French firm Groupe Ludendo, backed by private equity firm NiXEN Partners, has acquired iconic British toy retailer Hamleys in a deal thought to be worth GBP60m. Groupe Ludendo, which currently operates 300 toy stores in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Spain, will be moving into new markets adding 22 Hamleys stores

Duolingo, the free language learning service which translates websites, has raised a USD15m series B round led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with participation from existing investor Union Square Ventures. Helmed by computer scientist and crowd-sourcing pioneer Luis von Ahn, the company will use the funds to accelerate international growth

HIG Capital’s Brazilian affiliate has completed the acquisition of Cel Lep Idiomas, a premium English Language Teaching (ELT) network in Brazil. Headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil, and operating primarily under the Cel Lep brand name, the company operates through 17 owned schools in São Paulo and through four other licensed

Fourth, a SaaS provider of labour, payroll, inventory and procurement systems for the restaurant/bar, hotel, contract catering and leisure markets, has acquired Adaco, a supplier of SaaS based purchasing and inventory control solutions to the hotel sector in the US and throughout the world. With over 400 customers in 54

HIG Europe, the European arm of private equity firm HIG Capital, has completed the acquisitions of ARMetallizing, a Belgium based manufacturer of metallized paper, from Ackermans & van Haaren and Vacumet Paper, a Massachusetts based manufacturer of metallized paper, from Scholle. The combined group aims to be the global market

Alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group has acquired 60 per cent of Tok&Stok, Brazil’s largest specialty furniture retailer by sales, from founders Ghislaine and Régis Dubrule. Dubrule will remain chief executive of Tok&Stok following the transaction and the founders will retain a 40 per cent stake in the company. Equity

iWalk has closed a private series D equity financing round of USD17m led by new investor Gilde Healthcare Partners. Geoff Pardo, partner at Gilde Healthcare Partners, has joined the company’s board of directors. Existing investors, including WFD Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, and Sigma Partners also participated in the financing round.

The Mergermarket Group has acquired Inframation Group. Livingstone advised the shareholders of Inframation on the transaction. With offices in London and New York, Inframation Group is a provider of information and senior-level events for the global infrastructure finance community with four information products: 1. InfraNews is an internationally-respected online news

MidSpan Partners has sold Jordan Technologies to Flare Industries, a portfolio company of Texas-based private equity firm Turnbridge Capital. Jordan Technologies is a supplier of vapour recovery units (VRUs) and the largest service provider for VRUs in the world. MidSpan Partners served as the exclusive financial adviser to the Jordan