Private equity firm Pfingsten Partners has acquired Motus3, a Kansas-based designer and manufacturer of food processing equipment. Motus3 products are sold under the brand names Marlen and Carruthers, and are used for pumping, portioning, filling, dicing, grinding, slicing, reducing, chilling and cooking food. Pfingsten plans to create a diversified food processing equipment platform through organic growth, strategic add-on acquisitions and geographic expansion. Going forward, the company will operate under the name Marlen International. “Growing global demand for processed foods, a large installed base of equipment, and a meaningful replacement parts business made this an attractive opportunity for us,” says Thomas

Global private equity firm Riverside has sold ATI, a provider of post-secondary professional training at campuses in Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas and online, to BC Partners. Under Riverside’s ownership, ATI has expanded its campuses from eight to 23, added an online division, and grown the number of students served from 2,300 to 15,500. During a hold period of nearly six years, Riverside helped ATI sustain annual growth of over 30 per cent for both revenues and Ebitda. During the same time period, overall revenues and Ebitda grew by over 300 per cent and 450 per cent, respectively.

Listing activity in 2009 experienced a significant slowdown as a result of the situation on the international capital markets since September 2008, according to the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The year was marked by a sharp decline in the admission of securities representing securitized assets or structured products. In contrast, bond issues from non-financial enterprises rose sharply. The amount of capital raised and listed during 2009 increased by about 8.17 per cent compared to 2008 to breach the symbolic barrier of EUR1,000bn, while the number of new quotation lines was lower by almost 35 per cent over the previous year. During

Innovalight, a privately-held firm selling silicon ink-based solar cell materials and technology, has raised USD18m in additional capital. The new round of capital will be used to expand the company’s proprietary silicon ink production for customers. The series D financing was led by EDB Investments of Singapore. Also joining was Vertex Venture Holdings, the venture subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, Singapore. All existing investors – Apax Partners, Arch Venture Partners, Convexa Capital, Harris & Harris Group, Sevin Rosen Funds and Triton Ventures – participated in the round. Innovalight’s proprietary nanotechnology-based silicon ink and processing technologies allow crystalline silicon solar cell manufacturers

A&J Venture Capital Group says it plans to open offices in the US and Hong Kong. The company has also launched its website. Chief executive Andreas Klimm says: "We are very close to securing locations in the US and Hong Kong to open offices to expand our business operations which we feel would bring added support and interest from the investment community. "We are also very pleased to launch our company website and would like to welcome interested investors to visit us at www.ajvcap.com as we begin to execute our business plan. "We have received an explosion of interest from

Parthenon Capital Partners, a private equity firm with offices in San Francisco and Boston, has completed an investment in loanDepot, an online consumer direct mortgage origination company based in Irvine, California. The purpose of the investment is to provide the necessary growth capital for the company to secure warehouse funding and to continue to develop the leading origination platform in the industry. loanDepot is led by industry veteran and chief executive officer Anthony Hsieh, a pioneer in the mortgage industry who previously built two mortgage businesses, LoansDirect and Home Loan Center. Hsieh co-invested alongside Parthenon in the transaction. “We greatly

Atlantic-Pacific Capital, a global placement agent for alternative investment funds, has held the final close of Riverside Fund IV, a USD406m lower middle market buyout fund. Fund IV was significantly oversubscribed and exceeded Riverside Partners’ initial target of USD325m when the fund was launched in April 2009. Fund IV received support from almost all existing institutional investors while also attracting a number of new partners including state and corporate pension plans, foundations, consultants, and European investors. Atlantic-Pacific Capital acted as the exclusive global placement agent and financial adviser. Fund IV will continue Riverside’s focus on control investments in established lower