UK mid-market private equity firm Phoenix Equity Partners has invested GBO18 million to fund the management buyout of the engineering consulting business of ERA Technology (ERA) from Cobham plc (Cobham). ERA is a specialist engineering consulting business focused on industrial markets, with a unique set of technical skills and expertise, and a strong brand dating back to its foundation in 1920. ERA provides condition assessment, materials design and testing, forensic engineering, safety assessments and failure investigation services to a wide range of private and public sector clients. Phoenix is backing a team led by Rob Dilworth, formerly a senior executive

LightSquared, the USA’s first wholesale-only integrated wireless broadband and satellite network, has closed on USD586 million of debt, led by UBS AG and JP Morgan.  LightSquared will use the proceeds of the financing for general corporate purposes, which include constructing its world-class, 4G-LTE-wholesale network. Over the last seven months, LightSquared has raised more than USD2 billion in debt and equity.   "We’re excited about our prospects of bringing the next generation of mobile broadband to millions of Americans, fulfilling the promise of the National Broadband Plan using exclusively private money,” says Sanjiv Ahuja, chief executive officer of LightSquared. “Our investors share our

GTCR has announced the final closing of its tenth buyout fund, with more than USD3.25 billion of equity capital commitments. The fund, which had a target of USD3 billion, was oversubscribed, resulting in fundraising activity culminating just seven months after the fund’s initial launch. “We are extremely pleased with the results of Fund X, especially in this challenging fundraising environment,” says Phil Canfield (pictured), GTCR Principal. “Fund X is the largest in our firm’s 30-year history, and one of our quickest to raise.” Since 1980, GTCR has invested more than USD8.5 billion in over 200 companies and has generated gross

Black Pearl Capital’s private equity fund, Black Pearl Capital Partners (BPCP), has invested in Summit Equities LLC, a US based real-estate investment company that specialises in purchasing non-performing debt instruments and commercial real-estate properties. "We’ve had great success in the UK by turning around depressed real-estate properties and we wanted to replicate that success in the US market," says Dominique Leimer, Senior Partner Black Pearl Capital. "Summit Equities has shown a deep understanding of the complex commercial real-estate market. Along with their strong relationships to local banks, they are an ideal company to align with as we continue to capitalise

Bertram Capital has launched a new platform in the location based services industry through a partnership with the executive teams at ProconGPS, Inc and Trackn Inc (Enfotrace). Procon and Enfotrace are two of the leading providers of risk mitigation products, most notably GPS tracking solutions and payment protection systems, to the North American subprime automobile finance industry. In addition, Procon’s Fleet Services subsidiary is one of the fastest growing providers of GPS-enabled fleet management solutions in the United States. The executive teams at both Procon and Enfotrace will remain in place, directing strategy and managing business operations. "We have been

Private equity firms Silverfleet Capital and August Equity have selected LexisNexis InterAction as the firms’ Client Relationship Management (CRM) solution.  InterAction helps firms to streamline contact and company information stored in disparate knowledge and data sources and provides a truly integrated approach to contact and prospect information management.  Relationships with deal contacts, advisors and industry experts are considered to be some of the most valuable assets that private equity firms hold. Recognising the importance of having this valuable information held in a central and secure place, August Equity and Silverfleet Capital have chosen to implement InterAction to consolidate company and contact