Vision Capital has announced a partnership with Speyside Equity (Speyside), a Philadelphia-based private equity group, to acquire investments in its portfolio of two companies. The transaction remains subject to customary regulatory clearances. Vision Capital will acquire a majority stake in German-based United Initiators and a minority stake in US based Sweet Ovations from Speyside. United Initiators, which has an annual turnover of over EUR150 million, is a leading speciality chemical business focussed on the manufacture of organic peroxides and persulfates, with operations in Germany, the US, China and Australia. Sweet Ovations is a leading supplier of custom formulated food ingredients

Compass EMP Funds has closed a private equity offering to secure growth capital. The offering was fully subscribed and proceeds will be used to accelerate the nationwide marketing and distribution of the Compass EMP Mutual Funds to financial advisors and their broker-dealer platforms. "We are excited to partner with this collection of private investors who believe in our vision and wish to participate in our continued growth," says Rob Walker, president of Compass EMP Funds. "Financial advisors are seeking new strategies for their clients in these volatile markets.  By making our mutual funds available more broadly, we hope to be

Mid-market private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners is to sell portfolio company SAV Credit to Värde Partners in a transaction valued at GBP472 million. The transaction is subject to competition clearance.   Palamon has supported the development of SAV from its founding by entrepreneur Richard Langstaff in 2002 to being the UK’s leading non-standard credit card provider managing approximately 500,000 credit card accounts with more than GBP600 million in credit card assets. Palamon partnered in this deal with co-investors Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners and Electra Private Equity who provided additional equity support over several funding rounds.   Since its start-up, SAV established proprietary

Ranieri Real Estate Partners LP (RREP), a real estate financial services company, and private equity funds affiliated with WL Ross & Co LLC (WL Ross) have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Deutsche Bank Berkshire Mortgage (the company or DBBM), a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, the firms announced today. Terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. DBBM originates multi-family loans for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). It is the second largest originator of Fannie Mae loans and services a $28 billion multi-family loan portfolio. The company was founded in 1988 and became a

 VPS Holdings Limited, a portfolio company of private equity firm TDR Capital, has acquired the whole of the business and undertakings of SitexOrbis Holdings Limited.   The enlarged VPS Group will have a turnover of GBP200 million and more than 90,000 properties under management. The combined European businesses will have a turnover of GBP100 million, 1300 employees at point of acquisition and nearly 100 locations across the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.    The VPS Group also has significant operations across the USA, which will remain unchanged, although the acquisition will benefit customers with a global

Maven’s North West deal team has led the management buyout (MBO) of Dantec Hose Limited. The company is one of the leading manufacturers of composite hoses for the global petrochemical industry, and is renowned for product quality, service, technical excellence and innovation.   Maven is backing a proven senior management team, with over 70 years of combined experience in the market. Composite hoses provide the vital flexible connection for a wide variety of fluid transfer systems, ranging from uploading road, rail and marine tankers within chemical and oil plants, to niche applications such as Formula 1 racing. Manufacturing quality and

UK based European mid-market private equity fund, CapVest Equity Partners  II (CapVest), has led the acquisition of RenoNorden Holding AS (RenoNorden) from Norvestor V in partnership with incumbent management and Accent Equity 2008, a leading Nordic mid-market private equity fund.  The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. RenoNorden is the leading provider of household waste collection services to municipalities in Scandinavia. Headquartered in Frogner in Norway, the Company has strong market positions in Norway, Sweden and Denmark employing over 1,000 people in the region and providing collection services to over 3.5 million inhabitants. Commenting on the acquisition, Kate

Level Equity has announced the final closing of its USD130 million new fund, Level Equity Growth Partners I, LP.   Level Equity’s initial close in Q2 marked the largest new fund raised in the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association. Investors in Level Equity are major corporations, university endowments, charitable foundations, funds of funds, individuals and previously-backed entrepreneurs. "Level Equity is a new firm, purpose-built to support the new generation of promising growth businesses. We founded the firm to provide creative capital to entrepreneurs building innovative technology companies," says co-founder Benjamin Levin.  "We were gratified

EFR Holdings SAS, an acquisition vehicle controlled by funds affiliated with Francisco Partners, acquired on 23 September, 2011 a majority of the share capital and voting rights of eFront SA, a business software solutions provider dedicated to the financial industry, listed on the Alternext Paris market of NYSE Euronext (ALEFT). EFR Holdings SAS has acquired 2,273,793 eFront shares representing 74.19% of the share capital and voting rights of the Company (60.34% on a fully diluted basis) for a cash price of EUR 18.00 per share. The selling shareholders comprised funds managed by CDC Innovation, Odyssée Venture and OTC Asset Management, and the