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Weekly Deals and Funds Roundup: 06 August 200806/08/2008. 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.
DEALS
Stone Point Capital has sold Signal Holdings, a provider of wireless handset protection programmes and repair services, for $250m. Signal Holdings generates annual revenues of approximately $330m through servicing service contracts for 4.2 million wireless subscribers. The company employs approximately 700 people in four locations. Stone Point invested in the company through its $1.4bn Trident II fund, which closed in 1999. The firm is currently investing its fourth fund, Trident IV, which has $2.25bn of committed capital.
InteKrin Therapeutics, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company has completed a first closing of an $18.25m Series C financing round, led by Palo Alto-based venture capital firm Skyline Ventures. As part of the deal, Skyline managing director Dr David Lowe will join InteKrin's board of directors. Existing major investors Sofinnova Ventures and OrbiMed Advisors also significantly participated, as did other earlier investors. The company anticipates a second close of the Series C bringing the total for the round to $20m, according to a statement.
A consortium of private equity investors comprising Charter Private Equity, White Oak Capital Partners and Capital Point Partners has acquired US casual dining chain Rockfish Seafood Grill. Individual investor Henry Leonard also participated, and will become the new CEO of the company. Rockfish, headquartered in Richardson, Texas, currently operates 14 restaurants.
Leaf Clean Energy Company, an AIM-listed company incorporated for the purpose of investing in clean energy companies and projects in North America, has participated in the Series E financing round in solar cell manufacturer Miasolé with a $15m investment, along with investors including San Francisco-based investment firm Passport Capital and venture capital firm VantagePoint Venture Partners. Leaf invests in sectors including wind energy, solar energy, energy efficiency, pollution control, emission credit aggregation, waste-to-energy, wave energy, biomass power and biofuels. The company is advised by Energy & Climate Advisors, a joint venture between investment firm EEA Fund Management and real estate investment company Shaw Capital.
Finnish private equity investor Sentica Partners is to acquire 52 per cent of nurse-call system provider Miratel from three private investors. The operating management of Miratel will remain as shareholders with a 48 per-cent share in the company. Miratel has sales of approximately €7m, and it employs 35 professionals. Sentica focuses on acquiring and developing mid-sized and small companies. The firm has some €160m under management. Sentica targets buy-outs, small-cap transactions and healthcare.
Semiconductor laser manufacturer Innolume has secured a Series C round of financing for €8.6m. The round was led by venture capital investor S-Group Capital Management, with Applied Ventures joining as a new investor. Existing investors NRW.BANK, PEPPERMINT.Financial Partners, S-VentureCapital Dortmund, Robert A Young and Juergen Kurb also participated. S-Group targets venture capital investments in technology companies in regions including Russia, US and Europe.
US private equity firms Metalmark Capital Partners and Greenhill Capital Partners, together with company management, have agreed to acquire a 96.017 per cent stake in BreitBurn Energy Company for $300m. BBEP is a publicly traded oil and gas company focused on the acquisition, exploitation and development of oil and gas properties. The company owns producing and non-producing crude oil and natural gas reserves in the Antrim Shale in Michigan, the Los Angeles Basin in California, the Wind River and Big Horn Basins in central Wyoming, the Sunniland Trend in Florida, the New Albany Shale in Indiana and Kentucky, and the Permian Basin in West Texas. Metalmark focuses on industries including energy, natural resources, industrials and healthcare.
Kairos Capital Partners, a provider of hybrid investment capital to retail and consumer products companies, has made an equity investment in Florida-based retail jeweler Luxury Ventures. Kairos will take up three seats on the board of managers following the deal. The retailer, operating under the name Henricks Jewelers, filed for bankruptcy in November 2007. Original plans to liquidate the company's assets came to a halt in March 2008 when the company reached an agreement with its lender to continue operations. Kairos focuses primarily in the retail and consumer sectors.
