Darden Restaurants has completed the acquisition of Yard House USA for USD585m in an all-cash transaction from private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners, management and investors. This follows the agreement that was announced on 12 July 2012. The total transaction price includes approximately USD30m of cash tax benefits that are

Willis Stein & Partners, Landmark Partners and Vision Capital have completed a transaction benefiting investors in Willis Stein’s third fund, Willis Stein & Partners III. Investors received the option to receive liquidity from the 2000 Fund in cash and/or the opportunity to benefit from the growth potential of the portfolio.

2011 was another year of growth and recovery from the 2009 trough, establishing the Central and Eastern European region as an area of reasonable stability with relative fiscal prudence and continued positive prospects. This is according to the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association’s Central and Eastern Europe Statistics

Bacterin International Holdings, a developer of bone graft material and antimicrobial coatings for medical applications, has closed a USD25m non-dilutive financing with an affiliate of OrbiMed Advisors.  The financing will enable Bacterin to execute its growth strategy through anticipated profitability. Under the terms of the agreement, Bacterin initially received USD20m

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is to acquire David’s Bridal, a retailer of bridal gown and wedding-related apparel and accessories in North America. Leonard Green & Partners will continue as a minority partner.  The transaction values the company at approximately USD1.05bn. Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed. David’s Bridal

Novetta Solutions, a portfolio company of Arlington Capital Partners, has acquired White Cliffs Consulting (WCC). WCC specialises in the digital discovery domain and applies multidisciplinary high-end technical analysis, software engineering, and mission engineering to the entire end-to-end Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) and cyber mission spectrum.  Based in Columbia, Maryland, WCC has

Excellere Partners, a Denver-based private equity firm focused on partnering with middle-market entrepreneurs and management teams, has completed its investment in PhyMed Management, the management services company to Anesthesia Medical Group (AMG). This represents the second platform investment in Excellere Capital Fund II. Nashville, Tennessee-based AMG is one of the

US-based companies were the most active in completing mergers and acquisitions with emerging and high-growth market companies in the first half of 2012, but deal activity dropped by 33 per cent compared with the first half of 2011, according to KPMG International’s latest Emerging Markets International Acquisition Tracker study. The

Global automotive industry merger and acquisition activity slowed during the first half of 2012, according to PwC. In H1 2012, 264 deals closed with a disclosed value of USD10.6bn, reflecting a sizeable decline compared to H1 2011, which totalled 303 completed deals with a disclosed valued at USD18.8bn. "Europe is