Inflexion Private Equity, a mid-market private equity investor, has invested in travel business Griffin Global Group. Headquartered in London, Griffin provides specialist travel services to the marine, offshore and cruise industries, arranging travel for crews rotating onto merchant ships, to oil and gas hubs and to cruise ships. The business was founded in 1977 and has since expanded to deliver over GBP300m p.a. of travel services from 31 offices. Griffin provides a completely outsourced service, enabling clients to eliminate the fixed cost of an in-house travel desk. The investment is partly structured to allow the buyout of the estate of

Neuberger Berman’s private equity secondaries team has agreed to acquire a diversified portfolio of 21 private equity investments from a European family office. The total transaction size is approximately USD200m, and the  portfolio will be purchased by NB Secondary Opportunities Fund II, a USD1.7bn fund raised in 2008. Transaction terms and the identity of the selling entity were not disclosed. “This transaction represents a superior opportunity to purchase an attractive and diversified portfolio of high-quality assets on behalf of our limited partners in NB Secondary Opportunities Fund II,” says Brian Talbot, managing director and head of the Neuberger Berman secondaries

Administrators of private equity funds have developed rapidly during their average 12 years of history, according to the first European private equity fund administration survey by Ernst & Young. The survey revealed that the service offering of administrators can be described as close to fully fledged and covers a wide range from accounting, company secretarial services, investor register up to reporting. However, services in the early stage of the PE fund cycle, such as assistance in the fund set-up, are not often provided. Also, tax services are not yet on the list of many of the respondents to this survey,

Earth Capital Partners has completed the first close of its renewable energy infrastructure fund, ECP Renewable Energy Fund One, targeting up to EUR750m of investment. The fund will invest in solar, biogas and biomass projects in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Earth Capital has recently appointed E.ON Climate & Renewables to play a key role as the fund’s primary industrial service provider, providing technical skills and industrial experience, particularly in project development, operation and maintenance of assets, as well as potentially contributing to the fund’s investment opportunities. Ben Cotton, partner of Earth Capital, says: “The fund provides a

Investors are looking forward to 2010 as a year of moderate economic growth, benign inflation and solid returns in global equities, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch survey of fund managers for December. Optimism about the economy strengthened this month. A net 80 per cent of respondents expect the world economy to grow over the next 12 months, compared with a net 69 per cent in November. Two thirds of investors expect equity markets to return to traditional growth levels or better.   Expectations for corporate profits are at their highest level since December 2003, supporting demand for greater capex.

RLJ Equity Partners has acquired a significant ownership interest in LAI International, a manufacturer of precision engineered components for a variety of industries including power generation, aerospace and defence, and healthcare. The announcement, in partnership with Spell Capital, comes five months after the close of RLJ Equity Partners Fund I with USD230m of committed capital in June 2009. Further details of the transaction were not disclosed. "RLJ views LAI as a perfect fit with its investment strategy to back strong, entrepreneurially-minded management teams of businesses that have sound, differentiated, value-added products or services where we can leverage our relationships to