Private equity funds in the US raised nearly as much capital in the first three quarters of 2012 as during the entire 2011 calendar year, according to Dow Jones LP Source. In addition, 2012 commitments from limited partners in Europe are on track to surpass 2011 fundraising.   During the

JZ Capital Partners (JZCP), the London listed private equity fund which invests in US, European and Latin America micro cap companies, deployed a total of USD130.8m across 17 new investments during the six months to the end of August 2012. JZCP made USD85.7m of new investments across all industry verticals

An affiliate of private equity investment firm Paine & Partners has entered into a definitive agreement with Aquanova International, a company controlled by Global Capital Investors II, a private equity fund advised exclusively by Global Finance, as well as with Bellaria Holding, for the sale and purchase of majority ownership

3i-backed SLR Management, the international environmental consultancy, has acquired GSS Environmental, an Australian provider of environmental consulting and project management services to clients in the mining, minerals, land development and natural resource sectors. GSS Environmental is a top three environmental consultant to the coal extraction industry in Australia, having advised

Palatine Private Equity portfolio company Air Energi Group has completed a management buyout led by LGV Capital. The deal sees LGV acquire a majority interest in the business. HSBC provided a senior debt package and various increased working capital facilities globally. Palatine Private Equity, Air Energi Group’s previous investor, has

Graphite Capital, a UK mid-market private equity specialist, has sold NES Global Talent, the international technical recruitment group, to funds advised by AEA Investors for GBP234m. NES places highly skilled contract engineers and project managers with blue chip, multi-national clients, principally in the oil and gas industries, and also in

Econocom, a European business-to-business IT and communications technology infrastructure management provider, has acquired 100 per cent of the shares of Cap Synergy. Cap Synergy, known in the field of IT security and which generates a turnover of nearly EUR10m, brings to Econocom its portfolio of clients consisting of medium and

Houston-based private equity firm Rock Hill Capital Group has closed on a majority recapitalisation of Big Lake Services, a West Texas oilfield services provider operating throughout the Permian Basin. Big Lake, founded in 2006 by chief executive Casey Davidson, has a management team with over 150 years of Permian Basin