Marubeni Corporation and Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), a government-sponsored private equity corporation, have agreed to acquire Seajacks International from funds controlled by Riverstone Holdings.  The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. The sale is expected to close at the end of April 2012.  Marubeni intends to integrate the Seajacks business into its Power Projects & Infrastructure division. Seajacks International is an offshore services company that operates primarily in the European offshore wind market but also serves the European offshore oil and gas markets. Seajacks owns and manages self-propelled jack-up vessels equipped for the harsh conditions of

Appirio, a technology-enabled services provider that helps enterprises power their business with the cloud, has closed USD60 million in Series D funding led by global growth investor General Atlantic, with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital and GGV Capital. Appirio plans to use the funds for investment and M&A to support global expansion of its consulting practice areas, as well as to build out the company’s enabling cloud technology and acceleration of its successful crowdsourcing development platform – CloudSpokes. The financing follows a banner year of growth for Appirio. In 2011 alone, Appirio increased year-over-year revenue by over 80 percent,

DX Group Limited, the UK and Ireland independent mail, courier and logistics network operator, has today completed the acquisition of Nightfreight. The acquisition has been funded from DX cash resources and terms have not been disclosed. Nightfreight is a leading logistics business, with a particular niche in the irregular dimension and weight sector (IDW) for both the business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets.  Its services are complementary to those of DX. The acquisition will create the UK and Ireland’s largest independent mail, courier and network distribution service, providing the broadest range of capabilities to business Customers.   Customers will have access to a full

Beanstalk Management, the boutique corporate finance advisor, has helped secured a follow-on funding round and sourced new investors for nanoelectronics company Surrey Nanosystems, which will allow it to continue to develop its innovative technology. The funding round of GBP4.5 million is one of the largest amounts for any UK semiconductor-focused company in the last year. A spinout from the University of Surrey’s Advanced Technology Institute, Surrey Nanosystems has developed a platform and technology portfolio for partners to deliver nano-materials and technologies to the global semiconductor, renewable energy and clean technology industries. The funding will help the company to continue to

Capital Dynamics, a global private asset manager, has acquired three portfolios of solar energy projects in California and New Jersey, representing investment projects in various stages of development of over USD300 million. The first portfolio features approximately 80 megawatts (MW) of utility-scale solar power generation projects. The portfolio was developed by one of North America’s leading solar energy developers and is comprised exclusively of California-sited solar photovoltaic (PV) installations. The projects are all under long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) with California utilities. Construction work is to begin immediately, with as much as 30MW on schedule to be operational by year-end.

Business Growth Fund (BGF), established to help the UK’s fast-growing smaller and medium sized businesses, has made its first oil and gas industry investment in STATS, an oilfield service sector business.  This is BGF’s first investment in Scotland and its fourth investment since the start of 2012.   BGF is investing GBP7.8m to back STATS’ CEO, Peter Duguid, who together with his sister, Lorraine Porter, founded the company in 1998.  Based in Kintore, near Aberdeen, STATS is an engineering-led business that provides isolation services for onshore and offshore oil and gas pipelines.  Its proprietary tools, manufactured in-house, are used to plug

In a “familiar” move, Amin Amiri of a2e Venture Catalysts, has acquired the worldwide business and operations of Omnova Wallcovering (UK) Limited known as Muraspec, which was part of the commercial wall covering business of OMNOVA Solutions, a US based conglomerate. Net assets of USD11million were purchased by using only USD4m of external debt and the resulting robust financial structure will allow investments in brand and equipment. The deal includes the entire manufacturing and warehousing facilities in Kent and Hemel Hampstead and the worldwide sales and distribution network of Muraspec, operating from bases in London, Paris, Middle East, Dubai, India

The Currency Cloud, an FX payments automation platform, has secured USD4m in Series-A funding, led by Atlas Venture with follow-on participation from Anthemis Group. The company had previously raised USD2M from Anthemis and others.  The funding will be used to ramp commercial activity and continue product development. More than 100 corporate customers already use the company’s SaaS offering and more than 20 platform partners have signed on to use the company’s API. The Currency Cloud’s Software as a Service (SaaS) offering is designed to reduce costs and transform the payments infrastructure into a frictionless process for making and receiving international, multi-currency