A report released by PrivateEquityCompensation.com signals improvement in the private equity and venture capital markets and an upward compensation trend that will likely continue in 2011. In a year where buyout deals heated up and the big players are complaining of being priced out of the market for some deals,

Capgemini, a provider of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, has acquired the German IT services company CS Consulting from LRPC, a fund managed by SüdBeteiligungen (a subsidiary of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg), founder Berndt Blumenthal and Kurt Rommel. The operation will be funded using the group’s net cash position. The contract was

Bladon Jets, a developer of micro gas turbine engines for cars and power generation, has raised GBP500,000 in a recent funding round from members of the Oxford Investment Opportunity Network, a European technology investment network. Bladon Jets is working with car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover on the development of a

Zoopla.co.uk, a UK property search and information website, has raised a further GBP3.25m of funding. The funding consists of GBP1.75m of new equity finance from existing shareholders, led by venture capital firms Atlas Venture and Octopus, together with a GBP1.5m debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank, the commercial banking division

Chicago-based private investment firm The Pritzker Group has acquired Clinical Innovations, a medical device maker specialising in healthcare solutions for women and their infants. The acquisition is the firm’s first in the healthcare field. The Pritzker Group acquired the Utah-based medical device maker from RoundTable Healthcare Partners, a private equity

Ridgemont Equity Partners, a middle market buyout and growth equity firm, has acquired a majority investment in Unite Private Networks, a provider of high-bandwidth, fibre-based communications networks. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. UPN specialises in providing high-capacity data communications networks and related services to schools, government,

Axa Private Equity has made a GBP7m investment in James Hull Associates, a UK private and NHS dental services provider. The new funding will allow JHA to progress with its growth programme.   The investment was instituted by Axa Private Equity’s mezzanine team. It is part of a financial restructuring

Arsenal Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, has acquired Para-Chem Southern, a provider of adhesives, coatings and polymers. Concurrent with the transaction, Para-Chem will be merged with Arsenal’s platform investment, Royal Adhesives and Sealants, announced two weeks ago.  Headquartered in South Carolina, Para-Chem offers adhesives, coatings, polymers, surfactants

Edwards, the vacuum technology group, has decided to pursue an initial public offering during the course of 2011. The decision has been made in conjunction with its leading shareholders, CCMP Capital and Unitas Capital. The decision to pursue an IPO follows a period of growth for the group, which is

Darwin Private Equity has entered into an agreement to sell Maxinutrition Group to GlaxoSmithKline for GBP162m. The transaction is subject to approval from the Office of Fair Trading. Maxinutrition, the parent company of Maximuscle, Maxifuel and Maxitone, is a European sports nutrition company. The sale of Maxinutrition is Darwin’s first