Middle-market private equity firm Wynnchurch Capital’s newly formed portfolio company, Heligear Acquisition Holdings, has acquired substantially all of the operating assets of Northstar Aerospace (NSA) and its subsidiaries through court administered insolvency proceedings in both the US and Canada. Headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Bedford Park, Illinois, the company is a manufacturer of flight-critical and non-flight-critical parts for military and commercial aircraft applications. The company will continue to operate under the "Northstar Aerospace" name and employ substantially the entire NSA workforce. Prior to the acquisition, NSA was publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. "The message for our customers,

Gimv has taken a stake in GOVECS together with BayBG as co-investor. GOVECS is a European manufacturer of e-scooters. The company’s products range from e-scooters with a top speed of 25 km/h to models capable of up to 85 km/h. In 2011 and 2012, GOVECS scooters were named “European E-Scooter of the Year”. In addition to Gimv and BayBG, existing shareholders (including the KfW bank and family offices) participated in the round of financing by contributing fresh capital, taking the total to around EUR10m. The new capital is earmarked for strengthening GOVECS’s leadership role in the growth market for e-scooters

Actis, the pan-emerging markets private equity firm, has confirmed an investment of USD68m in CNA, a provider of English language training in Brazil. A portion of the investment will be funded from Actis’s new global fund, Actis 4.   CNA was established in 1970 and is now among the four largest private suppliers of English language training in Brazil with more than 500 schools nationwide and over 400,000 textbook kits sold per year.   CNA’s customer base includes children and teenagers but its primary target audience is young adults keen to improve their career prospects by learning English.   Actis

North Castle Partners has completed an investment in Curves International, the largest fitness club franchisor in the world with approximately 7,300 locations in 90 countries of clubs specifically designed for women.  North Castle is a private equity firm focused exclusively on health, wellness and active living companies. The terms of the investment by North Castle and its co-investors were not disclosed. "As a firm focused on businesses that promote health, wellness, and active living, an investment in Curves was natural for us," says Chip Baird, North Castle’s founder and managing partner. "We are excited to partner with the company’s founders,

Maven Capital Partners has sold WEMS International to WHEB Partners and members of the WEMS management team, realising the investment made in June 2010 by Maven on behalf of the Capital for Enterprise Fund A. WEMS (formerly Adam Communication Systems International) is a UK based provider of building energy management systems (BEMS) and associated energy management services. WEMS products and services allow customers to reduce energy costs, carbon emissions and to comply with increasing levels of legislation in this area over recent years. Stockport based WEMS was established in 1990 and has many thousands of installed energy management systems within

AXA Private Equity has signed an agreement for the sale of 100 per cent of its interest in Unipex Group to the IK2007 Fund advised by IK Investment Partners. The completion of the transaction is subject to certain customary conditions, but the parties expect the transaction to be completed by the end of September.   Patrice Barthelmes, chief executive of Unipex Group, says: "We would like to thank AXA Private Equity for its active ownership during these four years, which has enabled us to gain a leading position. We remain focused on the future growth of our business and will

Alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group’s infrastructure fund is to acquire from Goldman Sachs Group the North American power generation assets held by Cogentrix Energy, which include five coal and solar power projects in Florida, Virginia, Colorado and California, as well as a development pipeline of gas and renewable power projects. The transaction includes the Charlotte, North Carolina-based Cogentrix team, including professionals who will continue to initiate new power generation projects and acquisitions as well as bring their power asset management and operating expertise to Carlyle’s future investment activity in the power sector. Equity for this investment comes from Carlyle

Brille24, a German online retailer for prescription eyeglasses, has closed an equity financing deal through its holding Tejado with growth investment firm TIME. The company signed a financing deal with growth investment firm TIME for an amount of up to EUR12m, of which EUR7m is invested as of today. Matthias Hunecke, who founded the company in 2007, remains the largest shareholder.   Brille24 offers prescription eyeglasses with the same quality as those sold by the traditional opticians, but at very affordable prices. The frames and corrective lenses are less than one fourth the average price of the traditional optician chains.