Concord Hospitality Enterprises, a hotel developer, owner and operator, has entered the initial stage of forming a USD300m discretionary private equity fund. The fund, which will focus on acquiring distressed hotels and debt, is expected to close within the next 90 days. Additionally, the company says it continues to aggressively

New Earth Solutions Group, a UK waste treatment and renewable energy company, has completed a first close of its GBP15m equity fundraising announced in August 2009 with a GBP5m investment by Ludgate Environmental Fund. Nick Pople, director of Ludgate Investments, investment adviser to Ludgate Environmental Fund, says: "The strength of

Aquiline Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm investing in the financial services sector, has made an investment in TigerRisk Partners.   Aquiline’s initial investment will support the continued organic growth of TigerRisk, with substantial additional equity available for acquisitions in the US and Europe and to further develop

Castle Harlan, a New York private equity investment firm, and Champ Private Equity, its affiliate based in Australia, have agreed to sell United Malt Holdings, one of the world’s largest producers of malt for the brewing and distilling industries, to GrainCorp, an Australian bulk-grain handler. The transaction would be valued

Yorkville Advisors, the US based investment manager to a family of funds, has executed a SGD10m equity line facility with Advanced Integrated Manufacturing.  Under the terms of the facility, AIM may issue ordinary shares to Yorkville in tranches based on certain criteria at any time over a 36 month period

Causata, a software company that enables companies to optimise customer experience and business results, has secured series A funding from Accel Partners. The USD4.5m initial investment will support Causata’s mission to deliver breakthrough software that empowers companies to understand and engage their customers at any touch point. Causata is led

AVG Technologies, a provider of computer security software, has received a substantial investment from growth private equity firm TA Associates. TA Associates, which has funded companies such as BMC Software, Cadence Design and McAfee, has bought a minority stake in AVG Technologies from its current shareholders for more than USD200m.

Media finance and consulting firm Noci Pictures is in discussions with US and international private equity partners in closing a USD300m dollar structured media and entertainment fund that would finance 20 to 30 films. The firm says many hedge funds, including New York’s Elliott Associates, are seeing premium returns from

TJ Hughes, a big brand discount department store backed by European private equity firm Silverfleet Capital, has outstripped retail sector performance in its year end results to 31 January 2009. The 49 store strong chain saw an increase in turnover of 9.1 per cent to GBP261.3m and an increase in

ITS, a provider of oilfield equipment and services to the global oil and gas industry, has received a USD55m equity investment from energy-focused private equity firm Lime Rock Partners. The agreement provides Lime Rock with a minority stake in ITS in return for providing growth capital. Bob Kidd, ITS Group