KSL Capital Partners has completed the previously announced acquisition of the historic Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa. One of the most iconic resorts in the United States, the 512-room Grove Park Inn sits between the majestic Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains in Asheville, North Carolina. Constructed in 1913, the resort features one of the country’s most widely acclaimed spas, eight dining outlets and seven retail outlets, an 18-hole Donald Ross-designed golf course, a 50,000-square-foot sports complex, and 55,000 square feet of meeting space with 42 meeting rooms. As part of the resort’s Centennial celebration in 2013, KSL Capital

JP Morgan’s Worldwide Securities Services business has been appointed to provide private equity fund administration services to 8 Miles Fund I, a Pan-African private equity fund that plans to invest in businesses across a broad range of industries, with the aim of driving long-term growth in Africa.  8 Miles, which recently closed its first fund raising, plans to focus on growth sectors in Africa including agribusiness, consumer and retail, health, telecommunications, banking and financial services.   JP Morgan will provide a set of comprehensive services including fund and partnership accounting, capital call/distribution management, investor reporting, and investor tracking, investor relations

Montagu Private Equity has reached an agreement to acquire CAP from Top Right Group (formerly Emap International). CAP is a market leading provider of vehicle valuation data, new vehicle information and business solutions to the automotive industry. Terms of the transaction, which is expected to close later in May, were not disclosed. Founded in 1979 and based in Leeds (UK), CAP’s data and information systems serve clients across a broad variety of automotive-related sectors. CAP’s current used car values are used as the benchmark for residual values performance across the disposals industry and CAP Monitor is the leading residual values

Matrix Private Equity Partners LLP has sold portfolio company Camwood Limited (Camwood) to its management team. Camwood is an IT services business that specialises in application migration and portfolio management. It is a leader in its field of Application Intelligence. Four years ago Camwood spun out App-DNA, a software toolset for application management which was then sold to Citrix in October 2011 for USD92 million, generating a 32x return for Matrix advised VCT, The Income & Growth VCT plc.  Following that transaction, Matrix retained its original stake in Camwood.  The sale back to management of the remaining Camwood business has

Water Street Healthcare Partners, a strategic private equity firm focused exclusively on the health care industry, and Wind Point Partners, a private equity investment firm, have completed the sale of Physiotherapy Associates to Court Square Capital Partners. Headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania, Physiotherapy Associates is the nation’s foremost provider of outpatient rehabilitation services. Water Street and Wind Point transformed Physiotherapy Associates into an industry leader when they merged two of their specialty health care services companies in 2007. They combined Benchmark Medical, which Wind Point built through 23 acquisitions, and Physiotherapy Associates, which Water Street acquired from Stryker Corporation. The firms

Private equity investment firm Paine & Partners has formed a new advisory relationship with Steve Dubin and David Abramson of SDA Ventures LLC (SDA).  Paine & Partners and SDA will work together to identify and execute investment opportunities in the global human and animal food and nutritional products industries. "We have long-standing relationships with Steve and David, are impressed by what they have accomplished in their careers, and are excited to be working with them," says Kevin Schwartz, a founding Partner at Paine & Partners. "Paine & Partners continues to focus on opportunities across the food and agribusiness value chain

Arsenal Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm that invests in middle-market specialty industrial, healthcare, and financial services companies, has acquired Plasticolors, Inc and Evonik Industries’ Colortrend global colourants business to create Chromaflo Technologies, the largest independent global pigment dispersion platform. Headquartered in Ashtabula, Ohio, Plasticolors, Inc. was founded in 1970 and is a leading supplier of pigment and chemical dispersions to the thermoset composites and industrial paint and coatings industries.  The company’s colorants can be found in a wide variety of products including industrial coatings, interior and exterior automotive components, epoxy flooring, electrical and appliance housings and a

Simmons & Co in Aberdeen has completed four deals in the first quarter of 2012 with a total deal value of GBP340million. The corporate finance advisers to the energy sector are also reporting one of the strongest pipeline of deals in its history in the UK.   Simmons & Co’s forecast for a high level of M&A activity in 2011 proved accurate as the Aberdeen office reported completing 22 deals worth almost $1billion last year. Globally the firm completed 46 M&A transactions and 16 equity and debt offerings.   Nick Dalgarno (pictured), managing director at Simmons, says: “With continued high

Law firm Mills & Reeve has advised Langholm Capital on the acquisition of 120-year-old family-run Purity Soft Drinks. Langholm, the consumer sector mid-market private equity firm whose investments include Tyrrells Potato Crisps, The Bart Ingredient Company and Dorset Cereals, acquired Purity following a management buy-in.   Originally established in 1892 when horse drawn drays supplied soft drinks to the licensed trade around Wednesbury in the West Midlands, Purity has been run by the Cox family since 1944. Under its Masons brand it runs one of the last remaining returnable-bottle soft drinks operations in the UK while its Juice Burst brand