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

London based Just-Eat, the world’s largest online takeaway ordering service, has closed a financing round of USD64m (EUR48m) led by funds managed by Vitruvian Partners, a European private equity firm, with Index Ventures, Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures also participating. This investment marks the Company’s third and largest funding round in less than two years. The investment will be used to continue Just-Eat’s growth, entries into new countries and product innovation, further cementing its global leadership in the online takeaway category. Klaus Nyengaard, Chief Executive Officer of Just-Eat, says: "This new investment will help our continued expansion. Takeaway e-commerce has

Mid market private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners has concluded a transaction with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), to provide a GBP23 million financing package for its portfolio company, Cambridge Education Group. The deal includes a dividend recapitalisation for equity holders and additional debt financing for continued growth.   Cambridge Education Group is a leading UK provider of pre-University foundation programmes and English language training principally to foreign students keen to attend UK universities. Having identified the growing attractiveness of British education to international students Palamon acquired CEG in 2007 in partnership with a new management team led by Fergus Brownlee.  Since

JP Morgan Private Equity Limited (JPEL) has agreed in principle to terms on a new multi-currency credit facility with a longer maturity date with Lloyds TSB Bank plc.  The new facility will expire in January 2017 and contains similar covenants to the Company’s existing $150 million multi-currency facility which was due to expire in May 2013.  Key terms of the proposed facility include:   LIBOR +280bps for a loan to value ratio (LTV) of less than or equal to 10%, with no LIBOR floor LIBOR +330bps for a LTV ratio of greater than 10%, with no LIBOR floor   "We

PineBridge Investments, the global multi-asset class investment manager, has successfully closed its latest collateralised loan obligation (CLO), Galaxy XII CLO, Ltd. The issuance was comprised of approximately USD412.5 million of notes and closed on 24 April, 2012. The notes are secured by broadly syndicated first-lien senior secured corporate loans and other corporate notes and bonds, and the entire offering was fully or over-subscribed. This is the fifteenth CLO that PineBridge has brought to market, taking the firm’s total leveraged finance assets under management to USD7.8 billion. “The closing of Galaxy XII marks another successful investment and asset raise for PineBridge,

Ingenious has successfully closed the fund raising for ten Ingenious Solar UK EIS companies. The fund raise exceeded its target and the majority of the aggregate funds raised have now been deployed. Each Ingenious Solar UK EIS company has acquired a portfolio of solar photovoltaic panels which are fitted on residential properties and are already generating electricity and eligible to receive Government backed Feed-in-Tariff payments. The cumulative investment across these ten companies has funded the purchase of more than 2,000 solar installations. Ingenious Solar UK EIS exceeded its target raise by a significant margin of 27 per cent, an excellent

Bangalore-based affordable medical technology and solutions company Forus Health Pvt Ltd (Forus) has successfully raised Series A funding of USD5 million from venture capital funds, Accel Partners and IDG Ventures India. Unitus Capital was the sole advisor to Forus for the transaction. Forus’ mission is to address the healthcare delivery issues in the developing world through innovative and inclusive product design, and service deployment. Its flagship product 3nethra: a portable, low cost, non-mydriatic, non-invasive pre-screening ophthalmology solution, can detect cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retina, refraction and cornea problems – diseases that contribute to 90% of avoidable blindness in India. 3nethra can