RedSeal Systems, a vendor of security posture management software, has received an investment of USD12m from venture capital firms specialising in the security industry. In addition, security executive Mark Ashida, managing director at OVP Venture Partners and former general manager of enterprise networking and authentication for Microsoft, has joined RedSeal’s board of directors. The investment round was led by OVP Venture Partners, whose prior security investments include Foundstone (acquired by McAfee), Watchguard Technologies and Avenda Systems. OVP was joined by existing investors Venrock, Jafco Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures and Leapfrog Ventures. The total investment by these firms in RedSeal’s technology

Krokus PE’s country fund for Poland, Nova Polonia Natexis II, has acquired 44 per cent of the shares in Polmed via a capital increase to finance the further expansion of the company’s business. Polmed provides healthcare to individuals, corporations and institutions. The range of services includes basic treatment, specialist ambulatory treatment, complete medical diagnostics, rehabilitation, dental treatment and minor surgical interventions. Polmed runs a network of ten outpatient clinics mainly in northern Poland and cooperates with sub-contracting clinics in other parts of the country. Its medical personnel include doctors, specialists, nurses and midwives. Patients have at their disposal a 24

Advantage Capital Partners, a venture capital and small business finance firm, has provided USD2m in financing to Computime, a provider of electronic signature fulfillment and support services. Advantage Capital made the investment in connection with the federal New Markets Tax Credit Program and the Missouri New Markets Development Program. Computime will use the funds to continue the growth and development of its sales and marketing services in the St. Louis area. "The Missouri New Markets Development program has enabled our regional businesses to create good job opportunities at a critical time," says Rachelle Rowe, vice president of communications at Advantage

Teak Midstream has secured a USD100m private equity investment from Natural Gas Partners, an energy private equity firm based in Irving, Texas. Teak, a Dallas-based midstream start-up, will use the private equity investment to acquire and develop midstream assets in key gas producing areas of the US. Teak Midstream is led by A. Chris Aulds and James R. Wales. Prior to starting Teak, they were two of the original three founders of Crosstex Energy, where they were instrumental in growing the company from a USD4m start-up in 1996 to a USD3bn publicly traded company at the time of their departure

Jersey companies have been approved for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The move is a significant development for Jersey’s finance industry, which is seeking to increase business flows from the Asia Pacific region. The formal inclusion of Jersey companies on the Hong Kong Exchange’s approved list of companies able to float on its exchange is the result of more than a year’s negotiation, research and document preparation involving government officials in Jersey, representatives from Jersey Finance and the finance industry. The approval enables Jersey’s finance industry to compete on an equal footing with other competitor jurisdictions, which have

Los Angeles-based private equity firm Aurora Capital Group has completed the acquisition of Porex, formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of HLTH, for USD142m in cash and senior secured debt. Porex designs, produces and delivers porous, surgical and filtration products for customers in healthcare, industrial and consumer applications worldwide. Gerald L. Parsky, chairman of Aurora Capital Group, says: "We look forward to working with Porex’s management team and talented employees to build upon the company’s past achievements. Aurora is committed to helping Porex expand its strong market position in porous plastics and further enhance its materials science expertise in support of

China Agritech, an organic fertilizer manufacturer and distributor in China, has closed a private placement with Carlyle Asia Growth Partners, the growth capital arm of The Carlyle Group, of 1,392,768 shares of China Agritech common stock and warrants to purchase up to an additional 928,514 shares for aggregate gross proceeds of USD15m.   As a result of the transaction, The Carlyle Group, through its affiliates holds approximately 16.5 per cent of the issued and outstanding China Agritech common stock. In the event that the company does not meet a net income target of USD11.5m for fiscal year 2009, The Carlyle

The first half of 2009 saw extremely low levels of European financial services M&A activity, but an increase in deal activity is on the cards as we move into 2010, according to Nick Page, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Page says: “’Steady as she goes’ has been the ethos throughout the 2009 financial services deal market to date. However, a restructuring-led wave of deal activity will gather momentum across the European financial services landscape as we move into 2010. We anticipate that financial institutions will continue to identify, evaluate and sell their non-core businesses." According to the latest European Financial Services M&A