PRINT THIS PAGE Weekly Deals and Funds Roundup: 30 April 200830/04/2008. Source: AltAssets. 
A selection of the latest deals and funds news from across the globe - essential reading for those who need to keep up-to-date with the industry's key developments. Key Capital Partners has announced three recent investments. The firm has invested £2.3m in North East England-based roofline contractor and supplier JD Plastics and Rooflines. The company has projected sales of £5m in 2008, according to a statement. KCP has also acquired book collection Pandora Books, a supplier of book collections to schools, together with company managing director Martin Green, for an undisclosed sum. The firm has also backed the secondary MBO of fitted furniture company Neville Johnson. KCP has invested £4.25m for a majority stake in the business in a £12.5m transaction, following the exit of Endless.
A firm with a similar name, Key Principal Partners, has made a $23.5m non-control investment in Southern Californian plumbing contractor AMPAM Parks Mechanical. Following the deal, company founders Buddy and John Parks will continue in their roles as CEO, and president and head of operations, respectively. KPP is a private equity and mezzanine firm that provides expansion capital to mid-market companies with at least $30m in revenue. The firm targets investments of between $7m and $40m. KPP is headquartered in Cleveland and has additional offices in Greenwich, San Francisco, Richmond and Shanghai.
Clinical stage biotechnology company Nuon Therapeutics has completed a $27m Series B financing round led by venture capital firms Frazier Healthcare Ventures and Domain Associates. The previous Series A investor, Australian venture investor GBS Venture Partners, also took part in this round. Nuon focuses on therapies for autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases and pain. In 2007, the company raised $5m.
Technology-focused venture firms Insight Venture Partners and Updata Partners have invested $30m in DataCore Software Corporation, a vendor of hardware independent, storage virtualisation software. New York-headquartered Insight Venture Partners targets investments in software and the internet. Updata Partners invests in growth stage IT companies.
US venture firm Austin Ventures has entered into a partnership with Jeffrey Dachis to form a new acquisition vehicle which will focus on providing strategic consulting and an enterprise class Social software-as-a-Service (SaaS) suite. AV has committed up to $50m in capital to support management's strategy. Dachis will serve as chairman and CEO for the new firm. Prior to establishing the new firm, Dachis' was co-founder CEO, president and chairman of Razorfish. He is also a senior partner at architecture firm Bond Art + Science. He serves as an advisor to companies including Bazaarvoice, Waterfall Mobile and Swapagift.com.
Canadian venture firm iNovia Capital has established Alberta operations in partnership with local institutions in order to provide entrepreneurial capital and help build successful technology companies in Western Canada. Following the firm's recent closing of its iNovia Investment Fund II, on $107m, iNovia has begun identifying early stage opportunities and working with some of Western Canada's most outstanding entrepreneurs and local partners.
Asian mid-market private equity group Baring Private Equity Asia has sold its controlling stake in medical equipment manufacturer LHI Technology to 3i for an undisclosed sum. With $2.5bn in funds under advisory, Baring Asia typically invests in companies with enterprise values between $50m and $400m. Primary investment markets include China, India, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The firm has been actively investing in Asia since 1998 and currently has 28 active portfolio companies.
California-based motion sensor company InvenSense has secured $19m in Series C venture financing. The round was led by new investor venture capital firm Sierra Ventures, with participation from previous investors Artiman Ventures, Partech International and Qualcomm Ventures. Several strategic investors also participated in the Series C investment round including Foxconn, Inventec Appliances Corp, both from Taiwan; Skylake Ventures from Korea; DoCoMo Capital, a wholly-owned US subsidiary of NTT DoCoMo Japan; and VentureTech Alliance. As part of the deal Ben Yu, managing director at Sierra Ventures, will join InvenSense's board of directors. The round will bring InvenSense's total funding to date to $38m.
Investment management firm Babson Capital Management has acquired Murray Capital Management's distressed debt management business. Financial terms were not disclosed. New York-based MCM specialises in distressed debt, transitional and stressed high yield, special situation equities and private-claims investing. Founder Marti P Murray and the investment team will join Babson Capital, according to a statement. Babson offers absolute return, co-investing, financing and customised mandates utilising equity, fixed-income and derivative instruments. The deal is Babson's third acquisition in six years.
New York-based private equity firm Aquiline Capital Partners has acquired 5.1 per cent of the outstanding shares of BinckBank for an undisclosed amount. BinckBank is an online bank for investors based in the Netherlands. Aquiline invests in financial services enterprises in industries such as property and casualty insurance, specialty finance, securities, asset management, life insurance and transaction processing.
Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm Arlington Capital Partners has backed the MBO of Consolidated Precision Products Corp. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. California-based CPP manufactures components and sub-assemblies for the military defence and commercial aerospace markets. Arlington focuses on mid-market buy-out investments in growth industries including aerospace/defence, federal and commercial IT and engineering services, media, education and training, healthcare services and business services.
Baird Capital Partners Asia, the Greater China-focused investment group of Baird Private Equity, has closed its first investment. BCPA provided $10m of growth equity capital to biotechnology companyFrontage Laboratories, a US-China contract research organisation. As part of the deal, Baird partners Brett Tucker and Gregg Fergus will join the Frontage board of directors. BCPA provides growth equity to smaller, high-potential companies that have operations and growth opportunities in Greater China.
US venture capital firmsIntersouth Partners, Tullis-Dickerson, Harbert Venture Partners and The Aurora Funds have invested $18.4m in biopharmaceutical business Aldagen. Aldagen plans to use the funds to further advance the development of its four clinical stage product candidates and for general corporate purposes, according to a statement. Aldagen is a biopharmaceutical company developing proprietary regenerative cell therapies.
