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

Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group has acquired ITRS Group, a global provider of real-time monitoring systems for the world’s financial institutions, in partnership with its founders and management. Financial terms have not been disclosed.   ITRS is a fast-growing, multi-award winning technology provider, primarily focused on supplying the financial services sector with trading infrastructure monitoring software. The company has over 600 installations worldwide and its clients include 8 of the top 10 global investment banks, and several brokers, exchanges, hedge funds and data vendors. In the year ended March 2011, ITRS generated more than GBP16 million in revenues.

 Investec Specialist Bank’s (‘Investec’) Fund Finance team has provided a EUR15 million loan to F&C European Capital Partners LP (F&C), a private equity fund of funds focusing on the European mid-market of private equity including buyout, mezzanine and co-investments.   The three year loan facility is provided to the F&C European Capital Partners LP fund, which closed in June 2008 with commitments of EUR173m from a variety of Dutch, German and British public pension funds and insurance companies as well as private clients.   Investec’s loan will enable F&C to introduce a moderate amount of gearing to this maturing fund

Private equity firm The Gores Group, through an affiliate, has signed an agreement to acquire Alpheus Communications, one of the largest fibre network and data centre operators in Texas. he Gores Group intends to combine Alpheus with First Communications, an existing Gores portfolio company. Genesis Park, LP and El Paso Corporation are the sellers. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Alpheus Communications has a strong presence in Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio — four of the fastest growing markets in the United States. The acquisition includes more than 2,800 route miles of long-haul fibre and nearly 3,250

Private investment firm First Reserve Corporation has made an investment in Amromco Energy, the largest and leading independent oil and gas producer in Romania. The investment is the first stage in First Reserve’s plans to build an oil and gas platform in the Central and Eastern European region.   Amromco is the third largest gas producer in Romania, after Romgaz and Petrom, and is focused on the acquisition of upstream oil and gas projects in emerging markets and their subsequent enhancement through the application of state of the art extraction technologies.   Founded in 2002, Amromco is an established business

 SPA Future Thinking has acquired full-service market research consultancy Essential Research for an undisclosed sum.   Essential is a specialist in the media, communications, technology and entertainment sectors with a client portfolio that includes the BBC, Microsoft and O2. It offers a range of qualitative, quantitative and hybrid research methodologies to its clients.   The consultancy retains its own identity and continues to service its clients out of established offices in the New Kings Road. It is headed up by Luca Antilli, an Essential founding partner, who has taken the role of managing director. Antilli leads a team of 14 whilst