An affiliate of Lightyear Fund II has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the ING Advisor Network and three of ING Advisor Network’s five broker-dealers. The broker-dealers include Financial Network Investment, Multi-Financial Securities and PrimeVest Financial Services. Valerie Brown, chief executive officer of ING Advisor Network, will remain in her position and continue to lead the business post acquisition. “This is a great investment for Lightyear,” says Donald B. Marron (pictured), chairman and chief executive officer of Lightyear Capital. “We have decades of experience and leadership in the broker-dealer industry and recognize the current and future potential of this network

Barclays Capital’s natural resource investments team has partnered with Richard Hall and Rory Edwards to create an oil and gas development company, Nio Petroleum, which will focus on undeveloped discoveries, marginal fields and late-life assets in South East Asia. Hall and Edwards’ 25 years of experience includes the formulation and execution of a number of value enhancing schemes in the North Sea and offshore South East Asia, which have enabled the monetisation of small fields or extended the life of mature fields. Nio Petroleum is seeking to acquire undeveloped discoveries or mature late life assets to add value through the

Meritage Midstream Services has been formed with equity commitments from EnCap Energy Infrastructure Fund and TPH Partners. Meritage Midstream provides oil and gas producers with a full complement of midstream services. Capabilities include the gathering, treating and handling of natural gas, crude oil, condensates and water, and carbon dioxide sequestration. “Meritage Midstream is led by a seasoned team of midstream executives with proven track records of success and value creation,” says president Steve Huckaby. “Our partnership with EnCap and TPH creates a formidable company with the ability to respond quickly to rapidly developing resource plays.” EEIF is a private equity

BNY Mellon Asset Management has acquired a 20 per cent minority interest in Siguler Guff, a multi-strategy private equity firm with approximately USD8bn in assets under management and committed capital. Siguler Guff’s focused investment offerings include fund of funds targeting distressed security investing, investing in emerging markets, including Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC), and investing in small cap buyout opportunities. Siguler Guff focuses its investments across three different business lines: fund of funds, advisory activities and direct investment funds. Founded in 1991 within Paine Webber, Siguler Guff became an independent firm in 1995. “In the aftermath of the financial

Greylock Partners, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, has closed its USD575m Greylock XIII fund. The firm has also added a new investing partner, LinkedIn co-founder and executive chairman Reid Hoffman. Greylock will use the funds to invest in and support promising enterprise and consumer software, services and infrastructure ventures. “We are thankful to count among our investors some of the most sophisticated and respected university endowments and family foundations, many of which have been enthusiastic supporters of Greylock since our founding in 1965,” says Greylock partner Bill Helman. Recent and current consumer companies Greylock has supported include Digg, Facebook,

Adveq, an investment manager of private equity funds of funds, believes that investors are facing the prospect of a tripolar private equity investment world in which the three major private equity regions – the US, Europe and Asia – will operate on the basis of their own rules. In addition, and as a consequence of the economic crisis, valuations, refinancing arrangements and exit markets will present the most significant challenges for the sector in the future. Adveq forecasts that private equity markets of the future will have to operate in a tripolar world. While the concept of private equity originated

Huron Capital Partners has made a significant investment in Maple Leaf Automotive in partnership with its management team. Huron committed USD30m to close the transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction marks the 45th investment overall for Huron and third investment platform in Canada. The investment was made through Huron’s most recent private equity fund, The Huron Fund III, which has USD350m in fresh committed capital. Based in Ontario, Canada, Maple Leaf is a manufacturer of original equipment quality replacement parts for the automotive aftermarket. Chris Sheeren, a partner at Huron, says: "The management team has developed