New England Development, Breakaway Ventures, Mugar Enterprises and General Catalyst Partners have invested in a $25m Series A financing round for Retail Convergence, a newly formed corporation comprised of a portfolio of ecommerce companies. According to a statement, Retail will use the financing to acquire online off-price retailer SmartBargains.com and to launch private sale site RueLaLa.com.
Private equity firm Mid Europa Partners is to acquire 100 per cent of Polish healthcare provider Centrum Medyczne LIM from the founding investor group. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. CM LIM offers outpatient medical care and diagnostic service to corporate subscribers and individual patients. Mid Europa focuses on investments in Central and Eastern Europe. The firm has offices in London, Budapest and Warsaw.
Dallas, US-based private equity firm HM Capital Partners has acquired oil and gas exploration company TriDimension Energy. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. TDE focuses on finding oil in existing fields and redeveloping historic fields by restoring wells to production, recompleting wells in previously tested reservoirs and drilling new wells. According to a statement, the TDE management team will reinvest a substantial portion of its proceeds from the transaction to acquire a minority stake. HM Capital focuses on acquiring, changing and building strategically relevant businesses in the energy, food and media sectors.
Investment fund Silver Lake Sumeru has agreed to acquire investigative analysis and visualisation software technology business i2 from ChoicePoint. The i2 business will become a standalone company called i2, Inc., according to a statement. ChoicePoint provides businesses, government agencies and non-profit organisations with technology, software, information and marketing services to help manage economic risks and identify business opportunities. Silver Lake Sumeru pursues investments in mid-market technology enterprises.
Vietnam-focused investment fund Indochina Capital Vietnam Holdings has invested $25m of strategic growth capital in International Transportation and Trading Joint Stock Company, a private Vietnamese shipping company based in Ho Chi Minh City. ITC is growing its business through the expansion of its fleet which currently is comprised of five dry bulk ships, according to a statement. ICV is a closed-end investment fund that provides institutional investors with access to a diversified portfolio of Vietnam-based investments, including prelisted equity, state-owned entity equity, listed equity, fixed income, short-term instruments and other investments.
Mexico-City based private equity firmNexxus Capital, through its third fund, Nexxus Capital Private Equity Fund III, has acquired a majority position in private education provider Harmon Hall Holding. The company was founded in 1966 and currently has 105 schools located throughout Mexico.
UK venture firm MMC Ventures has sold its stake in online financial services aggregator MoneyExpert generating a return for investors of 2.4 times their investment, according to the firm. MMC's shares were sold to MoneyExpert chairman, Nigel Warr, backed by an unnamed US venture capital firm. MMC first invested in MoneyExpert in 2004 and provided over £3m of funding in total. The exit represents an IRR in excess of 50 per cent according to the firm.
European sector-focused private equity investor HgCapital has acquired two UK wind farms totalling 106MW of projects in development or construction. RidgeWind, HgCapital's UK development operation, has acquired equity rights to a pipeline of 90MW of wind farms from co-developer Wind Prospect. The expected enterprise value of these projects is £112 million, according to the firm. In a separate transaction, RidgeWind has completed the £18m project financing of the Bagmoor Wind Farm, a 16 MW project. Both RidgeWind and Bagmoor Wind Limited are majority owned by Hg Renewable Power Partners, Europe's largest dedicated renewable power fund.
Consumer Capital Partners has invested $15m in burger chain Smashburger. As a result, Consumer Capital Partners plans to expand to 15 to 20 locations in four new markets in 2008, according to the firm. Headquartered in Denver, Consumer Capital Partners focuses on multi-unit retail businesses, primarily in the restaurant, liquor, food and leisure industries.
Norwegian private equity firmNordic Capital, through its Nordic Capital Fund VI, has agreed to acquire tinting systems business CPS Color from Industri Kapital. IK acquired CPS Color (formerly known as Tikkurila CPS) in 2000. Based in Vantaa, Finland and with approximately 900 employees, CPS Color's net sales in 2007 amounted to €187m according to a statement. Nordic Capital Fund VI has €1.9bn in committed capital
Advent International has agreed to sell Polish insulation business Bolix to Indian paint manufacturer Berger Paints India. Financial terms were not disclosed .Advent acquired Bolix in 2003. Advent has been investing across CEE since 1994 and has local offices in Warsaw, Prague, Bucharest and Kiev. Earlier this month, the firm announced the closing of its fourth fund for the region, ACEE IV, on €1bn.
Independent mezzanine and private equity firm Mezzanine Management has invested $15m in security services company Argyle Security. The firm purchased 18,750 shares of newly created Series A convertible preferred stock, with each share convertible into 100 shares of Argyle's common stock at $8 per share at MML's option. The investment represents the ninth investment from Mezzanine Management Fund IV.
US pharmaceutical company CoNCERT Pharmaceuticals has closed a $37m Series C financing round. The financing was led by an unnamed public equity institutional investor and included participation from Adage Capital Management SR One, Mediphase Venture Partners and Westfield Capital Management. All of the company's existing investors from previous financings also participated in the Series C round, including Three Arch Partners, TVM Capital, Skyline Ventures, Brookside Capital Partners Fund, Flagship Ventures, Greylock Partners, New Leaf Venture Partners and QVT Fund.
German biopharmaceutical company Apogenix has held a second financing round totalling €27.5m. dievini Hopp BioTech holding GmbH & Co. KG, the investment company of SAP co-founder Dietmar Hopp, acted as lead investor in this Series B round. Apogenix is a spin-out from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), and is based in Heidelberg, Germany. In 2005, the company received €15m in a Series A round from the family of biotech investor and SAP co-founder Dietmar Hopp.
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