Publicly traded Local.com has acquired Krillion Inc., a provider of location-based product search technology for online shoppers. Local.com paid $3.5 million in cash for the company. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Krillion had raised at least $9.1 million from venture investors Leapfrog Ventures and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.
6 min read · 02 May 2011
Newly formed Montana Capital Partners AG has launched to provide liquidity and asset management services for private equity investors, the firm announced Monday. Based in Baar, Switzerland, the firm's services will include liquidity solutions such as secondary investment programs and the creation of securitized structures and asset management services.
5 min read · 02 May 2011
Blackberry developer Research In Motion has acquired Ubitexx, a developer of smartphone security technology. Terms of the deal were not released. Ubitexx was backed by investors including Target Partners and BayBG. With the new technology, Research in Motion said that it would launch a multi-platform solution for managing and securing mobile devices for enterprises and government organizations.
3 min read · 02 May 2011
Copenhagen-based food firm Danisco is urging its shareholders to accept a newly raised $6.64 billion takeover big from DuPont, Reuters reported. The cash offer was raised by 5% late Friday. Danisco's biggest shareholder, Danish pension insurance group ATP -- which owns 5.1% of the stock -- said it would accept DuPont's new offer, Reuters reported. Other shareholders include SEB Asset Management, which owns about 2% of Danisco's stock.
3 min read · 02 May 2011
Los Angeles-based private equity firm Aurora Capital Group has acquired TruGreen LandCare from The ServiceMaster Company. Financial terms of the deal were not released. TruGreen LandCare is a provider of landscape maintenance services to commercial, industrial and municipal customers. Aurora Capital manages more than $2.0 billion of capital across several private equity funds.
2 min read · 02 May 2011
Dutchess Capital will provide $15 million in equity financing to Melbourne, Australia-based Motopia Ltd. The funding is designed to be pulled down in tranches over the next three years. Each tranche will total up to $300,000. At no time will Dutchess Capital hold more than 19.99% of Motopia, the company said in a press release.
2 min read · 02 May 2011
Private equity firm TA Associates has added Ashutosh Agrawal as a principal in its Menlo Park, Calif., offices, focusing on investments in technology-based companies. Agrawal joins TA from Francisco Partners where he was a principal covering industrial technology, energy technology and vertically-oriented technology sectors. He joined Francisco Partners in 2001. TA Associates manages more than $16 billion in capital, and has offices in Boston, Menlo Park, London and Mumbai.
2 min read · 02 May 2011
Global Tube, a company backed by Wind Point Partners, has acquired the exhaust business of publicly traded Cummins Inc. Terms of the deal were not released. GE Antares Capital led the debt financing for the transaction. Global Tube is a manufacturer of tubes used in emissions, coolant, heating, air intake and exhaust handling applications for trucks and off-road vehicles. The combined business will operate under the name Nelson Global Products and have headquarters in Stoughton, Wisc.
3 min read · 02 May 2011
Luxury shoemaker Jimmy Choo is mulling a 650 million pound ($1.08 billion) initial public offering in Hong Kong, Reuters reported, citing a piece in the Financial Times. Jimmy Choo is owned by buyout shop TowerBrook Capital Partners. A group of bidders is already vying for the shoemaker, with private equity group TPG Capital, U.S. clothing maker Jones Group and a consortium of Bahrain-based Investcorp and Germany's Labelux reportedly bidding in the auction's second round due in mid-May, Reuters wrote.
2 min read · 02 May 2011
Quorumm Digital Venture Partners has added Alexey Belinskiy as senior partner of Quorumm Russia, where he will focus on e-commerce projects on seed stage deals. Belinskiy worked previously for Unicredit Markets. Quorumm Digital Ventures was launched in 2007 and has more than $500 million under management.
2 min read · 02 May 2011
