Albion Ventures has sold its six cinema investments for approximately GBP12.5m. Funds managed or advised by Albion Ventures initially invested GBP1.2m alongside UK art-house cinema operator City Screen to develop the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse in 1999. Albion subsequently invested further funds to develop the Picturehouse at FACT in Liverpool in 2002, the Greenwich Picturehouse in 2004, The Ritzy in Brixton and the Exeter Picturehouse in 2005 and Cinema City in Norwich in 2007, with additional funds invested in 2009 to enable the cinemas to become fully digital. The investments were sold as part of the sale of the City Screen

US deal flow is likely to remain tempered in 2013 with activity remaining at or near a 10-year low. Ernst & Young’s transaction advisory services says macroeconomic ambiguity combined with a continued corporate focus on lower risk, organic growth opportunities and smaller, strategic deals will define deal-making in 2013. "In the short-term corporates are hesitant to do deals; nevertheless there is huge pressure for companies to grow in the sluggish economy and M&A opportunity exists for those companies willing to be bold in today’s market," says Richard Jeanneret, Americas vice-chair, transaction advisory services for the global Ernst & Young organisation.

Bertram Capital has made a growth investment in Paula’s Choice, a skin care and cosmetics company with distribution in 50 countries around the world.  Paula’s Choice is known for its content-driven ecommerce platform offering proprietary products, extensive skin care research, and exclusive reviews of more than 45,000 products from other brands. Hailed by Oprah Winfrey as the "Cosmetics Cop", founder Paula Begoun has grown the company from a single book, Don’t Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me, to an online resource for skin care and makeup products and advice. Begoun will continue to play an instrumental role as the

CI Capital portfolio company Transplace, a provider of transportation management services and logistics technology, has acquired Torus Freight Systems, a Canadian-based logistics services company focused on Canadian cross-border and intra-Canada freight. Torus was represented by Corporate Finance Associates. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. “Acquiring Torus, a leading Canadian 3PL, continues our expansion through strategic acquisition. In 2011, Transplace acquired SCO Logistics to broaden our vertical experience in chemicals and joined forces with Celtic International bringing us door-to-door intermodal expertise. Geographic expansion was our goal, and that’s exactly what we have accomplished with this acquisition,” says Transplace chief

Young Innovations is to be acquired by an affiliate of Linden Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm that focuses on middle market leveraged buyout investments in the healthcare and life science industries. Young Innovations develops, manufactures and markets supplies and equipment used by dentists, dental hygienists and consumers. Under the terms of the agreement, holders of outstanding shares of common stock of Young will receive USD39.50 per share, representing a 12.5 per cent premium to the 30-day average closing stock price.  The agreement was unanimously approved by Young’s board of directors. Alfred E. Brennan, chairman and chief executive officer,

High Road Capital Partners has sold Accentus, marking the second exit for the firm’s debut fund, High Road Capital Partners Fund I. The sale generated a 3.1x gross cash-on-cash return and a 49 per cent gross IRR for High Road. The firm’s first exit was Milwaukee Gear in February 2012.   Ontario-based Accentus is a provider of medical transcription, document imaging, and remote coding technology and services to hospitals and physician groups in Canada and the US. Accentus was acquired by Nuance Communications.   “In the three and a half years High Road owned Accentus, revenues and EBITDA increased by

Iris Capital, a European venture capital group specialising in digital economy, has completed an investment in Lookout through the Orange & Publicis initiative. Lookout specialises in smartphone security with 30 million users across 400 mobile networks in 170 countries. The company delivers protection from the growing threats facing mobile users today, including malware, phishing, privacy violations, data loss, and loss of the phone itself. Iris Capital is joining other investors Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures and Index. Orange has announced a global strategic partnership with Lookout. Starting in France, Slovakia, Spain and the UK, Orange customers (as well as

Land mine clearance group MineTech International has been acquired by a German group in a deal arranged by Livingstone Partners. MineTech International provides land mine clearance and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) services for governments, NGOs such as the United Nations, and private sector businesses within the oil and gas sector. Livingstone advised the shareholders of MineTech, including private equity investor MML Capital Partners, on the sale. Headquartered near Gloucester, MineTech was established in 1989 to work in former conflict areas across the developing world, clearing “explosive remnants of war” so that land can be redeveloped for humanitarian and commercial purposes.