Silverfleet Capital, the European private equity firm, has completed its second retail deal within two months with the acquisition of footwear business Office for an undisclosed amount from West Coast Capital.  In October, Silverfleet Capital acquired the Schneider Group, a German catalogue and online retailer of fashion, lifestyle and gift products, and sold Histoire D’Or, a jewellery retailer in France. Office first opened in 1981 and has since grown to 75 standalone stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland and 46 concessions in House of Fraser, Topshop (including New York), Harvey Nichols and Selfridges. Total sales in 2009

A report released by PrivateEquityCompensation.com signals improvement in the private equity and venture capital markets and an upward compensation trend that will likely continue in 2011. In a year where buyout deals heated up and the big players are complaining of being priced out of the market for some deals, private equity professionals reported a solid increase in total earnings over the previous year, with the average cash earnings coming in at USD230,000. As 2010 wraps up, 45 per cent expected double-digit increases over last year. The average expected increase was 13 per cent. Bonus practices are aligned with fund

Capgemini, a provider of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, has acquired the German IT services company CS Consulting from LRPC, a fund managed by SüdBeteiligungen (a subsidiary of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg), founder Berndt Blumenthal and Kurt Rommel. The operation will be funded using the group’s net cash position. The contract was signed yesterday under conditional approval by the relevant anti-trust authorities. Capgemini more than doubles its market share in IT services for local banking clients.   CS Consulting generated revenues of EUR47.4m in 2009 with an adjusted Ebit margin of 12.6 per cent. It specialises in the migration of core banking

Bladon Jets, a developer of micro gas turbine engines for cars and power generation, has raised GBP500,000 in a recent funding round from members of the Oxford Investment Opportunity Network, a European technology investment network. Bladon Jets is working with car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover on the development of a micro gas turbine engine to operate in a plug-in hybrid car. A Jaguar C-X75 super car incorporating two Bladon Jets micro gas turbines was recently unveiled at the Paris Motor Show and the Los Angeles Motor Show. Indian multinational Tata recently announced that it is making an investment in Bladon

Zoopla.co.uk, a UK property search and information website, has raised a further GBP3.25m of funding. The funding consists of GBP1.75m of new equity finance from existing shareholders, led by venture capital firms Atlas Venture and Octopus, together with a GBP1.5m debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank, the commercial banking division of SVB Financial Group.   Zoopla attracts over five million visitors per month and delivers over ten leads per minute to estate agents and house builders across the UK.   This latest round of funding will be used to invest further in marketing to drive Zoopla’s brand awareness and grow

Chicago-based private investment firm The Pritzker Group has acquired Clinical Innovations, a medical device maker specialising in healthcare solutions for women and their infants. The acquisition is the firm’s first in the healthcare field. The Pritzker Group acquired the Utah-based medical device maker from RoundTable Healthcare Partners, a private equity firm focused exclusively on the healthcare industry. Clinical Innovations develops, manufactures and markets medical devices with particular emphasis on healthcare solutions for women and their infants. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. “Clinical Innovations represents an exciting opportunity for The Pritzker Group,” says Tony Pritzker, Los Angeles-based managing partner

Ridgemont Equity Partners, a middle market buyout and growth equity firm, has acquired a majority investment in Unite Private Networks, a provider of high-bandwidth, fibre-based communications networks. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. UPN specialises in providing high-capacity data communications networks and related services to schools, government, carriers, data centres and enterprise business customers. UPN currently provides service in 12 states, primarily in the Midwest US. “Our partnership with Ridgemont as a majority equity sponsor provides growth capital and additional strategic resources to UPN,” says Kevin Anderson, chief executive of UPN. ”Our management team is pleased to