Western Europe

Graphite raises £555m for investment

UK mid-market firm Graphite Capital has raised £475 million for its seventh fund and another £80 million for a co-investment fund, taking its total firepower to £555 million.

Orlando closes Italy fund on €180m

Orlando Italy’s first fund raised €180million ($244 million) exceeding the initial target of €150m.

Greek group eyes €5bn for SE Europe

Greek investment group Marfin wants to raise over €5 billion via a rights issue for investments in South East Europe – and then put the entire sum to work within just 12 months.

British Airways backs TPG-led Iberia consortium

British Airways, Europe’s third biggest airline, has teamed up with a consortium of four private equity firms led by TPG about a potential bid for Spanish airline Iberia.

Apax cashes in on Capio property

An Apax-led consortium has completed the £700 million sale and leaseback of 21 hospitals owned by Capio, the Swedish healthcare provider it bought last year, in the latest example of private equity groups cashing in on property assets.

VC firms invest $12m in telecoms group(2)

XConnect Global Networks, a service provider to the telecommunications industry, has received $12 million of funding from a venture capital consortium led by Accel Partners and Venrock Associates.

Macquarie blames O2 for pensions row(2)

Macquarie has hit back at claims that it misled workers over pension schemes at Airwave, a police radio business it has just bought for £2 billion. The Australian bank has blamed the confusion on the vendor, Telefonica subsidiary O2 Europe.

Pessina banks windfall from Boots deal

Alliance Boots deputy chairman Stefano Pessina is set to land a windfall of more than £600 million if his take-private bid for the group is accepted – roughly the same amount that may be required to plug the company’s current pension deficit.

CDC profits from emerging markets(2)

The UK government fund of funds manager in developing markets has posted strong results for 2006 while sounding a note of caution as a wall of money heads for new markets.

Bear Stearns taps market for listed private equity(2)

The US investment bank has raised $300m to invest in private equity secondaries.