Kingdom Zephyr Africa Management, the pan-African private equity firm, has exited its 11.65 per cent stake in CNIA Saada Assurance, Morocco’s largest auto insurer. The divestment comes as part of CNIA Saada’s initial public offering on the Casablanca Stock Exchange. Kingdom Zephyr made its USD27.5m investment in CNIA Saada via

The Dow Jones US Venture Capital Index measured 1,183.21 at the end of the second quarter 2010, down 18.29 per cent from 31 December 2009.   According to Sand Hill Econometrics, which co-developed the index’s methodology, there were two factors behind the decline.  One is several “disappointing exits” – companies

J.Crew Group, a retailer of apparel, shoes and accessories, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by funds affiliated with TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners.  Millard Drexler will continue as chairman and chief executive and maintain a significant equity investment in J.Crew. Under the terms of

Private equity firm PAI Partners has agreed to buy the Hunkenmoeller lingerie chain from Maxeda Retail Group. Financial terms of the deal were not released. According to the report by Reuters, Hunkemoeller has 500 stores in the Benelux, France and Germany. Last week, Maxeda agreed to sell De Bijenkorf department

Affiliates of Bain Capital Partners have completed the acquisition of retail company Gymboree for USD65.40 per share in cash, or approximately USD1.8bn in the aggregate. The definitive merger agreement was announced on 11 October 2010.  Pursuant to the merger agreement, Giraffe Acquisition, a corporation controlled by Bain Capital, commenced a

Arma Partners, a technology, media and telecommunications M&A advisory firm, has acted as exclusive financial adviser to Gigle Networks on its sale to Broadcom. The transaction is valued at approximately USD83m.   Founded in 2005, Gigle develops system-on-a-chip solutions for home networking over power lines, coaxial cable and phone lines.

Ergon Capital Partners III has reached an agreement with the shareholders of ELITech Group to become a majority shareholder. ELITech Group will be acquired by a newly incorporated company controlled by Ergon, alongside the founders Financière du Bief and Biotech International, the historical financial investors BNP Paribas Développement, Idia Participations,

Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking has part-financed the acquisition, through the provision of USD91.5m senior debt facilities, of a majority shareholding in Creganna-Tactx by the Permira Funds.  Headquartered in Galway, Ireland, Creganna-Tactx Medical supplies products, technologies and services to medical device and life science companies. It specialises in the design

Qype, a user-generated local review site in Europe, has raised EUR3.5m from Vodafone Ventures and a further EUR3.0m from its existing three investors, Advent Venture Partners, Partech International and Wellington Partners. Launched in March 2006, Qype’s communication platform is Europe’s largest site for user-generated reviews and recommendations of places, events