Sala International, the document archiving and records storage business backed by mid-market private equity house LDC, has merged with EDM Group, the document management business backed by ECI Partners. The GBP52m merger, which sees ECI Partners exit its investment, creates one of the UK’s largest providers of outsourced information management services.   LDC originally invested GBP11.5m in Sala International in December 2010 as part of a buy and build strategy. This was followed by an additional GBP4.2m funding package to acquire two complementary businesses, Arrow Imaging and Microstat.   To fund the merger, LDC has provided a substantial further injection

Private equity firm Eigen Capital’s portfolio company Plews, Inc, has completed the acquisition of Solon, OH-based Omega Hose Manufacturing Inc, a subsidiary of ATSCO Remanufacturing Inc. of Phoenix, AZ. Eigen Capital closed the acquisition of Plews, Inc less than six months ago, and the acquisition of Omega Hose Manufacturing is the first strategic acquisition completed by Plews. Terms of the sale have not been disclosed. The acquisition is expected to be meaningfully value-accretive to Plews’s customers, who will see an immediate enhancement of Plews’ SKU coverage of aftermarket power steering hoses; the consolidation of Omega is also expected to allow

FBL Financial Group has agreed to sell its subsidiary, EquiTrust Life Insurance Company, to controlled affiliates of Guggenheim Partners, LLC for a preliminary purchase price of USD440 million in an all-cash transaction. EquiTrust Life sells fixed and indexed annuities and life insurance nationally through independent agents and marketing organisations. Guggenheim Partners, LLC is a diversified financial services firm with more than USD125 billion in assets under management. In addition, FBL Financial Group is announcing several capital management actions including redemption of USD175 million of public senior notes, redemption of USD50 million of affiliate senior notes and a stock repurchase authorisation

Private equity investment firm HIG Capital has acquired certain assets of WhiteHorse Capital, a Dallas-based CLO manager with experience managing over USD1.7 billion of capital, and formed HIG WhiteHorse to provide flexible financing solutions to profitable and performing small and middle market companies. With more than USD1 billion of capital available to deploy into businesses in the US and Europe, HIG WhiteHorse has a broad mandate to provide senior, second lien, uni-tranche, mezzanine, and subordinated debt for refinancings, growth capital, acquisitions, and balance sheet recapitalisations. This transaction marks a significant expansion of HIG’s existing credit platform, which currently manages in

GenNx360 Capital Partners has sold SiVance, LLC to Milliken & Company. Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. SiVance, LLC is a leader in silicone chemistry, focused on the development and manufacture of specialty silicone technologies and intermediates required to modify basic silicone polymers. GenNx360 Capital Partners, LP acquired the assets of Clariant Life Science Molecules (Florida) Inc, a Gainesville, Florida-based subsidiary of Clariant Corporation, through an entity called SiVance, LLC, in August 2009.   "Supported by SiVance’s CEO, Craig Stafford, and the entire SiVance team, we successfully transitioned the business away from Clariant systems within twelve months,

Holland Private Equity (HPE) has invested substantial primary capital in Synova SA (Synova) in a capital increase of up to CHF20 million to become the firm’s largest outside shareholder. The expansion capital will allow Synova to further execute its internationalization, sales expansion and fuel further product development of its unique water-jet guided laser cutting technology. Tim van Delden (pictured), Chief Investment Officer of HPE, says: "Synova has built a great foundation to become a global market leader in laser based cutting and surface conditioning solutions. Their unique, patented technology and the market demand in multiple sectors provide an excellent basis

The total value of UK mergers, acquisitions, flotations, rights issues and placements was GBP181.4 billion in the first nine months of 2011, an increase of 15.7 per cent on the same period in 2010, according to Experian Corpfin. This was despite the overall volume of deals falling by 6.7 per cent to 3,169.   The value of UK mid-market transactions where a consideration was disclosed was up by 18 per cent to GBP159.5 billion on the year, against just one per cent fewer transactions (549).   Rothschild has been the most active financial advisor by volume with 58 deals, while