The Carlyle Group has made a significant investment in Addison Lee, a well-known brand in the transportation and private hire services in London and the South East of England.   Capital for this investment will come from Carlyle Europe Partners III, a EUR5.4bn fund that makes mid and large cap investments. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.   Founded in 1975 with one car, Addison Lee has grown to a fleet of over 4,500 vehicles. Today, Addison Lee has a significant, established footprint in private hire services across London carrying over 10 million passengers and couriering one million deliveries

Gruner + Jahr, advised by CMS Hasche Sigle, has sold its stakes in various Polish companies that handle G+J’s magazine business in Poland to Burda International.   Bertelsmann and Constanze (Jahr Group) were also included on the vendor side.   The Polish G+J companies publish well-known titles such as Gala, Glamour and National Geographic.   The transaction is currently awaiting approval from the merger control authorities.   A team led by corporate partner Dr Henrik Drinkuth advised Gruner + Jahr on the cross-border transaction.

Lyceum Capital-backed Access Group, a developer of business management software, has acquired SaaS-based staff planner and team management solution TeamSeer, increasing the number of subscribers to its cloud-based platform aCloud.   The transaction represents Access’ ninth add-on since Lyceum Capital invested in the company in March 2011.   Access is one of the top five fastest growing UK software developers in The Sunday Times Buyout Track 100 2012 and featured in last year’s Profit Track 100. It has over 300 customers across well-known brands including Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann Erickson, Siemens and the New York Stock Exchange.   The TeamSeer

European Capital and its affiliates have received proceeds of EUR7.2m from exiting their investments in Scaff’holding.   European Capital realised a circa 1.8x money multiple on its initial investment, representing a circa 13 per cent IRR.   In April 2007, European Capital invested EUR7.5m in the mezzanine facility, along with Capzanine, to support the secondary buyout of Scaff’holding by Equistone, formerly Barclays Private Equity. In October 2011, the company partially repaid the mezzanine facility and European Capital received EUR3.1m.    Scaff’holding, based in Paris, France, specialises in the rental and sale of scaffolding and shoring systems.  Through its network of local

Fits.me has secured total series A investment of close to GBP5m led by existing investor SmartCap, with new participation from Conor Venture Partners, Fostergate Holdings and The Entrepreneur’s Fund. Previously, in May 2009 and August 2010, the company received total seed and early-stage investment of just under GBP1.75m from Smartcap and angel investors, and GBP0.5m in grants.   Fits.me develops, markets and operates virtual fitting room solutions on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis for online clothing retailers, helping them to overcome the problems of low online conversion rates and high garment returns rates caused by doubt over fit and poor fit

Private equity firm The Riverside Company has added Pennsylvania-based TerraSim to its Bohemia Interactive Simulations sro platform.   Bohemia develops and provides games for training technology and interactive simulation systems for defence, emergency and mission-critical customers.   TerraSim delivers to Bohemia its capabilities in automated terrain generation software, which is a highly specialised niche.   “TerraSim builds the world’s best terrain generation software,” says Riverside partner Martin Scott, who leads Riverside’s software and IT specialisation in Europe. “This acquisition accelerates Bohemia’s technical capabilities and should open new opportunities for the company.”   Bohemia plans to retain operations at TerraSim’s Pittsburgh

Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners’ BioDiscovery 4 – its fourth fund dedicated to life sciences – has made its first investment through its participation in the series A financing round of Allecra Therapeutics, which it co-leads with Forbion Capital Partners.   EMBL Ventures is also part of the syndicate.   Allecra was formed in 2013 in France and Germany as a strategic partnership between Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited (Chennai, India), the founders – including Allecra’s CEO Nicholas Benedict – and the two lead investors. This Series A financing of EUR15m will support early clinical development of two new antibiotic

BDA, along with its co-adviser in France, Easton Corporate Finance, has advised Aixam Mega’s shareholders, including the majority shareholder AXA Private Equity, on the divestment of Aixam Mega Group to Polaris Industries of the US, a manufacturer of snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles.   Despite a challenging economic environment in Europe, BDA and Easton mobilised their international teams to identify, access and motivate potential industrial buyers and thus offered Aixam’s shareholders a choice between several offers coming notably from North America and Asia.   For more than 25 years, Aixam Mega Group has been the European leader in the light quadricycle

The number of mergers and acquisitions deals that leak has declined dramatically over the last two years, as the risks from leaking rise and regulatory pressures increase, according to research from IntraLinks.   The research study, conducted with the M&A Research Centre at Cass Business School, London and Remark, examined more than 4,000 transactions from 2004 through 2012 and interviewed 30 M&A practitioners in Europe and the US. It found that leaked deals take longer to execute and are significantly less likely to close.   The research interviews also showed that most deal leaks are deliberate, with leaking by sellers