Compass Group Equity Partners, a St Louis-based private equity firm, has held the closing of Compass Group Fund II at its hard cap of $255 million, exceeding an original target of $200 million. The firm secured commitments from a broad array of high-quality limited partners, including university endowments, family offices, pension funds, insurance companies, funds of funds and other institutional and high-net-worth investors through a significantly oversubscribed fundraising process that took just over six months to complete.

aXedras Group AG (aXedras) has concluded its Series B funding round, including a strategic investment from the World Gold Council (WGC), which will be represented on the Board of Directors by CEO David Tait. aXedras, which uses blockchain/distributed ledger technology to develop and implement a secure, confidential, digital supply chain solution for the precious metals industry, and to immutably document gold from the mine to the end-user, will use this round of funding to move the business into a growth and global scaling phase.

Following the announcement of an exclusivity agreement in January 2022, global private equity firm Astorg has completed its investment in ARMOR-IIMAK, an ARMOR Group company, via its newly launched Mid-Cap fund. Hubert de Boisredon and ARMOR-IIMAK’s Management team remain the majority shareholders with Astorg owning a 40% stake in the business. Headquartered in Nantes, France, ARMOR-IIMAK, is a specialist in thermal transfer ribbons, which are inked films used as consumables for the thermal transfer printing industry.  This transaction marks the second investment made by Astorg’s Mid-Cap fund.

Varagon Capital Partners is serving as Administrative Agent, Joint Lead Arranger and Joint Bookrunner on a senior secured credit facility to support CapVest Partners’ acquisition of Second Nature Brands. Headquartered in Detroit, MI, Second Nature Brands is a leading creator of snacks and treats that make lives better, naturally. Under its growing family of brands, Kar’s Nuts®, Second Nature Snacks®, and Sanders Chocolates®, Second Nature Brands has an extensive distribution network across the United States and a growing direct-to-consumer eCommerce presence.

TPG Growth has acquired a stake in private equity firm Granite Creek Capital’s portfolio company, Morrow Sodali, a global shareholder engagement and governance advisory firm. TPG Growth is the middle market and growth equity platform of global asset management firm TPG. As part of the transaction, Granite Creek continues to hold a minority ownership position in Morrow Sodali, and Granite Creek’s Co-Founder and Partner, Mark Radzik, was named to the Board of Directors. Since 2018, Granite Creek has worked closely with Morrow Sodali’s leadership team to expand its operational, strategic, and capital resources.  Over that time, Morrow Sodali substantially increased

Affiliates of Stellus Capital Management (Stellus), a specialist in lower middle market direct lending, have provided senior debt financing and an equity co-investment in support of Abry Partners’ (Abry) investment in Inoapps.

PrimeSource Brands (PrimeSource), a North American provider of specialty branded residential building products backed by Clearlake Capital Group (Clearlake), has acquired Axxis, a provider of fastening tools and collated fasteners. The transaction is PrimeSource’s fourth acquisition during Clearlake’s ownership.  Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.   Axxis, which goes to market under the Complete and KlinchPak brands, primarily serves STAFDA distribution and packaging houses. The combination with Axxis further enhance PrimeSource’s portfolio of branded fasteners and related fastening tools. Carl Schneider, CEO of Axxis, will remain involved as part of the PrimeSource team focused on accelerating Axxis’