Graphite Capital, a UK mid-market private equity specialist, has sold NES Global Talent, the international technical recruitment group, to funds advised by AEA Investors for GBP234m. NES places highly skilled contract engineers and project managers with blue chip, multi-national clients, principally in the oil and gas industries, and also in

Econocom, a European business-to-business IT and communications technology infrastructure management provider, has acquired 100 per cent of the shares of Cap Synergy. Cap Synergy, known in the field of IT security and which generates a turnover of nearly EUR10m, brings to Econocom its portfolio of clients consisting of medium and

Houston-based private equity firm Rock Hill Capital Group has closed on a majority recapitalisation of Big Lake Services, a West Texas oilfield services provider operating throughout the Permian Basin. Big Lake, founded in 2006 by chief executive Casey Davidson, has a management team with over 150 years of Permian Basin

IntraLinks Deal Flow Indicator (DFI) for the second quarter of 2012 shows a 23 per cent increase in global merger and acquisition deal activity compared to Q2 2011.   All regions also showed a year-over-year positive trend for Q2 2012 over Q2 2011, with the strongest growth in Asia Pacific

Morgan Stanley Global Private Equity has completed a majority investment in Creative Circle, one of North America’s largest professional staffing firms specialising in advertising, creative and marketing talent. Morgan Stanley Global Private Equity partnered with the current management team who will remain in place and retain a considerable equity stake.

Global merger and acquisitions activity in the first three quarters of 2012 added up to USD1,426.5bn, down by 19.4 per cent on the same period in 2011 (USD1,769.3bn), and representing the second lowest total since Q1-Q3 2009 (USD1,142bn), according to mergermarket. Q3 2012 totalled USD433.5bn, down 20.2 per cent from

An affiliate of private equity firm Roark Capital Group has acquired Massage Envy, the largest provider of massage therapy and facial treatments in the US. "We are thrilled to have Roark as a partner as we continue to grow the Massage Envy brand," says Dave Crisalli, Massage Envy’s president and

Merger and acquisition deal flow into Europe is set to grow towards the end of 2012 and into 2013 as overseas buyers, including those in Asia Pacific, North America and South America, target discounted European M&A opportunities, according to Clifford Chance. Arndt Stengel, M&A partner in Frankfurt, says: "We expect