Firm Briefs –

ARC Investment Partners LLC has launched as a Beverley Hills, Calif.-based investor into, and executor of, reverse merger transactions. Firm founder and CEO Adam Roseman previously was a partner with Tompkins Capital Group.

BISYS (NYSE: BSG) has agreed to sell its Information Services group, which includes its Banking Solutions, Document Solutions and Corporate Financial Solutions businesses, to Open Solutions Inc. (Nasdaq: OPEN) for approximately $470 million in cash.

Canterbury Park Capital has launched as a Winnipeg, Canada-based buyout firm, according to reports. Firm founders include Marty Weinberg (former CEO of Assante Corp.), Leonard Asper (CEO of CanWest Global Communications), David Asper (executive VP of CanWest) and Bob Silver (president Western Glove Works Ltd. and part owner of the Winnipeg Free Press). The quartet has put up Cdn$70 million of the Cdn$200 million to Cdn$300 million that Canterbury hopes to raise. Canterbury also soon plans to announce the hiring of a “Toronto-based private equity manager and his team.”

Capstone Partners and Palomar Capital Advisors have merged, to form a combined partnership that will provide global private equity fund placement and advisory serves. It will include a team of 12 dedicated distribution principals and a total staff of 20, working from offices in Dallas, New York, Zurich, Geneva and Amsterdam. It will be called Capstone Palomar Partners.

China Vision SME has secured $20 million in capital commitments for its inaugural private equity fund, which is targeted at $100 million. Limited partners include MiddleLand Capital (advised by Pillsbury Winthrop), Empower Investment Ltd. of Hong Kong and Charter Asset Management International Ltd.

Commonfund Capital is raising up to $750 million for its sixth private equity fund-of-funds, named Commonfund Capital Private Equity Partners VI. It already has secured more than $250 million in commitments, with an earlier filing showing that the firm has closed its Commonfund Capital Venture Partners VII fund with just over $500 million.

D.A. Davidson & Co. has acquired Capital Run LLC, a Seattle-based boutique I-bank focused on raising institutional private equity and debt, and on executing middle-market M&A transactions. No financial terms were disclosed.

Endeavor Acquisition Corp., a New York-based special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), has filed to raise $200 million via an IPO. The company plans to trade on the OTC BB, with Broadband Capital Management and Ladenburg Thalmann serving as lead underwriters. Management includes: Chairman Eric Watson, also chairman of Cullen Investments Ltd.; President Jonathan Ledecky, founder of U.S. Office Products; Director Edward Matthias, a partner and managing director of The Carlyle Group.

Key Bridge Partners has spun out of Laurelwood Ventures as a new operating entity that will acquire $10 million to $150 million manufacturing companies in partnership with private equity firms. The new group was founded by Laurelwood managing directors Bob Maruszewski and Andrew Wert, in order “to separate Laurelwood Ventures’ purely financial investment activities from Key Bridge’s value-added acquisition activities.”

Lehman Brothers has raised $3.5 billion for a pair of real estate private equity funds: $2.4 billion for Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners II and $1.1 billion for Lehman Brothers Real Estate Mezzanine Partners.

Paul Capital Partners has closed its third VC fund-of-funds with $620 million in commitments from limited partners like the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, the Coal Staff Private Equity Trust and the BP Pension Fund. The Process Management Group helped place the fund, which will take both primary and secondary stakes in venture capital funds.

Wynnchurch Capital Partners of Lake Forrest, Ill. is raising up to $300 million for its second private equity fund, according to a regulatory filing. Bear Stearns & Co. is acting as placement agent.

Compiled by Dan Primack