Parthenon Capital Partners has completed its USD15m investment in Seaside National Bank & Trust, a nationally-chartered commercial bank headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The investment will be made through the bank’s holding company, Three Shores Bancorporation, with funds from Parthenon Investors III. The investment was complemented by Lovell Minnick Partners, Continental Investors and a group of existing shareholders for a total of over USD40m. Brian Golson (pictured), managing partner of Parthenon Capital Partners, says: “After a lengthy search to find an investment opportunity in a strongly performing and rapidly growing community bank, we are extremely pleased to complete this investment. Seaside

Frontier market fund TLG Capital has become the largest shareholder in the Swedish Ghana Medical Centre, a private healthcare provider located in Ghana. SGMC plans to offer state-of-the-art cancer care services to the entire West Africa region with the development of a USD40m “centre of excellence" across two phases. The first phase includes the provision of a basic cancer care unit with radiotherapy based on linear accelerator treatment, diagnostic and outpatient services. At a later stage, SGMC is expected to provide advanced radiotherapy and Gamma Knife treatment for the brain with the capability of treating more advanced cancers. The facility

K-Mac Enterprises, a portfolio company of Olympus Growth Fund IV, has completed a USD110m recapitalization. K-Mac, the second-largest Taco Bell franchisee, operates 130 Taco Bells. It also operates Kentucky Fried Chicken and Golden Corral stores, giving K-Mac a total of 176 restaurants.   USD59m of the refinancing proceeds were used to pay a dividend to shareholders. Bonuses of USD2.7m were paid to 25 employees of K-Mac, in addition to their share of the dividend. The balance of the capital is available to grow K-Mac’s operations.   Olympus and management acquired K-Mac and its 144 stores at the end of 2004.

DN Capital, a media and technology early stage and growth capital investor, has invested in Apsmart, a provider of solutions for the rapidly expanding smartphone market. Apsmart is a professional service and solution provider for high-end smartphone platforms and develops applications for organisations seeking to execute products on mobile devices. Apsmart also crafts its own concepts and creates business and consumer applications for this increasingly important digital channel, targeting iPhone, Android, RIM and other devices. DN Capital has a longstanding relationship with Rahul Powar, founder and chief executive at Apsmart, and has worked closely with him to establish the business

Diamond Microwave Devices, a spin out from the diamond electronics team in Element Six Technologies, has closed a GBP1.3m equity investment from a consortium consisting of Oxford Technology Management, YFM, the ERA Foundation and two private investors. During the course of 2009, DMD has made various performance breakthroughs in its diamond-based transistor technology and this investment round will be used to develop and build power amplifier modules for customer trialling during 2010. The DMD diamond transistor technology will enable the move to low cost, lightweight solid-state amplifiers in high power, high frequency applications such as radar, communications, Satcoms, and electronic

The Private Equity Foundation has joined forces with European buyout firm Cinven to give follow-on funding to its portfolio charity, School-Home Support.  It brings PEF’s total contribution to School-Home Support to over GBP900,000, which is enabling the charity to double the number of pupils it helps to make the most of their education by 2012. Of the latest GBP265,000 donation, GBP165,000 has been provided by PEF and GBP100,000 by the Cinven Foundation. PEF’s original grant of GBP650,000 was made in March 2008.  School-Home Support, which believes that learning is a child’s freedom, runs a national programme, putting independent highly trained

Sina, an online media company and mobile service provider for China and the global Chinese communities, has completed the subscription for ordinary shares by New-Wave Investment pursuant to an agreement signed in September 2009. New-Wave is a British Virgin Islands company established and controlled by Charles Chao (pictured), Sina’s president and chief executive, and other members of Sina’s management. New-Wave subscribed for and purchased approximately 5.6 million ordinary shares of Sina. Sina received gross proceeds of USD180m, which it plans to use for future acquisitions and general corporate purposes. "The closing of the USD180m private equity financing marks a historical

Schibsted is selling its shares in Basefarm to private equity fund Reiten Capital Partners VII. The new majority owner, which is acquiring 72 per cent of the shares, has ambitious plans for the internet operations company.   “This is a milestone in the company’s almost ten-year history as a specialist in the operation of internet applications. We are getting a solid new owner which will bring us financial and strategic expertise, as well as an even better opportunity to realise our ambitions,” says Grethe Viksaas, chief executive of Basefarm.   In addition to Reiten’s holding, the other shares will be

Origo Sino-India and Origo Resource Partners have acquired a 21 per cent stake in Gobi Coal and Energy for an aggregate amount of USD15m.    OSI has invested USD4.5m for an approximate 6.4 per cent shareholding and ORP has invested USD10.5m for an approximate 14.9 per cent shareholding.  Upon completion of the transaction, OSI and ORP’s combined shareholding will be the largest equity interest in Gobi.  Gobi has significant coal resources in Mongolia and is positioned to supply fast growing demand from clients in both western and north eastern China. It is a privately owned coal company headquartered in Ulaanbaatar