Tanfield Foods, a manufacturer of allergen free ready meals, soups and sauces, has obtained a GBP4m investment from Inventages Venture Capital. The new money will be used to build capacity in the Consett factory unit and provide extra marketing support, particularly for Tanfield Food’s key brand “Look What We Found!”. Tanfield Foods started production on a green field site in Consett County Durham five years ago. It employs over 100 permanent staff and is currently listed in Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Tesco, Asda and Morrison’s. "We are pleased to be working with such an experienced international investor with wide industry expertise and

European Fund Administration has signed a partnership agreement with Italy’s Asset Management Services, a company specialised in fund administration services. As part of the agreement, AMS acquires 100 per cent of Servizi, in which EFA previously held a 34 per cent stake, while EFA obtains ten per cent of AMS’s equity with the option of raising its ownership to 25 per cent by 2012. By acquiring Servizi, AMS will expand its customer base and its assets under administration from EUR12.7bn as at 31 December 2008 to EUR19bn, thus becoming the largest independent provider of fund administration services in Italy. Thomas

Celtic Pharmaceutical, a private equity investment firm focused on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, has formed a partnership between Ipsen and Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals to create a haemophilia franchise. Prior to this partnership, Celtic Pharma held a direct interest in Inspiration’s lead compound, IB1001 (rFIX), a new version of recombinant Factor IX which is in late stage clinical trials for the acute and preventative treatment of bleeding in patients with haemophilia B. The firm also held an equity interest in the company. As part of this transaction, Celtic Pharma has exchanged both interests into a new class of preferred shares in

Prudential Capital Partners has completed fundraising for Prudential Capital Partners III with capital commitments totalling USD965m, exceeding its initial fundraising target of USD900m. Prudential Capital Partners is the middle-market mezzanine fund business sponsored by Prudential Capital Group, a private fixed income investment business of Prudential Financial. Investors include state and corporate pension funds, fund of funds managers, insurance companies and family offices. More than 80 per cent of the fund’s investor group participated in Prudential Capital Partners II, which totalled USD775m when it closed in 2005. Prudential Capital Partners’ first fund closed in 2001, totalling USD619m. “Although this has been

Mark Dalton, Alex Sorokin and Neil Wessan have launched Halsey Lane Holdings to assist lenders-turned-owners of distressed companies in managing and maximising the value of their post-restructuring equity investments.  Halsey Lane combines the principals’ private equity, turnaround, restructuring and capital markets expertise with an offering that is solely focused on maximising recoveries for unnatural owners of equity exchanged for debt as a result of the restructuring process.   “The combination of the credit crisis and the deepest recession since World War II have caused many highly leveraged situations created during the private equity boom of 2004-2007 to default, creating a

Activ Financial, a provider of low-latency market data solutions, has received a minority equity investment from venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners.  Activ will use the proceeds to drive new customer acquisition, power continued product innovation and meet the escalating market demand for ultra-low latency market data solutions. The demand is being fuelled by growth in market data volumes and the move toward co-location facilities to support advanced and profitable global trading strategies.   "We are happy to be able to complete this financing for the clear leader in low-latency market data solutions," says Rob Stavis (pictured), partner at Bessemer