Many private equity portfolios are staging a post-recession comeback and are outperforming their non PE-owned industry peers, according to the latest study of the European private equity industry by AT Kearny. The report analyses PE transactions in four core European markets – the United Kingdom, DACH (Germany, Austria & Switzerland) , France and the Nordic countries and illustrates the meteoric rise and fall of the industry during the recent past.  The study records the recent financial performance of more than 100 European PE portfolios versus their public-industry peers.   The research has identified the rise of two distinct governance models

BNY Mellon will be the first global custodian to make the Burgiss Group’s new private capital benchmarking service, Private iQ, available to institutional clients.   Private iQ provides information and tools to help clients analyse the behaviour and performance of private capital markets.  Subscribers will be able to benchmark private equity managers, compare asset classes, and stay informed about macro-level changes in the investment environment.  BNY Mellon Asset Servicing was the only custodian to work with Burgiss during the development of Private iQ, supporting clients that wished to contribute private equity investment data to the initiative.   BNY Mellon’s plan

TA Associates is to acquire a 54.4% interest in Stadion Money Management, LLC, a rapidly growing investment management firm, via several of its private equity funds. In connection with the closing of TA Associates’ investment, a new equity incentive plan will be created to broaden ownership among Stadion’s key investment and operational personnel. Terms of the investment were not disclosed. Founded in 1991, Stadion offers investment management services via mutual funds, separate accounts and retirement accounts. Stadion employs an active money management approach, utilizing data-driven proprietary models to make asset allocation changes based on changing market conditions. The firm seeks

HarbourVest-managed secondary funds together with HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited (HVPE), a closed-end investment company, will, through an acquisition vehicle, make a public offer for all bearer shares of Absolute Private Equity, Ltd (Absolute) currently in circulation. Absolute is an investment company incorporated in Switzerland and listed on SIX Swiss Exchange.   The tender offer is for USD17.25 cash per Absolute share and is subject to a minimum acceptance level of 50.01% and other customary conditions. At a 100% acceptance level, the transaction values Absolute at USD752 million. The pre-announcement of the public tender offer was issued today, and the

Eurazeo and OFI Private Equity Capital have reached an agreement for the acquisition by Eurazeo of OFI Private Equity Capital, a NYSE Euronext-listed French investment company specialising in SME majority investments.   Under the terms of the agreement, MACIF, Olivier Millet and the other main shareholders of OFI Private Equity Capital have committed to contribute all of their investments held in OFI Private Equity Capital (representing 75% of the share capital and 79% of the share subscription warrants), its management company and its general partner in exchange for new Eurazeo shares. Completion of the transaction is subject to conditions precedent,

Summit Partners and TA Associates have signed definitive documentation to invest USD350 million to recapitalize online gaming platform specialist Bigpoint and position the company for continued strong global growth.   “The investment by TA Associates and Summit Partners is a validation of Bigpoint’s leadership position within the gaming industry, and will give us a huge boost toward becoming one of the most successful gaming companies worldwide,” says Heiko Hubertz, CEO and Founder of Bigpoint. "Summit Partners and TA Associates are supporting Bigpoint’s international expansion — a course we set out upon in recent months with the opening of new offices

Angelo, Gordon & Co’s Private Equity Group has partnered with the founders of Firebirds International, LLC (Firebirds) to acquire the company, which owns and operates 18 Firebirds Wood Fired Grill locations nationwide. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Firebirds – which features an American grill-focused menu – was founded approximately 10 years ago by Dennis Thompson and Doug Glendenning, who will continue as shareholders and directors of the company.  The company’s CEO will continue to be Mark Eason, a restaurant industry veteran with nearly 30 years of experience.  Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., the company has restaurants in Alabama, Arizona,

SPA Future Thinking has acquired the Munro Group, which incorporates FDS International and Maven Research, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition, which follows the merger of SPA Market research and Future Thinking (formerly the Oxford Research Agency) in September 2010, makes SPA Future Thinking the UK’s leading independent market researcher, with a turnover of approximately GBP20 million.  The acquisition adds a complementary skill set of benchmarking and mystery shopping research as well as employee engagement and online dashboard reporting to SPA Future Thinking and expands the group’s blue chip client roster.   ‘‘These are respected research agencies and their purchase

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has agreed a new three-year revolving loan facility with Cabot Financial, the consumer debt purchasing firm, which was acquired earlier this month by AnaCap Financial Partners ‘AnaCap’, the European private equity firm that specialises in the financial services sector. AnaCap will integrate Cabot Financial with Apex Credit Management – another market leading debt purchase and collections agency that is already owned by AnaCap – to create the UK’s largest debt purchase and collection business.   The syndicated loan facility will be used to refinance the existing portfolios of both Cabot and Apex and support