Business development company Allied Capital Corporation has completed the recapitalisation of Industrial Air Tool, a distributor of tools, consumable supplies and equipment to the oil and gas industry. Allied Capital partnered with New York-based private equity firm ZS Fund and senior management of IAT in the transaction. Allied Capital invested $13.5m in the junior capital and common equity of the company. Unitranche Fund, co-managed by affiliates of Allied Capital and GE Commercial Finance, provided one-stop debt financing for the deal, investing $64 m of unitranche debt. Allied Capital invested $9.3m in the Unitranche Fund in connection with this transaction. Unitranche Fund was formed by Allied Capital and GE Commercial Finance.
Dutchess Private Equities has agreed to invest up to $50m in Domark International, a company that acquires and manages majority owned public entities and privately owned companies. Dutchess manages a portfolio of private investments in public equities, in industries including telecom, VOIP, wireless communications, healthcare, biotechnology, medical devices, internet, e-commerce, media, oil and gas, defence, homeland security, consumer products, manufacturing and alternative energy.
Mid-market private equity firm RJD Partners has invested £6.1m of development capital in Raphael Healthcare, a provider of specialist mental health services for women, in a deal that values the company at £30m. Raphael manages a hospital comprising a seven bed rehabilitation ward, an eight bed Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit and 26 low secure beds. The hospital is now a preferred supplier to Primary Care Trusts in the East Midlands, West Midlands and the South West. The company employs 101 people. RJD Partners invests in UK companies that are worth up to £75m, in the service and leisure sectors.
Growth stage venture firm Nokia Growth Partners has received an additional commitment of $150m from Nokia, increasing funds under management for direct investments to $250m. Nokia Growth Partners, launched in 2004, will now establish direct operations in India and China and augment investment activity in the US and Europe. With the additional investment announced today, Nokia Growth Partners will continue pursuing investments that are of strategic relevance to Nokia, and or complementary to their strategy. In addition to its direct investment activities, Nokia Growth Partners will advise on Nokia's other venture capital fund investments. Target investments include companies creating innovative mobile applications and services that encourage rapid adoption of mobile solutions, such as context and location based services, mobile payments, mobile advertising, music and entertainment and other mobile services and software.
Plastic electronics technology company Plastic Logic has raised a new round of $50m in equity finance led by existing venture capital investors Oak Investment Partners and Amadeus Capital Partners. Plastic Logic is the developer of industry-leading products and services to access, organise and consume digital information. To date, the company has raised more than $200m. Oak Investment is a multi-stage venture capital firm with a total of $8.4bn in committed capital. The firm invests in opportunities in clean energy, communications, information technology, internet new media, financial services, IT, healthcare services and consumer retail.
Secondary private equity firm Accretive Exit Capital Partners, through its Accretive Exit Capital Partners I fund has purchased meaningful minority positions in five companies from Evercore Capital Partners II, for $110m. AECP I purchased stakes in Davis Petroleum, Diagnostic Imaging Group, Test Equity, Mr. Bult's and alliantgroup. Accretive targets late stage growth companies from vintage 1999-2003 buy-out funds. This deal marks the first of many similar transactions that AEC expects to complete and fund, according to a statement.
New York-based private equity firm Leeds Equity Partners has acquired Ex Libris Group, a provider of automation solutions for academic, research and national libraries. Financial terms were not disclosed. Leeds Equity focuses on investments in the education, training and related business services and information industries.
Chinese internet and new media investment firm Koolanoo Group has closed a $25m financing round. The investment was led by an unnamed investment group, with existing investor US venture capital firm Giza Venture Capital, also participating. Koolanoo is headquartered in Beijing. The company plans to use the capital to continue expansion of its strategic operations in China, according to a statement. The financing round is the company's third.
The Riverside Company has acquired Results Weight Loss, a US operator of weight loss centers. Financial terms were not disclosed. Results Weight Loss is headquartered in Naples, Florida, and operates in 11 locations in southwest Florida. The deal is the firm's 18th acquisition of 2008, and also the 18th investment from the firm's Riverside Micro-Cap Fund I.
