Vance Street Capital, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, has sold Micross Components, a provider of specialty electronic components, to Insight Equity, a private equity firm. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. Vance Street acquired a majority interest in Micross Components in 2009 and grew the company’s revenue both organically and through the integration of two acquisitions – Chip Supply in 2010 and Ditronix in 2011. These acquisitions bolstered the company’s capabilities, allowed it to enter new markets and provided significant cost-saving opportunities. During this time period, Micross also consolidated all of its sales and marketing efforts under

Affiliates of Apollo Global Management are to acquire Aurum, a luxury jewellery retailer in the UK, which includes the Watches of Switzerland, Mappin & Webb and Goldsmiths brands within its portfolio. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2013 and is subject to customary closing conditions. Sanjay Patel, head of international private equity for Apollo, says: “Aurum is a leader within the luxury watch retail industry and it has established an enviable position in the UK driven by exceptional service and customer experience and strong partnerships with most of the world’s major watch brands. We look

High Road Capital Partners has completed the acquisition of Accurate Component Sales, the ninth platform company for its debut fund, High Road Capital Partners Fund I.  Based in New Brighton, Minnesota, Accurate is a distributor of industrial fasteners, hardware and components to manufacturers in the upper Midwest.    “Accurate’s consultative and service-oriented model helps small- and mid-sized manufacturers improve and streamline their production operations,” says Jeffrey M Goodrich (pictured), High Road partner. “Accurate is well positioned to benefit from US manufacturing growth and the trend toward tighter supply chain integration.”   Accurate’s co-founder and chief executive Jerry Moehnke will continue

Ongoing access to capital and financing, strengthened balance sheets and divestiture activity will continue to fuel deal activity in 2013, according to PwC US.  An acceleration of deals taking place during the final months of 2012 may result in a lull in activity during the first quarter; however, these sound deal fundamentals are creating optimism that the balance of 2013 will be a stronger year for US mergers and acquisitions (M&A). According to PwC’s US M&A outlook, dealmakers remain hyper vigilant on diligence during the M&A decision making process, analysing each outcome and the various impacts on investment and return

Private equity firm PAI Partners has completed the purchase of a 78.6 per cent stake in Marcolin, an Italian eyewear manufacturer, in a proprietary primary LBO transaction in one of its core investment sectors. The purchase has been carried out by Cristallo, a company indirectly controlled by certain investment funds managed by PAI Partners, which has purchased a stake of 48,842,131 shares representing 78.6 per cent of the share capital of Marcolin at a price of EUR4.25 per share for an aggregate total price of EUR207,579,056.75 from the parties to Marcolin’s shareholders’ agreement (Marcolin family and Della Valle brothers) and

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