Augentius Fund Administration, a provider of fund administration services to the private equity and property fund sectors, has received final regulatory approval to administer Mauritian domiciled funds. “We have had increasing demand to provide services to funds domiciled in Mauritius, with two fund managers already appointing Augentius Mauritius” says J.P. Harrop (pictured), managing partner. “Both Indian and African dunds, amongst others, are keen to use Mauritius as a domicile. With good investment opportunities developing in these growing markets it is important that we expand our business in line with the market’s requirements.” Augentius is expanding in the Americas and recently

SkillSoft, a Dublin-based e-learning software provider, has agreed to be acquired by a group of private equity firms for USD1.1bn. Berkshire Partners, Advent International and Bain Capital Partners will pay USD10.80 per share in cash to SkillSoft shareholders, representing a premium of 11 per cent to SkillSoft’s closing share price on Thursday. SkillSoft will continue to be headquartered in Dublin and led by its current management team, including Chuck Moran as chief executive. Moran says the deal is good for shareholders and represents "an attractive premium relative to our trading history".

Chrysalix Energy, a venture capital firm focused on early stage clean energy technologies, says its latest fund has increased to more than USD100m with an investment by the Oregon Investment Fund, an affiliate of Credit Suisse. Chrysalix chief executive Wal van Lierop (pictured) says the Chrysalix Energy Limited Partnership III is on target to reach USD150m by 31 March 2010. "Our goal is to work with strategic partners to build the energy giants of tomorrow," says van Lierop. "By building partnerships with international leaders like Credit Suisse, Chrysalix continues to build momentum for clean energy technology venture capital, bridging the

TVM Capital Mena has received approval from the Dubai Financial Services Authority to launch its first regional healthcare growth capital fund with USD40m of subscriptions from founding investors, Saudi Health Investment Company, the International Finance Corporation and GE Healthcare. TVM Capital Mena, the fund’s operator, is based in the Dubai International Financial Centre and is licensed and regulated by the DFSA. The fund will seek to capitalise on the growth opportunities in the healthcare service and pharmaceutical/life science sectors in the Middle East and North Africa region. On the services side, the focus will be on investments in specialised clinics,

2009 saw a steep decline in European financial services M&A activity with values, excluding government led deals, hitting their lowest levels for six years, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. By contrast, the outlook for increased deal activity in 2010 is positive and the level of private sector activity is expected to increase significantly. Nick Page (pictured), partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, says: “The level of deal activity in the European financial services market plummeted to a six year low in 2009. However, a restructuring-led wave of deal activity has started to gather momentum across the financial services industry and the private sector

Investec Private Bank’s private equity partner and fund finance team has provided a GBP8.2m loan to Encore Ventures, a new division of European venture capital firm DFJ Esprit. The two year loan facility financed all the management fees, set-up costs and legal fees of Encore 1, Encore Ventures’ first fund, which was established to manage the portfolio acquired in October 2009 from 3i for GBP170m.  Investec’s loan facility was structured to enhance the returns of the limited partners by ensuring that any capital drawn was used to buy assets rather than cover transaction costs. DFJ Esprit’s Encore 1 fund is

LS Power, a New York-based investment firm focused on the development, acquisition and management of power generation and transmission infrastructure, has selected SunGard’s Investran to help address its accounting needs for private equity administration. LS Power will use Investran for customer relationship management and investment and partnership accounting. Investran supports the entire investment lifecycle, from fundraising to reporting and portfolio monitoring, by automating front, middle and back-office processes for private equity and alternative investment firms. LS Power needed a solution that would help it to efficiently analyse, track and disseminate an increasing flow of transactional data. Investran aims to help

Private equity firm North Castle Partners has recapitalised flatbread maker Flatout in partnership with co-founders Stacey and Mike Marsh. Glencoe Capital’s Michigan Opportunities Fund participated on the recapitalisation, the terms of which were not disclosed. Founded over ten years ago, Flatout manufactures and markets healthy flatbreads, wraps, and snack crisps sold under its own Flatout brand to the grocery, mass, club store and food-service channels. "Providing consumers with healthy nutrition options is paramount to North Castle’s mission to build industry leading companies in the healthy living and aging market," says Chip Baird, North Castle’s managing partner. "We are proud to

Venture capital firms have agreed to sell their stake in Aardvark, an operator of a social search engine, to Google for approximately USD50m. The venture capital firms include August Capital and Baseline Ventures. Aardvark, founded by a group of former Google employees, has raised around USD6m in venture capital to date. The service lets users ask questions and get immediate responses from their friends.