Rhone Group is close to a deal to buy the Carbon Black unit of German chemical maker Evonik, Reuters reported. The sale, expected to fetch more than 900 million euro ($1.3 billion) could be signed as early as Friday. Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners bought a 25% stake in Evonik in 2008.
1 min read · 15 April 2011
Buyout shop Blackstone Group has won approval from the Shanghai government for its yuan-based fund, allowing it to invest the money raised abroad in China without seeking permission from the country's foreign exchange regulator, Reuters reported, citing a Bloomberg story. Blackstone's 5 billion yuan ($765 million) domestic fund was approved for the Qualified Foreign Limited Partner program (QFLP).
1 min read · 15 April 2011
SVB Financial Group, the parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, has named Brian Dennehy as its first-ever chief marketing officer. Dennehy joins the company after nearly ten years of marketing and leadership roles at Intuit Inc., where he was most recently vice president of advanced analytics, business intelligence and data optimization.
3 min read · 14 April 2011
Private equity firm 3i Group has invested 28 million pounds ($45.7 million) in Sheffield-based Go Outdoors, the UK’s largest retailer of camping equipment, tents, outdoor clothing and footwear. The firm took a “significant minority stake” in Go Outdoors, it said in a written statement. The founders and management of GO Outdoors continue to hold significant stakes, as does existing investor YFM Equity Partners.
3 min read · 14 April 2011
Middle-market private equity firm Sentinel Capital Partners has acquired Chromalox Inc., a manufacturer of commercial and industrial electric heating products and solutions. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Chromalox is based in Pittsburgh, and was advised by Harris Williams & Co..
3 min read · 14 April 2011
Evercore Partners has named Raymond Strong III to the firm’s investment banking business as a senior managing director. In the role, he will advise companies in the energy industry, with a focus on midstream, downstream, upstream and integrated oil sectors. Strong was most recently a Managing Director in Goldman Sachs' Global Natural Resources Group. Evercore Partners, an independent investment banking advisory firm, has offices in New York, Boston, London, and in other cities around the world.
2 min read · 14 April 2011
Publicly traded LJ International Inc. will sell a stake in its subsidiary, Enzo Jewelry, to private equity firms FountainVest Partners and Spring Capital Asia. Under the terms of the agreement, the private equity firms will make an initial investment of $41.38 million, including an investment of $31.40 million in newly issued Enzo shares and an acquisition of existing shares of Enzo from LJ International in the amount of $9.98 million. Following the deal, the firms will own 28.27% of Enzo.
4 min read · 14 April 2011
Private equity and debt capital firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson has added James Dunleavy to its senior lending team as a managing director. Dunleavy has held senior-level positions at Merrill Lynch Capital and IBJ Whitehall. New York-based Veronis Suhler Stevenson provides flexible debt capital, including senior and subordinated debt, to small and middle-market companies in the information, education, media, communications and business services.
3 min read · 14 April 2011
Russian billionaire and venture capital investor Yuri Milner is opening an office in Hong Kong, Reuters reported. Milner's firm DST Advisors will open an office on the 67th floor of Hong Kong's International Finance Centre 2 in June, in the city's business hub, with 10-12 staff, Reuters wrote. Milner has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in companies including Facebook, Groupon and Zynga. This month Milner’s Digital Sky Technologies invested $500 million in 360Buy.com, China's largest business-to-consumer website.
2 min read · 14 April 2011
Lynx Equity Limited, a Canadian manager of private equity funds, has acquired Techni-Lite Systems Inc., a Peterborough, Ontario, manufacturer of lighting systems and illuminated sign boxes. Financial terms of the deal, which closed on March 11, were not released.
2 min read · 13 April 2011
