Beechbrook Capital, a lower mid-market private debt manager, has now fully invested its first fund with the completion of four new transactions. The recent investments are:   A unitranche loan and equity co-investment to support the buy-out by Baird Capital Europe and management of The SR Group, a global specialist

Encore Consumer Capital, a consumer goods focused private equity firm, has closed its second fund with USD211m of commitments, exceeding its target fund size of USD200m. Encore was founded in 2005 by experienced investors Robert Brown and Scott Sellers, and industry executive Gary Smith. Encore Consumer Capital Fund II will

Angelo Gordon’s private equity group has partnered with management to purchase ClearBalance Holdings. The investment will help expand the company’s ClearBalance patient-friendly loan programme, which provides healthcare patients with interest-free loans to pay their healthcare bills in manageable monthly instalments. ClearBalance was founded in 1992 and held by its current

JZ Capital Partners achieved a total shareholder return (share price increase plus dividends paid) of 27 per cent for the period 1 September 2012 to 30 November 2012, according to the firm’s latest interim management statement.   The company also saw a 22.4 per cent increase in the share price

MMC Ventures has enjoyed a record year making a total of 12 investments in fast-growing UK businesses. MMC has backed six new companies while continuing to support its existing portfolio. The whole portfolio raised over GBP36m in total this year, of which GBP14m came from MMC.   According to UK

Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) raised a new USD1bn fund and completed four IPOs, two significant M&A events and 13 new investments in 2012. In June, IVP announced the closing of Institutional Venture Partners XIV, a USD1bn later-stage venture capital and growth equity fund. The new fund follows the recent success

UK start-up firms and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are set to get a GBP1.1m innovation boost to help them develop new ideas, improve processes and target new markets. A second wave of Innovation Vouchers is being made available through the Technology Strategy Board. The extra funding is for

Cortland Fund Services has been chosen by Singerman Real Estate to administer the firm’s private equity real estate fund, Singerman Real Estate Opportunity Fund I (SRE Fund I). Cortland will provide fund accounting, investor servicing, and other middle and back-office support and service for the Chicago-based investment firm’s fund. SRE