Yorkville Advisors, the US-based alternative investment manager, has entered into a ZAR50m standby equity distribution agreement on behalf of one of its funds with Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed 1Time Holdings, the parent company of a low-fare airline operating in South Africa. The deal was advised out of London. 1Time entered

Deal activity in the financial services sector is showing signs of recovery as bank restructuring continues to accelerate and private equity firms start to play a bigger role in the sector again for the first time since the economic crisis. According to the forthcoming European Financial Services M&A Insight report

Funds advised by Apax Partners have agreed to sell their majority stake in Ifco Systems to the Australian logistics company Brambles for EUR13.50 per share. Apax acquired the stake in Ifco Systems in November 2003 through the purchase of shares listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Olympus Partners has sold Ann’s House of Nuts, a manufacturer of private label and branded snack nut and trail mix products.  Olympus has owned Ann’s since July 2008. Rob Morris of Olympus Partners says: “We are very pleased with this outcome. The Ann’s management team has done an extraordinary job

American Capital, a private equity firm and asset manager, has given notice today to the holders of its secured debt due in 2013 that it will voluntarily prepay USD107m of the debt on 29 November 2010.   With this prepayment, the amount outstanding under the secured debt will be less than

Actis, an emerging markets private equity firm, has invested USD53m in Gtex, a cleaning products company based in Brazil whose stable of brands include, Urca, UFE and Amazon. Following this investment, Actis will initiate a growth plan for Gtex in the Brazilian market to include new product lines, geographical expansion

Movirtu, a supplier of network infrastructure solutions for mobile operators servicing rural poor communities in Africa and South Asia, has raised USD5.5m series A investment to support its expansion and extend its product portfolio to high growth applications for developed markets.   The investment was led by TLcom Capital with

AGCO, Your Agriculture Company, a manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment, has agreed to acquire Sparex and its trading subsidiaries from Rubicon Partners Industries for GBP53m. Sparex is a distributor of accessories and tractor replacement parts serving the agricultural aftermarket. Headquartered in Exeter, UK, Sparex has operations in 17 countries

Macfarlanes has advised Azini Capital Partners on the formation of Azini 2, a USD100m fund which has been backed by Lexington Partners, a manager of secondary private equity and co-investment funds.    The fund has acquired two partnerships from Apax Partners. The two partnerships own interests in 16 technology companies in