Private equity firm The Carlyle Group has raised USD1.1bn for its first financial services fund, Carlyle Global Financial Services Partners. The financial services team, which has made three investments to date, focuses on financial services companies around the world, including banks, insurance companies, asset managers and financial service providers.   “We are grateful for the support of our investors and the confidence they have placed in us. We have been exceptionally disciplined and have maintained our focus on investing where we can add the most value: mid-market and regional financial institutions that need both additional capital and the confidence that

Private equity firms invested about USD2bn across 56 deals in India during the quarter ended March 2010, according to a study by Venture Intelligence. The amount invested during the latest quarter was the highest in the last six quarters. The figure was significantly higher than that during the same period last year, which witnessed USD620m being invested across 58 deals, and also the immediate previous quarter of USD1,681m across 102 deals. The largest investment during the quarter was the USD425m investment into power generation firm Asian Genco by General Atlantic, Morgan Stanley, Norwest, Goldman Sachs and Everstone. Other top investments

Graphite Capital, a UK mid-market private equity firm, has completed a further GBP24m development capital package to support a major expansion programme by Willowbrook Healthcare. Willowbrook is a nursing and dementia care home group for the elderly. The new funding takes the total commitment of Graphite funds, the management team and its banking partners to almost GBP80m. In November 2008, Willowbrook raised GBP53m to finance the initial development of care homes. Willowbrook, whose care homes operate under the Avery brand, currently has three homes located in Sunderland, Kirkstall (Leeds) and Newcastle-under-Lyme, with a further five under development. It will use

Lionsgate, a producer and distributor of motion pictures and television programming, has formed a partnership with private investment firm Saban Capital Group to operate and manage Tiger Gate, an operator of pay TV channels and a distributor of TV programming and action and horror films across Asia. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Established by Lionsgate in partnership with William Pfeiffer and Paul Presburger in 2008, Tiger Gate currently operates the thriller/horror channel Thrill and the action channel KIX. The channels, which launched in Indonesia in August 2009, will launch in Hong Kong and Singapore on 28 April.

Prospect Capital has made a secured debt investment of USD35m in Shearer’s Foods, a manufacturer and distributor of snack food products based in Brewster, Ohio, to support the acquisition of Snack Alliance. Founded in 1974, Shearer’s is the largest producer of kettle cooked potato chips in the US. Shearer’s also produces traditional potato chips, tortilla chips, cheese curls, and other snack products. The company serves a blue-chip list of co-pack, branded, private label, and food service customers. Robert Shearer, the company’s chief executive officer and the former chairman of the board of directors for the Snack Food Association, has played

Energy Investors Funds and NTE Energy have formed EIF NTE Hybrid Renewable Energy, a joint venture created to develop, construct and operate large-scale hybrid renewable energy facilities throughout the US. Hybrid renewable energy projects combine different types of renewable and traditional energy technologies to generate sustainable sources of clean electricity at a lower cost to customers than traditional renewable energy resources.  To produce hybrid energy, EIF NTE Hybrid Renewable Energy will construct plants that combine solar, biomass and other renewable technologies with natural gas turbine technology to produce low-cost renewable sources of electricity produced in a clean and sustainable manner. 

UK private equity firm Sovereign Capital has invested GBP10m in Brighton and Bristol Institute of Modern Music, a provider of modern music vocational and higher education. Run by musicians, BIMM offers its 1,150 students a broad range of qualifications in modern music through its colleges in Brighton and Bristol.  These courses are delivered by 100 tutors who are active professional musicians with a variety of touring, performing and session experience.  The tutorial programme includes a mixture of classroom study, live performance and specialist workshops from BIMM’s studios and lecture rooms, equipped with a choice of vintage and state of the

Starwood Capital Group has closed an aggregate USD2.8bn for its two newest funds: Starwood Global Opportunity Fund VIII at over USD1.8bn and Starwood Capital Global Hospitality Fund II at USD965m. Starwood Global Opportunity Fund VIII is the largest fund ever raised by Starwood in its 19-year history. The closing of the funds brings Starwood’s total capital raised since January 2009 to more than USD4.4bn, including the closing of Starwood’s Debt Fund II, the public offering of Starwood Property Trust and a co-invest pool of capital raised for the Starwood-led consortium’s acquisition of the Corus Bank assets from the FDIC. "We