of USD5.5bn. CIP VI, which had a target size of USD5bn, will acquire private equity portfolios – positions in existing private equity funds and interests in privately-held companies

RollUp Media has secured EUR1.2m in funding from venture capital firm Arts Alliance and other investors, bringing total funding since its founding to EUR2m. The new investment will enable RollUp Media, which publicly launched in the UK and Australia in May, to continue expansion of its service to help niche