Seventy per cent of institutional investors in North America and Europe recommend that a Latin American company pursue an initial public offering in today’s capital markets, according to a survey released by JP Morgan’s depositary receipts (DR) business. Survey participants, who were interviewed in September 2012, believe that despite significant macroeconomic headwinds in Europe and China, Latin America is a region with steadfast domestic markets and attractively-valued companies that demonstrate significant growth potential.   “Each year we survey North American and European institutional investors, with the aim of helping our Latin American clients better understand investor sentiment toward companies in

PARTNERS+simons, a brand communications company specialising in the healthcare and financial services industries, has secured an investment from Baird Capital Partners. The investment by Baird Capital Partners will enable PARTNERS+simons to expand on its services as the changing landscape in both healthcare and financial services remain prominent on the national agenda. The company plans to build or acquire additional capabilities in public relations, direct-to-consumer marketing, data-driven analytics and CRM, social media, mobile and tablet applications, and patient engagement. “There is enormous opportunity to develop even more comprehensive, cross-channel communications models for our clients, and this partnership with Baird Capital Partners

Babson Capital Management has provided a combination of senior debt and subordinated debt and equity to support River Capital’s purchase of Blue Wave Products. Babson Capital served as the sole provider of senior and subordinated debt on the transaction. Illinois-based Blue Wave is a distributor of above-ground swimming pools, pool accessories and other products to internet dealers and the internet channels of large national retailers. Blue Wave serves as a one-stop shop offering more than 6,000 wholesale recreational products including pools, automatic cleaners, steps and ladders, winter products, games and saunas. “As a reliable partner on eight portfolio investments spanning

ChemDesign Products, a portfolio company of The Resilience Fund II, has been acquired by Lubar, a Milwaukee-based private investment firm.  ChemDesign is a provider of custom toll manufacturing services to the global chemical industry. The company has developed a strong reputation for partnering with its blue-chip customers, using its technical personnel, flexible manufacturing facilities and process optimisation capabilities to produce highly complex chemicals. The sale of ChemDesign generated a 3.8x net return on invested capital and a 25.9 per cent net internal rate of return. "Our investment in ChemDesign is a great case study in corporate renewal.  Through hard work,

Diana, the French food manufacturer backed by AXA Private Equity, has acquired Givaudan’s vegetables, wines and vinegars extracts range. This is Diana’s fourth transaction since June and reflects the company’s ambitious growth strategy. AXA Private Equity has also set up a EUR50m “payment-in-kind” tranche, financed by JP Morgan Mezzanine and Mezzvest, to help finance this and other planned future acquisitions.   The acquisition of the assets from Givaudan follows Diana’s recent purchase of US food manufacturer Pacific Pure Aid and also French mushrooms’ extract specialist Arômes de Chacé. Diana has also recently created Ecuaprotein, a new AquaSea site in Ecuador,