Exits

Altor is seeking to sell Norwegian specialty clothing firm Helly Hansen in a deal which could be worth over 2 billion Norwegian crowns ($348.2 million), daily DN quoted a senior Altor executive as saying, Reuters reported. Potential suitors could include firms such The Blackstone Group or The Carlyle Group, while a handful of industry players are also seen interested, the paper added without providing sources, Reuters wrote.

Arclight Capital is selling a portfolio of natural gas fired power generation plants to First Reserve Corp., the buyer announced. As part of the deal, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System will acquire the Neptune Regional Transmission System. First Reserve’s Energy Infrastructure Fund will take a controlling ownership position in the power portfolio, and CalPERS’ investment will result in direct ownership of 75 percent of the Class C shares of Neptune, the firm announced. Terms of the deal were not released.

Baltic State investor BaltCap has sold its minority stake in Tallinna Pesumaja, an Estonian textile rental and laundry service providers. The company was purchased by local private investors and the transaction amount is not disclosed. Baltic SME Fund, an investment fund advised by BaltCap, provided expansion capital to the company in 2006.

Insurance broker Brown & Brown Inc. will pay $395 million in cash to buy Arrowhead General Insurance Agency Inc., a company owned by Spectrum Equity Investors and JMI Equity, Reuters reported. The purchase price is subject to adjustments based on Arrowhead’s working capital, debt and net tax operating losses, Reuters wrote.

The Carlyle Group is exiting its investment in auto parts supplier Diversified Machine Inc., selling the company to Platinum Equity, Reuters reported. Terms of the deal were not released. Previous estimates put the value of Diversified Machine at more than $400 million, Reuters wrote.

European private equity firm Cognetas has given up on the sale of French service station equipment provider Tokheim after offers failed to meet its price expectations, Reuters reported. Cognetas appointed JP Morgan to carry out a strategic review earlier in 2011 after receiving a number of expressions of interest for the business, Reuters wrote.

CVC Capital Partners is set to sell Belgian chemicals company Taminco to Apollo Global Management for around €1.2 billion ($1.56 billion), Reuters reported. Ghent-based Taminco makes chemical building blocks for crop protection, animal feeds, water treatment and drugs.

Frankfurt, Germany-based Deutsche Beteiligungs‘ private equity fund DBAG Fund V is to acquire Spheros, a developer and manufacturer of air conditioning systems, engine-independent heating systems, water pumps and roof hatches in buses. DBAG will acquire the business from Baird Capital Partners Europe and Capcellence in a secondary management buyout transaction.

U.S. based digital media services provider Encompass Digital Media has entered into a definitive agreement with Court Square Capital Partners under which funds managed by Court Square will acquire a majority interest in the company from selling shareholders including Wasserstein & Co. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Equistone Partners Europe, previously Barclays Private Equity, a European mid-market private equity firms, has sold insurance provider Firstassist Legal Expenses to Burford Capital. Total value of the transaction was approximately £28 million ($43.7 million) including an element of deferred consideration to Burford Capital Ltd, a provider of investment capital and risk services for litigation.

The German Antitrust Authorities have approved EQT IV and EQT V funds’ sale of German cable network provider Kabel BW to Liberty Global Inc. Total value of the transaction is €3.2 billion ($4.1 million).

Swedish private equity firm EQT has hired UBS to advise as it looks to sell Finnish toilet and bath maker Sanitec, a deal that could fetch around €1 billion ($1.3 billion), Reuters reported. Sanitec could attract interest from other privately held bathroom products groups and trade rivals, including Ideal Standard, Grohe, Jacuzzi and Spain’s Roca, Reuters wrote.

EQT Opportunity Fund is selling its stake in German retail chain Strauss Innovation to Sun European Partners. Minority shareholder the Geringhoff family will also exit the company. Terms of the deal were not released. EQT Opportunity acquired Strauss in 2008.

