Brunswick Group maintained its lead at the top of the global mergers and acquisitions league tables by value, with a USD82bn lead over second placed Joele Frank Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher, according to a report by mergermarket. Brunswick advised on 131 deals worth a total of USD224bn. FD advised on 25

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is severing its ties with Pacific Corporate Group as part of the pension fund’s ongoing strategic review of its private equity programme and investment partners. Aviva Capital, a former joint venture partner with PCG, will continue to manage over USD1bn of invested and committed

Affiliates of Bain Capital have agreed to acquire all the outstanding stock of retail firm Gymboree for USD65.40 per share, or USD1.8bn. Under the terms of the agreement, which has been unanimously approved by Gymboree’s board of directors, Gymboree stockholders will receive USD65.40 in cash for each outstanding share of

IK Investment Partners, a Pan-European private equity firm, has agreed to acquire 99.74 per cent of Hansa Metallwerke, which includes its Swiss subsidiary KWC, from its current owners. The Hansa Group is a provider of sanitary fittings for bathrooms and kitchens in Germany, Switzerland and Austria with revenues of EUR194m

The Amplio Group, an operator and investor in the renewable energy and environmental sectors, has acquired Environmental Water Systems (UK)), a provider of integrated water treatment and purification and wastewater recovery services to both the public and private sectors in the UK. This signals the continued expansion of Amplio Filtration,

Channel Islands law firm Carey Olsen has advised Wolseley, a FTSE 100 company, on the creation of a new group holding company. The new group holding company will be UK-listed, incorporated in Jersey and will have tax residence in Switzerland. Wolseley is the world’s largest trade distributor of plumbing and

Octopus Investments and YFM Private Equity have developed a GBP3.95m joint financing package to help Bluebell Telecom expand and incorporate Callstream, the inbound telephony specialist, into the newly formed Bluebell Telecom Group. Bluebell Telecom, a provider of business voice and data services, has built a reputation for managed services in

WhiteGold Fund Management, a multi-strategy London-based family office, has made its first private equity investment in Light Blue Optics. Light Blue Optics raised USD13m in the funding round, which was led by DFJ Esprit. Existing investors Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Earlybird Venture Capital, Capital-E and NESTA also participated and were

Favourable trends are emerging for the US private equity industry, supported by improved valuations and conditions in the capital markets, according to a report issued by Fitch Ratings. Since August 2009, Fitch has assigned initial long-term issuer default ratings to several alternative asset managers, including: • The Blackstone Group: ‘A+’ on