Genstar Capital, a mid-market private equity firm that focuses on investments in the industrial technology, life sciences, healthcare services, business services and software services industries, has acquired Voice Construction, a provider of civil construction services to operators in the Alberta oil sands and surrounding areas. Financial terms were not disclosed. Voice Construction is headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, and has a regional focus in Northern Alberta, particularly Edmonton, Fort McMurray and surrounding areas. Genstar was one of the original investors in Canadian mining and site preparation company North American Energy Partners, which the firm acquired in 2003.
Aberdeen Asset Managers Growth Capital has completed an exit from ID Support Services Holdings by way of a secondary buy-out backed by Penta Capital Partners. Aberdeen originally invested £3m in March 2007 to support a primary buy-out of the company. IDSSH is the holding company for the two main operating subsidiaries: electronic security company ID Technology Group Limited and industrial air conditioning business GK Industrial. The sale realised an overall return of 1.8 times and an IRR of 61 per cent, according to a statement. Aberdeen Asset Managers Private Equity Division is a division of Aberdeen Asset Managers.
Mid-market private equity firm Sterling Investment Partners, alongside GE Capital, Madison Capital and York Street Capital Partners and company management, has acquired sales consulting and training company Miller Heiman. Financial terms were not disclosed. Miller Heiman has corporate offices in the US, UK and Australia and offers programmes in more than 30 countries.
Shangahai-based game developer Ultizen Games has secured $6m in a Series B funding round led by Taiwan-based venture capital firm PAC-LINK, with participation from Japan-based firm Japan Asia Investment Co. and advertising agency CyberAgent. Ultizen closed a $1.5m Series A round of financing from Shanghai and Boston-based Dragonvest Partners in late June of 2007.
Carlyle Mexico Partners has sold a majority stake in Mexico City-based private university Universidad Latinoamericana to Apollo Global, in a deal that values the company at $47m. ULA offers 27 degree programs and has more than 4,000 students. Carlyle Mexico Partners is a private equity fund managed by The Carlyle Group. Carlyle Mexico Partners will continue to own a 35 per cent equity stake in ULA and have representation on its board of directors. Apollo Global, is a $1bn joint venture formed in 2007, is 80.1 per cent owned by Apollo Group and 19.9 per cent owned Carlyle. Apollo Global targets investments in the international education services sector.
Platina Finance Limited, a London and Paris-based private equity fund adviser and manager specialising in renewable energy investments, has completed a €24.6m refinancing of Burton Wold, its 20 MW, ten turbine wind farm, and the €9.4m financing close of Winscales Moor, a seven turbine wind farm currently under construction. Both projects are managed by Platina's Mistral Wind Farms I Limited Partnership, which is focused on the construction and operation of wind farms.
Kickfire has closed a Series B financing round. Pinnacle Ventures Accel Partners, Greylock Partners and The Mayfield Fund also reinvested. The capital will be used to build out the sales, marketing and customer operations infrastructure to bring the Kickfire appliance to market, according to a statement. Kickfire provides open source database appliance for the MySQL market.
Biopharmaceutical company Sierra Neuropharmaceuticals has secured $21.5m in Series A financing. Co-leads in the funding were HealthCare Ventures, Morgenthaler Ventures and Sequel Venture Partners. Other investors include High Country Venture and GC&H Investments. HealthCare Ventures specialises in investments in the life sciences industry. Investments include such companies as Avidia, Dendreon Pharmaceuticals, Human Genome Sciences, LeukoSite, MedImmune, Novazyme, OraSure, Replidyne, Shire Pharmaceuticals, Tolerx, Verenium Corporation and Vicuron Pharmaceuticals.
Solar energy business Cyrium Technologies has closed a Series B round of funding for a total of $15m. The round was led by The Quercus Trust , and included investors from previous rounds including venture capital firms BDC Venture Capital, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital and Pangaea Ventures. The Quercus Trust, a privately held family trust, invests in the alternative energy sector, with investments in both privately held and publicly traded companies.
