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

Benihana, the US chain of Japanese theme and sushi restaurants, has been acquired by funds advised by the private equity group of Angelo Gordon.  Each outstanding share of Benihana common stock was acquired for USD16.30 per share in cash, valuing the acquisition at approximately USD295m.  The company is now a

Rutland Partners, a turnaround and restructuring investor, has sold NoteMachine, an independent automated teller machine (ATM) business in Europe, to funds managed by private equity firm Corsair Capital and NoteMachine’s management, who are retaining a significant shareholding in the company. Founded in 2006 by chief executive Peter McNamara, NoteMachine operates

Axel Springer Digital Classifieds, a strategic partnership between Axel Springer and the global growth investor General Atlantic founded in the spring of 2012, has signed an agreement to acquire allesklar.com, which operates Germany’s local portal meinestadt.de. The company is being sold by the founding Stegger family (56.1 per cent) and

New York-based private equity firm Lightyear Capital, has acquired Healthcare Benefit Solutions from Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) in a deal worth USD335m. “FIS has built a market leading position in healthcare account processing and payment services, and this business continues to perform very well,” says Gary Norcross, president and