First Atlantic Capital has put engineering company Prestolite Electric Inc. up for sale in a deal that could fetch about $400 million, four sources told Reuters. The sources said New York-based First Atlantic had hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as an adviser, and first-round bids were due in about three weeks. The auction could attract bids from private equity firms, Reuters wrote.

Hellman & Friedman has sold a majority stake in IRIS Accountancy Solutions and IRIS Software Group to U.K.-based HgCapital. The businesses were created following the split of IRIS Software Group. HgCapital previously held a minority stake in the parent company. The total investment by HgCapital amounts to approximately £26.5 million ($41.6 million).

Industrial Growth Partners has sold portfolio company Seaboard Holdings to The Weir Group for $675 million. The transaction closed on Dec. 14. Mid-market investment bank Harris Williams & Co. acted as advisor to Seaboard. Based in Houston, Texas, Seaboard manufactures engineered wellhead and pressure control equipment to the oil and natural gas exploration and production industries. IGP is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm with $1.3 billion in committed equity capital.

ISIS Equity Partners has sold Portsmouth, U.K.-based Wiggle, an online cycling and tri-sports retailer, to European private equity firm Bridgepoint in a secondary buyout transaction totalling £180 million ($241.3 million). Wiggle was founded in 1999 initially to sell cycling accessories but by 2003 had expanded its offer to include running and swimming goods. ISIS invested in the business in 2006.

A group of investors led by Madison Dearborn Partners will sell NextG Networks Inc. to Crown Castle International Corp. for about $1 billion, Reuters reported. NextG operates thousands of distributed antenna systems in major U.S. cities including New York and Chicago, Reuters wrote. Crown Castle is a publicly traded wireless tower company.

Los Angeles-based Marlin Equity Partners will sell Emptoris Inc., a provider of cloud and on-premise analytics software for procurement and supply chain operations, to IBM. Terms of the deal were not released. Founded in 1999, Emptoris is based in Burlington, Mass.

Merit Capital Partners has exited its investment in Versatile Processing Group Inc., selling the company to Dallas, Texas-based Insight Equity II LP. Indianapolis-based Versatile is a provider of metal processing and recycling services to the electric utility and manufacturing industries. Terms of the deal were not released.

Oak Hill Capital Partners has sold shares in ExlService Holdings, a provider of outsourcing and transformation services. ExlService did not receive any of the proceeds from the offering of shares by the selling stockholders.

Hollywood, Fla.-based Renal CarePartners, which is backed by Montreux Equity Partners and Noro-Moseley Partners, has been acquired by Ambulatory Services of America and its subsidiary, Innovative Dialysis Systems. Renal CarePartners currently owns interests in and manages 17 dialysis centers in eight states and the territory of Puerto Rico, providing care to approximately 1,100 patients.

Buyout-backed French broadcasting group TDF is considering the sale of its Finnish business Digita, Reuters reported. Digita could fetch about €400 million ($520 million) and could appeal to rival broadcast network operators and private equity firms, Reuters wrote. TDF is backed by TPG Capital, AXA Private Equity and Charterhouse.

Tilman Fertitta has struck a $117 million deal for Morton’s Restaurant Group, Reuters reported. Chicago-based Morton’s said that backer Castle Harlan, which owns a 27.7 percent stake in the company, will tender its shares and vote in favor of the deal, Reuters wrote.

URDANG, the real estate investment management arm of BNY Mellon, and its joint venture partner Priderock Capital Partners have sold The Heritage at Boca Raton, a four-building, 248-unit ultra luxury rental complex. URDANG and Priderock acquired the property in March 2010.

Veritas Capital has sold portfolio company Global Tel*Link to New York-based American Securities. Terms of the deal were not released. Equity was provided from funds managed by American Securities and from management. Global Tel*Link is a provider of communications products for the corrections industry.

Weston Presidio has sold portable power solutions supplier Micro Power Electronics to Electrochem Solutions. Electrochem is a subsidiary of Greatbatch. The transaction was expected to close during December. Micro Power was advised on the transaction by XMS Capital Partners.