Level Equity has announced the final closing of its USD130 million new fund, Level Equity Growth Partners I, LP.   Level Equity’s initial close in Q2 marked the largest new fund raised in the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association. Investors in Level Equity are major corporations, university endowments, charitable foundations, funds of funds, individuals and previously-backed entrepreneurs. "Level Equity is a new firm, purpose-built to support the new generation of promising growth businesses. We founded the firm to provide creative capital to entrepreneurs building innovative technology companies," says co-founder Benjamin Levin.  "We were gratified

EFR Holdings SAS, an acquisition vehicle controlled by funds affiliated with Francisco Partners, acquired on 23 September, 2011 a majority of the share capital and voting rights of eFront SA, a business software solutions provider dedicated to the financial industry, listed on the Alternext Paris market of NYSE Euronext (ALEFT). EFR Holdings SAS has acquired 2,273,793 eFront shares representing 74.19% of the share capital and voting rights of the Company (60.34% on a fully diluted basis) for a cash price of EUR 18.00 per share. The selling shareholders comprised funds managed by CDC Innovation, Odyssée Venture and OTC Asset Management, and the

Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group has acquired ITRS Group, a global provider of real-time monitoring systems for the world’s financial institutions, in partnership with its founders and management. Financial terms have not been disclosed.   ITRS is a fast-growing, multi-award winning technology provider, primarily focused on supplying the financial services sector with trading infrastructure monitoring software. The company has over 600 installations worldwide and its clients include 8 of the top 10 global investment banks, and several brokers, exchanges, hedge funds and data vendors. In the year ended March 2011, ITRS generated more than GBP16 million in revenues.

 Investec Specialist Bank’s (‘Investec’) Fund Finance team has provided a EUR15 million loan to F&C European Capital Partners LP (F&C), a private equity fund of funds focusing on the European mid-market of private equity including buyout, mezzanine and co-investments.   The three year loan facility is provided to the F&C European Capital Partners LP fund, which closed in June 2008 with commitments of EUR173m from a variety of Dutch, German and British public pension funds and insurance companies as well as private clients.   Investec’s loan will enable F&C to introduce a moderate amount of gearing to this maturing fund

Private equity firm The Gores Group, through an affiliate, has signed an agreement to acquire Alpheus Communications, one of the largest fibre network and data centre operators in Texas. he Gores Group intends to combine Alpheus with First Communications, an existing Gores portfolio company. Genesis Park, LP and El Paso Corporation are the sellers. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Alpheus Communications has a strong presence in Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio — four of the fastest growing markets in the United States. The acquisition includes more than 2,800 route miles of long-haul fibre and nearly 3,250

Private investment firm First Reserve Corporation has made an investment in Amromco Energy, the largest and leading independent oil and gas producer in Romania. The investment is the first stage in First Reserve’s plans to build an oil and gas platform in the Central and Eastern European region.   Amromco is the third largest gas producer in Romania, after Romgaz and Petrom, and is focused on the acquisition of upstream oil and gas projects in emerging markets and their subsequent enhancement through the application of state of the art extraction technologies.   Founded in 2002, Amromco is an established business

 SPA Future Thinking has acquired full-service market research consultancy Essential Research for an undisclosed sum.   Essential is a specialist in the media, communications, technology and entertainment sectors with a client portfolio that includes the BBC, Microsoft and O2. It offers a range of qualitative, quantitative and hybrid research methodologies to its clients.   The consultancy retains its own identity and continues to service its clients out of established offices in the New Kings Road. It is headed up by Luca Antilli, an Essential founding partner, who has taken the role of managing director. Antilli leads a team of 14 whilst

Mid-market private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners has agreed the sale of cadooz AG to Nasdaq-listed strategic buyer, Euronet Worldwide (Euronet), a leading global electronic payments provider and distributor, headquartered in Leawood, Kansas, USA.  The details of the transaction were not disclosed.   cadooz, headquartered in Hamburg, is Germany’s largest full-service provider of vouchers, innovative merchandise and incentive solutions, generating annual revenue in 2011 of EUR80 million. The Company serves more than 3,000 corporate customers across a range of industries in Germany, Austria and Poland, offering a broad range of multi-choice gift certificates and cards that can be redeemed at more

PeerApp Ltd, a leading provider of transparent Internet caching and content delivery platforms, has closed a growth equity investment led by Summit Partners.   Also participating in the round are Cedar Fund, Evergreen Partners, Pilot House Ventures Group and existing investors in PeerApp. The funds will be used to accelerate PeerApp’s commercial efforts and support the company’s continuing global expansion. PeerApp’s UltraBand transparent Internet caching platform enables network operators to deliver and accelerate Internet video and other forms of multimedia content. The company’s UltraBand products and content delivery architecture allow operators to meet the bandwidth and service quality challenges of

BV Investment Partners has signed a definitive agreement to sell Vision Communications, a Louisiana based communications and broadband services provider, to EATEL.   Vision provides a comprehensive suite of residential and commercial communications services, including digital video, high-speed Internet, local and long distance telephone, alarm monitoring, and commercial data services.  BV acquired the Company in late 2007 from the Pat Brady family, which had previously owned the business since its founding in 1945.  Under BV’s ownership, the Company expanded its service offerings to include Ethernet Transport services, cell tower fiber backhaul, fiber connectivity to schools, libraries and other governmental agencies