The Irish office of law firm Maples and Calder has advised Avolon, the aircraft leasing group, on the completion of its initial capital raise of USD1.4bn. The capital raised includes an equity commitment of USD750m from three private equity firms, Cinven, CVC and Oak Hill Capital, and a USD400m warehouse facility, the first facility of its type completed since 2007. Nollaig Murphy (pictured), partner and head of the finance group at Maples, says: “We are pleased to serve as legal adviser to Avolon which demonstrates our firm’s credentials within this sector.” Andrew Doyle, managing partner at Maples, adds:, “We are

Private equity firms active in the healthcare industry have launched the Healthcare Private Equity Association, a Chicago-based, non-profit trade association whose purpose is to support the reputation, knowledge and relationships of the healthcare private equity community. As of its founding, the association’s roughly 40 member firms represent over USD300bn of capital under management and over 300 healthcare-focused investment professionals. As the first sector-focused trade association in private equity, the association anticipates it will represent one of the largest groups of privately-held healthcare businesses in the US. Its members’ approximately 500 healthcare portfolio companies have over USD200bn of combined revenue and

Morgan Stanley Private Equity has formed a partnership with William E. (Bill) Mitchell, the former chairman and chief executive of Arrow Electronics, to acquire or invest in managed IT services companies. The goal of the partnership is to create a leading IT services provider focused on serving small and medium sized businesses. Mitchell (pictured) retired from Arrow Electronics on 1 January 2010. He originally joined Arrow Electronics as president and chief executive officer in February 2003, and was named to the additional position of chairman of the board in May 2006. Prior to joining Arrow, Mitchell led the growth of

Michael Foods’ parent, M-Foods Holdings, has signed a definitive agreement under which its owners, affiliates of Thomas H. Lee Partners, and certain current and former members of management, will sell Michael Foods to affiliates of GS Capital Partners. The transaction, which is expected to close in the next two months and is subject to customary closing conditions, values Michael Foods at approximately USD1.7bn. Michael Foods is a producer and distributor of food products to the food service, retail and food ingredient markets. Its principal products are specialty egg products, refrigerated potato products, cheese and other dairy-case products. Thomas H. Lee,

MMC Ventures has made a follow-on capital investment into portfolio company Small World Financial Services Group to support the further expansion of the independent money transfer operator in Europe. The investment was made alongside new investor FF&P Private Equity. Tom Hopkins, director of MMC, says: “This deal is a good example of the way MMC operates. We invested in Small World at an early stage in its development, supported it through a period of high growth and geographical expansion, and then brought in an appropriate partner to help exploit the full potential of the market opportunity. We remain excited by

Emerging Capital Partners, a private equity firm committed to building responsible businesses across the African continent, has become a signatory to the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment. The principles are a globally recognised initiative dedicated to integrating environmental, social and governance considerations into investment processes. Signing the guidelines is consistent with Emerging Capital Partners’ efforts in contributing to development in Africa by upholding best practices in corporate governance, social development and environmental sustainability in the continent’s private sector. As part of this initiative, Emerging Capital Partners has institutionalised a new protocol to track ESG impact and mandated internal ESG