Excellere Partners, a Denver-based private equity firm focused on partnering with middle-market entrepreneurs and management teams, has completed its investment in PhyMed Management, the management services company to Anesthesia Medical Group (AMG). This represents the second platform investment in Excellere Capital Fund II. Nashville, Tennessee-based AMG is one of the largest providers of anaesthesia services in the US, with more than 60 physicians and 200 certified registered nurse anaesthetists (CRNA), serving medical facilities within Tennessee. Excellere continues to pursue investments within five targeted industries: healthcare; specialty foods; industrial technology and services; business services; and education and training. AMG’s physician leaders,

US-based companies were the most active in completing mergers and acquisitions with emerging and high-growth market companies in the first half of 2012, but deal activity dropped by 33 per cent compared with the first half of 2011, according to KPMG International’s latest Emerging Markets International Acquisition Tracker study. The semi-annual KPMG study, which tracks completed deals in which an acquirer took at least a five per cent shareholding interest, found that US-based companies completed 108 emerging and high-growth market acquisitions in the first half of 2012, down from 160 in the first half of 2011. This drop in acquisitions

Global automotive industry merger and acquisition activity slowed during the first half of 2012, according to PwC. In H1 2012, 264 deals closed with a disclosed value of USD10.6bn, reflecting a sizeable decline compared to H1 2011, which totalled 303 completed deals with a disclosed valued at USD18.8bn. "Europe is taking a toll on global M&A deal activity," says Paul Elie, US automotive transaction services leader, PwC. "Historically, Europe has been among the most active regions in automotive M&A. That said, automotive companies from emerging countries like China and India have opportunities to acquire technology or market access at favourable

Benihana, the US chain of Japanese theme and sushi restaurants, has been acquired by funds advised by the private equity group of Angelo Gordon.  Each outstanding share of Benihana common stock was acquired for USD16.30 per share in cash, valuing the acquisition at approximately USD295m.  The company is now a privately-held company and will no longer be listed on the Nasdaq national market. Richard Stockinger, Benihana’s president and chief executive officer, says: “We are extremely pleased that our stockholders approved the acquisition at a compelling cash price per share. The Benihana management team is excited to have access to the

Rutland Partners, a turnaround and restructuring investor, has sold NoteMachine, an independent automated teller machine (ATM) business in Europe, to funds managed by private equity firm Corsair Capital and NoteMachine’s management, who are retaining a significant shareholding in the company. Founded in 2006 by chief executive Peter McNamara, NoteMachine operates approximately 7,000 ATMs in the UK and more than 500 ATMs in Germany.  NoteMachine has a seven per cent share of cash withdrawals in the UK and its ATMs dispense GBP5bn of cash every year. Paul Cartwright, managing partner of Rutland, says: "The NoteMachine business we have built with Peter

Axel Springer Digital Classifieds, a strategic partnership between Axel Springer and the global growth investor General Atlantic founded in the spring of 2012, has signed an agreement to acquire allesklar.com, which operates Germany’s local portal meinestadt.de. The company is being sold by the founding Stegger family (56.1 per cent) and by Holtzbrinck Digital Strategy (43.9 per cent).   Founded in 1996, the Siegburg-based company currently employs a staff of about 300 people. Its most important asset is the local portal meinestadt.de, which attracts more than eight million unique monthly users (AGOF). Users turn to meinestadt.de for a variety of local

New York-based private equity firm Lightyear Capital, has acquired Healthcare Benefit Solutions from Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) in a deal worth USD335m. “FIS has built a market leading position in healthcare account processing and payment services, and this business continues to perform very well,” says Gary Norcross, president and chief operating officer of FIS. “TripleTree was retained to help us understand the considerations associated with the healthcare business. We ultimately made a decision to divest of the business. TripleTree provided us with good alternatives as our advisor and was a solid partner throughout the engagement until closing. The divestiture

MSC Care Management, a company backed by private equity firm Monitor Clipper Partners that serves post-discharge and post-injury workers’ compensation claimants, has completed its merger with One Call Medical, a provider of services that lead to faster, more efficient and more cost-effective resolution of claims. MCP invested in MSC in 2005.   The merger, which was initially announced on 31 July 2012, combines two providers of specialised services that support the workers’ compensation industry. The merged companies will operate under the One Call Medical parent entity. MSC president and chief executive Joe Delaney will assume the title of president of