Ernst & Young was the most active transaction adviser for private equity and M&A deals combined in 2009, according to the latest league tables from Venture Intelligence. For private equity deals, Ernst & Young was tied with boutique investment banks Mape and o3 Capital for the first position with five

J.P. Morgan Private Equity, the London Stock Exchange listed private equity secondary fund, is increasing the frequency of the reporting and valuation of its private equity portfolio. Since the company’s IPO in June 2005, J.P. Morgan Private Equity has updated the values of its private equity portfolio on a quarterly

Sofinnova Partners, a European venture capital firm, has invested in OpenERP, a provider of open source software management. Sofinnova’s investment is joined by Xavier Niel and Olivier Rosenfeld, manager and board member of Iliad, respectively. In total, EUR3m has been contributed in the form of capital growth. Founded in 2005

Benson Elliot Capital Management, a private equity real estate firm, has exchanged contracts on the acquisition of CBXII, Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes.  The property has been acquired for GBP20.6m from the Caspar Fund, managed by Henderson Global Investors, reflecting an initial yield of ten per cent.   The acquisition, the

FedCap Partners, a private equity fund focused on the federal contracting industry, had its initial closing on 5 February 2010. The objective of FedCap is to invest in and partner with small and middle market federal services and technology companies who are positioned in growing areas of the federal budget

New York based private equity firm Altitude Capital Partners has sold its portfolio company Saxon Innovations, an intellectual property licensing company, to Norman IP Holdings and RPX. The sale includes Saxon’s entire portfolio of 180 patents. Saxon was formed in August 2007 by Altitude to acquire the portfolio from Legerity

Private equity firm BC Partners has acquired a 66 per cent stake in Spotless Group SAS, a manufacturer of laundry and cleaning products, from Axa Private Equity. The transaction is valued at approximately EUR600m. Both Spotless and AXA Private Equity are based in France, while BC Partners is based in

Phoenix Equity Partners, a UK mid-market private equity firm, has reached agreement for the sale of Nationwide Autocentres to Halfords Group for GBP73m. Nationwide is a provider of automotive mechanical repair, servicing and MOT tests across the UK.  Operating from over 220 technical Autocentres, Nationwide has over 600,000 customers.