An affiliate of New York-based investment and private equity firm Signal Capital Management has stepped up its involvement in the domestic US oil and gas sector by signing a letter of intent to acquire and develop the largest undeveloped domestic oil and gas field, located in Alaska. Signal, in partnership with a large foreign oil and gas concern, is partnering with Houston-based Escopeta Oil to develop and further explore a 111,000 acre shallow-water offshore find that may hold in excess of 1.2 billion recoverable barrels of light crude oil and eight trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Shane Rodgers, chief

Arma Partners is acting as financial adviser to e-commerce site PriceMinister on its proposed sale to Rakuten, announced on 17 June 2010.   The transaction is valued at approximately EUR200m and is expected to complete during July 2010.   With over 11 million unique monthly visitors and 12 million members, PriceMinister is the largest e-commerce site in France by audience, surpassing the online audience of eBay. The company has more than 100,000 active sellers and over 21,000 merchants offering a selection exceeding 160 million products. PriceMinister has launched e-marketplace operations in both Spain and the UK.   In addition to

Prudent Energy, a clean energy storage company with offices in North America and China, has added another USD10m in venture capital funding to top off its oversubscribed series C round. Jafco Asia, Mitsui Ventures, CEL Partners and other investors will bring total outside funding within the last three months to over USD32m. "We are delighted to welcome new investors to our group," says Johnson Chiang, Prudent Energy’s chief executive. "With their combined experience growing emerging cleantech companies such as ours, we have an even greater opportunity to expand manufacturing while creating pathways into new markets. Our US office in the

Offshore firm Appleby has acted as the Cayman Islands counsel for Costin New Materials Group in relation to its global offering and listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 21 June 2010. The Appleby team was led by Tan Li Lee, a counsel in Appleby’s Hong Kong office, assisted by Vincent Chan. Costin is based in the Fujan Province of China and is engaged in the research, development, production and sales of nonwoven fabrics and chemical fibres. The group promotes and markets its products primarily through direct contacts with potential customers and participations in large-scale conferences and exhibitions. To

The Dow Chemical Company has closed the sale of its Styron division to an affiliate of Bain Capital Partners, the private equity firm.  Dow has elected to retain a 7.5 per cent equity position in Styron, which is now a privately held materials company. Also included in the transaction are several long-term supply, service and purchase agreements between Dow and Styron that aim to generate additional value for both companies.   “The Styron divestiture is another major step in Dow’s transformation and a strong example of our disciplined approach to portfolio management and business prioritization,” says Andrew N. Liveris (pictured),

Paragon Wealth Management, a registered investment adviser firm, has created a video on the front page of its website to discuss why active wealth management is more effective than passive. "There has always been a debate of whether buy and hold is better," says Dave Young, president of Paragon Wealth Management. "My argument for the buy and holders is, ‘how long should you hold?’" Young has done research to determine the most effective wealth management strategies. He has tried and tested these strategies since 1985. "There is nothing intrinsic about active management that says it is better," says Young. "It

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Usen, the Tokyo-based cable broadcaster and media content provider, have signed a definitive agreement whereby KKR will acquire Intelligence, the recruitment services subsidiary of Usen, for JPY32.5bn (approximately USD356m). Established in 1989, Intelligence’s three core business areas are permanent job placement, temporary staffing and outsourcing, and job search advertising. "Intelligence is a dynamic company with a highly capable and enthusiastic management team. As one of the few recruitment services firms in Japan providing such a comprehensive offering, the company is well positioned to take advantage of an anticipated upturn in economic activity. Further growth of the

The Teamsters Union has requested that private equity firms be prohibited from acting as underwriters for the public offerings of companies they control in a letter to the chief executives of NYSE Euronext and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Teamster-affiliated pension and benefit funds have more than USD100bn invested in the capital markets. Citing concerns about the Kohlberg Kravis Roberts initial public offering of Dollar General last year, the Teamsters called Finra’s current rules "woefully inadequate to deal with the striking conflict of interests caused by private equity firms such as KKR acting as managers for IPOs of their portfolio