Advent International, a global buy-out firm, has completed the acquisition of LaborMed Pharma from its founders.

BlackRock has been tapped by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to help manage the USD30bn portfolio of Bear Stearns, which is being acquired by JPMorgan Chase, now for USD1.2bn.

Octopus Ventures, the private investor group specialising in early stage businesses valued at between GBP2m and GBP10m, is pleased to announce the appointment of  Paul  Humphries

Aureos Southern Africa Fund (ASAF) has acquired a 30 per cent equity stake in South African company Sandbox Holdings.

Yorkville Advisors, LLC, a private investment firm that specializes in structured finance and direct investments, hired Paul Strzelecki as Managing Director and partner for its UK-based op

Partners Group, the Switzerland based global alternative asset manager, announces the final close of Partners Group US Venture  2006, at USD250m.

Dechert has announced that Kevin P Scanlan has joined the firm as a partner in the financial services group.

Silver Lake Sumeru, the mid-market investment group belonging to private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, has appointed John Brennan, a former senior vice-president of Adobe Systems, as a

London-based Endeavour Capital has shed 28 per cent in value during the first three weeks of this month due to extreme gyrations and vast movements in Japanese bonds.

After a record-breaking year for M&A in 2007, preliminary figures for Q1 2008 show what looks to be one of the slowest quarters for the past few years.