Canadian web-based corporate rewards and recognition firm I Love Rewards has completed a $4.7m Series A financing round, led Canadian venture capital firm JLA Ventures with participation from Laurence Capital, senior management and other angel investors. JLA Ventures invests in growth companies that are focused on the internet, digital media, e-commerce, communications security, mobile computing, and enterprise software companies.
Gilde, together with the management of Ordina Technical Automation has acquired the entire division with approximately 375 specialists from Ordina. Ordina Technical Automation is active in the field of technical automation services. Gilde Equity Management Benelux targetslarge and mid-sized buy-outs in Benelux. Gilde was founded in 1982 and manages various funds totaling approx. € 2bn. Rrecent investments by Gilde include ETNA Groep and Koninklijke Nedschroef.
Nova Capital Management, has sold nCode International, a supplier of durability, test and analysis software and mobile data acquisition instruments, to HBM, for £17.5m. nCode was part of a portfolio of nine non-core businesses acquired from AEA Technology in October 2005 by CIP Industries, which Nova has advised since inception. Established in 1982, and with 116 employees, nCode supplies products to the automotive, off road, rail, defence, and aerospace markets. To date, Nova has acquired or taken over the management of portfolios representing a total transactional value of over €880m.
H.I.G. Capital has sold Stream Holdings Corporation to Global BPO Services Corp. (now Stream Global Services), for $200m, plus adjustments. Stream provides technical support and other business process outsourcing services. With over 15,000 employees across 30 solution centers in 16 countries throughout North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. H.I.G.'s platform investment was made in 2003 through its acquisition of a $75m call centre division of Software Spectrum, and later acquired Stream from Solectron in 2004. H.I.G. invests in management-led buy-outs and recapitalisations of profitable and well managed manufacturing or service businesses.
Software company Enigmatec Corporation has raised a further $14m to accelerate the expansion of its international operations. The round includes participation from new investors Scottish Enterprise and Noble Venture Finance and also current investors Amadeus Capital Partners, Pentech Ventures, Herald Ventures and Kevin Lomax. Founded in 2002, Enigmatec has offices in London and New York. Existing investors also include Intel Capital.
Denham Capital will invest up to $60m in VitAG Corporation. The company technology converts municipal biosolids into high-nitrogen fertilizer. The investment will fund the construction of multiple biosolids-to-fertiliser manufacturing plants, according to a statement. Denham has offices in Boston, Houston, Short Hills, New Jersey and London. The firm makes direct investments in all segments of the energy and commodities value chain, including oil and gas, mining, timber, power, carbon assets and energy-related infrastructure and services.
Israel-based online music licensing marketplace YouLicense.com has secured Series A funding from Ofer Media, an Israeli private equity and investment firm focused on media, entertainment and internet companies. Logia Group also invested. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The funding will be used to grow the company's global marketing efforts and content acquisitions, according to a statement. YouLicense.com has operations in Tel Aviv, London and New York.
F9 Investments has acquired renewable hydrogen technology business Proton Energy Systems from Distributed Energy Systems Corp. for $10.2m. Proton Energy designs and manufactures proton exchange membrane electrochemical systems to make hydrogen from water in a zero pollution process. F9 represents the private equity interests of Tom Sullivan, the founder and chairman of Lumber Liquidators.
US mid-market firm American Industrial Partners Capital Fund IV has acquired E-ONE, a subsidiary of Federal Signal Corporation. E-ONE supplies fire rescue vehicles including aerials, pumpers, rescues, mobile command centres and aircraft rescue fire fighting vehicles. AIP makes control equity investments in mid-sized industrial companies. The firm is currently investing its fourth fund.
FUNDS
Early stage venture capital firm Pangaea Ventures has closed its Pangaea Ventures Fund II on $32m. Investors in the fund included Asahi Glass, Umicore and Bekaert, who joined existing investors BASF Venture Capital, Solvay, Ciba Specialty Chemicals and Toyota Tsusho America. The fund is focused on cleantech and advanced materials. Pangaea Ventures Fund II has made four investments to date including, Cyrium Technologies Incorporated, Kovio, Switch Materials and CNano Technology.
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