Halyard Capital, a New York-based private equity firm, has formed Digital Fortress, a new data centre colocation platform, along with two initial acquisitions of digital.forest, Inc. and Fortress Colocation Services. Headquartered in Seattle, Digital Fortress capitalises on the underserved market of regional small to medium sized enterprises seeking to enhance their overall IT infrastructure capabilities through outsourcing with colocation service providers. The company is also well-positioned to meet the growing demand among national corporations for data centres that have access to abundant low-cost electricity with a high concentration of renewable energy. Recognising the favourable industry secular trends of: i) supply/demand

RiverRock European Capital Partners LLP has held the second institutional close for its European Opportunities Fund (EOF). The close is built upon new major UK and continental European institutional investors. The European Opportunities Fund is a five year fund targeting direct lending to strong, small to mid-sized European companies that are looking for growth or working capital in order to build their businesses. The fund typically invests between five and fifteen million Euros in each company and works actively with the management to strengthen and grow these companies. The second close brings the fund to approximately EUR120 million (USD160 million)

KBC has closed the previously announced transaction with affiliates of JC Flowers & Co for the sale of its subsidiary Fidea, having received the necessary regulatory approvals. The acquisition of Fidea represents an important investment in the Belgian market by JC Flowers & Co. Fidea is a well-established player on the Belgian insurance market and a well-known brand. The company offers both life and non-life insurance products to private customers, the self-employed and companies. It sells its policies through independent insurance brokers and – within a bancassurance co-operation agreement – through Centea’s and Crédit Agricole’s network of bank agents. JC

Joint Administrators, John Whitfield and Matt Ingram, both of financial advisory and investment banking firm Duff & Phelps, have confirmed that they have successfully sold the business and assets of AMI Blaymires Limited. The sale, which concluded on 30 March 2012, is to Unitech Blaymires Limited, part of Unitech Industries. Unitech Industries is a leading supplier of high quality stainless steel and aluminium equipment to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical and other hygiene conscious industries. Whitfield and Ingram were appointed as Joint Administrators (“the Administrators’) to the Company on 9 March 2012 and continued to trade the business after their appointment whilst

Gulf One Investment Bank has established a new office, Gulf One GmbH, in Munich, Germany. Gulf One GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gulf One, will support the management of portfolio companies of the bank’s private equity funds and source new investments and advisory business opportunities for it. The new office will be supported by Gulf One’s private equity, structured finance, advisory and business development teams located in its offices across the GCC, said a statement. GmbH managing director, Günter Pröpster, will provide local clients with on-the-ground presence and access to Gulf One, the statement said. Dr Nahed Taher, co-founder

Sun Capital Partners’ portfolio company Sonneborn, Inc. (“Sonneborn”) has been sold to One Equity Partners. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. Sonneborn, based in Parsippany, NJ, was acquired from a large publicly-traded company in June 2005 in a corporate carve-out transaction. Upon acquisition, a series of initiatives were implemented to improve manufacturing productivity and cash management, streamline corporate infrastructure, optimise the product offering, and reduce costs by developing non-traditional raw material sources. A disciplined approach was taken to supply agreements and the termination of unfavourable supply agreements generated substantial savings. In 2010, Sonneborn completed the acquisition of the