UK / Ireland
UK - NorthStar leads £1.5m funding round for Caspian Learning
NorthStar Equity Investors has led a £1.5m funding round for Caspian Learning, a supplier of 3D learning based games.
EUROPE - Nomura raising new EUR 400m mezzanine fund
The European arm of Japanese Investment bank Nomura has begun raising a new EUR 400m mezzanine fund for Europe.
UK - Balderton exits Bebo
Balderton Capital has agreed to sell its stake in social networking site Bebo to AOL in a deal worth $850m.
UK - Bridgepoint buys back £10m of Fat Face debt
Bridgepoint has bought back £10m of the debt it used to leverage the buyout of clothes retailer Fat Face in 2007 from several creditors. This is the first deal of this kind known to be completed in the UK.
UK - Private Equity eyes Paperchase
HgCapital, ISIS Equity and Change Capital are said to be frontrunners in the competition to buy stationery chain Paperchase from bookseller Borders.
UK - BankInvest puts $8m into CamSemi
BankInvest Group, through its New Energy Solutions VC fund, has supported semiconductor company CamSemi with $8m in an extension to its series-C round of funding.
UK - DLJ to acquire school holidays group
DLJ Merchant Banking, the private equity arm of Credit Suisse, is to acquire the Education & Adventure Travel Group, an organiser and manager of school holidays, from Bowmark Capital for around £100m according to reports.
GLOBAL - Lionhart to raise at least $500m for private equity fund
London-based hedge fund Lionhart has launched its debut private equity fund, Lionhart Talon, which will initially seek to raise $500m.
Changing times
Mid-market players have weathered the storm better than most but a post-CGT slowdown threatens to throw things into sharper relief
People in glass houses ..
Private equity firms buying back the debt that supports their own deals has recently come in for criticism. Europe's trade group for the syndicated loan market, the London-based Loan Market Association, is expected to propose a series of measures that...
UK - LDC bolsters South West team
LDC has hired Ian Podmore as investment director to further its presence in the south west.
UK - Noble backs USD 5m Garlik investment
Noble Venture Finance has joined online identity expert Garlik's existing investors 3i and Doughty Hanson in a $5m investment in the company, designed to fund its expansion into the US market.
UK - Consortium backs £10m third funding round for Revolymer
Revolymer Ltd, a polymer technology company, has closed a £10m third round of funding from new investors Sloane Robinson, Lehman Brothers International and Naxos Capital Managers, and existing backers Swarraton Partners and IP Group Plc, an intellectual...
UK - ETF and AGF back £5m Novel Polymer Solutions funding
Environmental Technologies Fund (ETF) and Advantage Growth Fund (AGF) have participated in a £5m funding round for polymer technology company Novel Polymer Solutions Ltd (NPS) alongside private investors.
UK - Indigo hires two and makes promotion
Indigo Capital has promoted Martin Hook to partner and has hired Burkhard Wangenheim and Guillaume Claire as investment executives.
UK - YFM invests in MMIC
YFM Group has joined existing investors Scottish Enterprise, NESTA and AEGF in a further £2.7m series-A funding round for MMIC Solutions Ltd, a supplier of module and subsystem solutions for commercial millimetre wave applications.