Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, has partnered with management to complete the acquisition of Revenew International from Profit Technologies.  Revenew, based in Houston, Texas, is a cost recovery solutions firm which offers contract compliance, supplier payment review and process auditing.  The company serves a blue-chip client base that includes 37 Fortune 500 companies and has a dominant position in the energy and utility sectors.  Revenew is the fifth investment from Levine Leichtman Capital Partners IV, a USD1.1bn private equity fund.  Lauren Leichtman, co-founder and chief executive of LLCP, says: "We are delighted to partner with

Canadian venture capital activity increased 20 per cent in the third quarter, according to data Thomson Reuters compiled for the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. The total investment for the latest third quarter totalled CAD261m (USD258m). “With two consecutive quarters of growth, Canadian VC activity in 2010 continues to track ahead of activity in 2009,” the association said in a quarterly report. Venture capital investments for the nine months to 30 September were at CAD905m, or 28 per cent higher than the same period in 2009, when investments were CAD709m. Disbursement levels also rose in the third quarter

Atlas Holdings has acquired Detroit Thermal, the City of Detroit’s underground district energy steam system, a Detroit-based energy-from-waste facility that produces steam and electricity from municipal waste, and Hamtramck Energy Services, which operates the private industrial steam plants at several General Motors facilities in Michigan. The acquired assets will operate as independent subsidiaries under the umbrella of newly formed Detroit Renewable Energy and will be headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit Thermal owns and operates a 39-mile, low-pressure steam loop in downtown Detroit that has been in operation since 1903 and is the sole source of heating for 104 buildings and

Citi’s Global Transaction Services has introduced a portfolio of custody services in the US, specifically for private equity funds. Citi says its services are particularly timely because of Securities and Exchange Commission regulations affecting custody of customer assets by registered investment advisers and the recently enacted Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which places stricter regulatory requirements on private equity firms.  This legislation – and the regulations to follow – will impact unregistered investment advisers of private equity funds as most of them will now be required to become registered with the SEC and will be subject to

Google Ventures has entered the holiday home rentals market by investing in HomeAway, parent company of HomeAway Holiday-Rentals and Owners Direct in the UK. Google purchased shares from existing shareholders to invest in the company.   HomeAway operates sites in 11 European countries plus sites in the US and Brazil. The HomeAway sites provide a network for holiday home owners, property managers and travellers.   Currently representing over 540,000 paid holiday rental listings in more than 120 countries worldwide, HomeAway’s turnover grew by 45 per cent to USD120m in 2009.   With the help of Google, the company will focus

The Aureos Africa Fund has completed a USD10m investment in HFC Bank Ghana, a commercial and retail bank based in Ghana. The Aureos Africa Fund is managed by Aureos Capital, a private equity fund management company specialising in investing in small and medium sized businesses in emerging markets. This investment is the 12th made by the fund.   Aureos says its investment in HFC will help ensure that the bank remains strongly capitalised as it continues the expansion of the bank’s branch network and of its lending to businesses and consumers.   As well as conventional commercial and retail banking

Sciens Capital Management has held a final close for the Sciens Aviation Special Opportunities Fund, having raised a total of USD213m, primarily from institutional investors. The fund is managed by an affiliate of Apollo Aviation Group, a commercial aircraft investment and asset manager jointly owned by its founders William Hoffman and Robert Korn, and Sciens International Investments. “We believe it is a compelling time to invest in this strategy and are pleased to have exceeded our initial target raise,” says John Rigas, Sciens’ chief executive. The fund focuses on tear down arbitrage opportunities currently available in the secondary market at