The number of private equity fund bidders eyeing Arcandor’s Karstadt department stores in a deal that could merge Karstadt with Metro’s Kaufhof has dropped to four from six. Blackstone Group, widely noted as one of the original bidders, is not interested, according to the report by Dow Jones Newswires. Permira

Caritas Christi Health Care has signed an agreement to be acquired by Steward Healthcare System, a newly formed affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management. Under the terms of the acquisition, CCHC will continue to be managed by its current Massachusetts-based executive team, including president and chief executive Ralph de la Torre.

Private equity firm 3i Group invested a total of GBP311m in the 11 months ended 28 February 2010, compared with GBP898m in the equivalent period last year.  Of this investment, GBP130m was cash invested in the existing portfolio, while the balance related primarily to capitalised interest. Realisation proceeds received by

Chaparral Energy, an independent oil and gas production and exploitation company, has entered into a definitive agreement with affiliates of CCMP Capital Advisors under which CCMP will invest USD345m to acquire a significant ownership stake in the company. Since its inception in 1988, Chaparral has increased reserves and production by

QVT Financial’s QVT Fund has tendered approximately 60 per cent of its shareholding in Galatasaray Sportif in connection with the tender offer for Sportif’s shares by its majority shareholder, Futbol, and realised the economic value under its existing swap arrangements based on the tender offer price. Dan Gold, chief executive

Wachovia Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on investments in growth companies, has become independent from Wells Fargo and been renamed Pamlico Capital. Pamlico will continue to manage its portfolio of over USD2bn in assets, including unfunded commitments available for new investments, on behalf of its existing limited partners.

UK private equity firm Sovereign Capital is backing the GBP10m management buy-out of RehabWorks, a provider of physiotherapy-led back to work rehabilitation services. Established in 1999, RehabWorks treats individuals with long-term, musculoskeletal disorders from its centralised triage function and its 19 rehabilitation centres across the UK together with a national

Amati Global Investors, a newly formed investment management firm, has been appointed by the board of the Victory VCT as the new fund manager.  Amati, established in January this year by Paul Jourdan (pictured) and Douglas Lawson, currently manages the Noble AIM VCT and the CF Noble UK Smaller Companies

Andrew Page, a distributor of automotive parts to UK garages, servicing centres and retailers, has received an investment from private equity firm Phoenix Equity Partners which values the business at around GBP100m.  Andrew Page is the UK’s largest regional wholesaler of automotive parts, which it distributes to customers across the