Funds advised by Lion Capital are acquiring the operating companies of Bumble Bee Foods, a portfolio company of Centre Partners Management. The transaction is expected to be completed by year-end.   Bumble Bee is a North American supplier of shelf-stable seafood. The company produces and markets shelf-stable tuna, salmon, sardines, clams and other specialty seafood products that are sold under the Bumble Bee, Clover Leaf, Brunswick, Snow’s, Beach Cliff, King Oscar and Sweet Sue brands.   Bumble Bee has 1,700 employees across eight facilities in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico and in 2009 generated over USD940m of net revenue.

BNY Mellon, a provider of asset management and securities servicing, has maintained its position as the number one fund administrator in Ireland with assets under administration totalling USD270.4bn across 498 funds, according to Lipper’s 2010 Ireland Fund Encyclopaedia. The annual report by Lipper, the Thomson Reuters research company, reveals that for combined Irish domiciled and non-Irish domiciled funds, BNY Mellon has an 18.75 per cent market share by asset value. BNY Mellon recently acquired PNC Global Investment Servicing. According to Lipper, if this merger had taken place by 30 June, the total assets under administration for the new entity would

Private equity firms Kelso and The Carlyle Group have agreed to make a substantial minority equity investment in Sandler O’Neill, an investment banking firm specialising in financial services companies.  The firms expect the transaction to close at the end of the year. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.   The investment will help support the next level of growth and expansion of Sandler O’Neill and the accelerated development of its client services.  Sandler O’Neill’s current management team, led by James J. Dunne III and Jonathan Doyle, will remain in place and continue to make all strategic and management decisions

Wells Fargo Bank has launched a fund services product line within its corporate trust services business to address customers’ fund administration needs. Wells Fargo Fund Services provides fund administration services including a full suite of back, middle and front-office products and services to private equity firms, exchange-traded commodities, commodity funds, hedge funds, fund of funds and the structured finance marketplace. Jorge Villalba, a 12-year industry veteran, recently joined Wells Fargo to lead the fund services group. Tom Gandolfo is head of sales. The team is based in Columbia, Maryland; Houston, Texas; and New York City. Additional hiring is anticipated by

Aureos Capital, a private equity fund management company focused on emerging markets, says it has seen a rapid acceleration in the number of full exits achieved from its first generation funds during 2010 compared with previous years. Speaking at the ninth Annual Aureos Investor Conference held at the Marriott Hotel in London this week, Aureos Advisers’ chief executive Sev Vettivetpillai told the 200 plus delegates that eight full exits have been achieved from Aureos’ funds so far during 2010, compared with only one full exit in the previous year. A further two partial exits have also been executed this year.

Oakley Capital Private Equity has invested in BDO Investment Management, a UK provider of wealth management and corporate benefits services, by acquiring an 84.4 per cent majority stake.   BDO LLP, the UK member firm of the BDO international network which is the world’s fifth largest accountancy organisation, will sell the majority stake to Oakley Capital and will retain a 15.6 per cent share in the company.    The partnership with Oakley Capital will provide BDO Investment Management with the necessary capital to fulfill its stated strategy of building scale by growing discretionary funds under management and adding corporate clients.   

Axa Private Equity has acquired an 11 per cent interest in Arismore, a provider of information systems conversion and security. Created in 2002, Arismore focuses mainly on the architecture and control of information systems, access and identity management and the simplification of companies’ IT infrastructure. Arismore has also developed programmes for managing quality of service and capacity, as well as groupware applications. Owned by its founders and employees, Arismore’s workforce numbers some 100 employees based in the Paris area. Axa Private Equity is seeking to support and advise the Arismore management team on its ongoing development. Laurent Foata, director, venture