New York-based private equity firm Aquiline Capital Partners has led an investment round in Clear2Pay, a financial services technology company that delivers global solutions for secure and timely electronic payments. The investment, which also includes funds from current Clear2Pay investors, will provide the company with EUR50m to fund its next stage of growth and potential strategic acquisitions. The payments technology industry is a large and growing market with a multi billion dollar revenue opportunity. Many banks, processors and clearing houses are currently working with legacy payment silos that are proving inefficient and outdated in the face of shifting industry dynamics

Mid Europa Partners has commenced a tender offer to purchase the outstanding ordinary shares of Invitel Holdings, par value EUR0.01 per share, and any and all of the American depositary shares, each representing one Invitel share, which it does not currently own at a purchase price of USD4.50 per share. This represents a premium of approximately 27 per cent over the Invitel ADS closing price of USD3.55 on the NYSE Amex Stock Exchange on 4 December 2009 (the last trading day prior to the announcement of the offer) and a premium of approximately 28 per cent and 19 per cent

Agro-Ecological Investment Management, a private equity and real estate asset management company, will launch its first fund, the Agro-Ecological Farmland Investment Fund 1, in the first quarter of 2010. The fund will invest in farmland in New Zealand, acquiring conventionally-managed farms and converting them to organic production. It will focus on profitable, sustainable and ecologically-cognisant farmland asset management.   Agro-Ecological raises funds from individual and institutional investors to deploy in the agricultural sector.   “We have identified a number of prospects for this first fund, and we look forward to beginning our investment process early in 2010,” says Geoff Burke,

Institutional investors remain committed to private equity investing, but seek greater portfolio transparency and higher quality reporting from managers amid growing liquidity and performance concerns, according to a survey by SEI. In a report on the survey’s findings, SEI asserts that private equity managers who standardise and institutionalise transparency practices will be most likely to retain and capture assets because they will create efficiencies while delivering a more consistent and enhanced client experience. The survey, which was completed by senior investment professionals at 51 organisations ranging in size from less than EUR330m (USD500m) to more than EUR13bn (USD20bn) in assets,

Dolphin Equity Partners has recorded one of the largest single returns for limited partners among venture capital investors in 2009 with its sale of long-time investment Gomez to Compuware. Compuware’s USD295m cash acquisition of Gomez realised USD93m for Dolphin investors, a 770 per cent return. Dolphin was Gomez’s largest shareholder and first invested in the company in 2000, when it saw an opportunity to build on Gomez’s nascent Web-performance monitoring assets and its then-pioneering delivery via the Software as a Service model. “Dolphin is committed to looking for long-term investment opportunities that have huge potential payoffs, especially among SaaS technology

Swing Media Technology Group has entered into a SGD10m equity line facility with YA Global Master SPV, a fund managed by Yorkville Advisors.  Swing Media, a manufacturer and supplier of data storage products and peripherals, plans to use the funds for the group’s general corporate and working capital purposes and to further expand its core business and explore new ventures, including expansion into China green energy sector.   Matthew Hui, chief executive officer of Swing Media, says: “We are extremely pleased to welcome Yorkville as a long-term strategic capital partner. The partnership is an endorsement by the US-based fund manager