Firms & Funds

3i Group has formed a new group to buy significant stakes in underperforming public companies in Europe. Bruce Carnegie-Brown, former U.K. head of insurance company Marsh, will serve as managing partner. Other founding partners include: Stephen Hill, former CEO of online gambling company Betfair; Richard Segal, former CEO of PartyGaming; and existing 3i partner Alan MacKay.

ARCIS Group has acquired the entire private equity portfolio of EDF Capital Investissement, the private equity subsidiary of Electricité de France. No financial terms were disclosed. The portfolio includes limited partner positions in funds from Emertec, EPF, Sofinnova, Ventech and Electropar France.

Aureos Capital plans to double its capital under management from $600 million to $1.2 billion by 2008/2009. The London-based private equity firm focuses on unlisted mid-market companies in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Among the new fund efforts will be a $120 million Central Asia Fund (first close in Q1 2007) and a $300 million Latin American Fund (first close on $150 million in Q2 2007).

Broadway Partners of New York has closed its latest private equity real estate fund with $590 million in capital commitments. The fund will focus on the North American office sector.

Cantor Fitzgerald has formed a merchant banking initiative called Cantor Capital Partners. It will be led by new managing director F. Burke Dempsey, who previously was a managing director with Presidio Financial Partners

The Carlyle Group is raising up to $2.75 billion for its fifth real estate fund, according to a regulatory filing. It already has secured around $477 million in capital commitments, with UBS serving as placement agent.

Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors has closed its fourth fund with $950 million in capital commitments. The Houston, Texas-based private equity firm targets oil and gas companies that need strategic equity capital to finance acquisition and development opportunities.

Key Principal Partners has closed its third fund with $500 million in capital commitments. The Cleveland-based firm makes non-control mezzanine and control equity investments in middle-market companies.

Kohlberg Capital Corp., a business development company affiliated with Kohlberg & Co., has priced 13.5 million common shares at $15 per share, for an IPO take of approximately $202.5 million. It will trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol KCAP.

Patronus Capital Advisors as a Chatham, N.J.-based boutique private equity advisory and fund placement firm. It is being run by Paul Delaney, founder of the Bear Stearns Private Funds Group who previously spent 20 years with MetLife.

Pequot Capital has secured $183 million in capital commitments for its fourth private equity fund, according to a regulatory filing. The fund’s target is $200 million, with limited partners including The State of Michigan, Erie Insurance Exchange and GE Pension Trust. Benedetto, Gartland & Co. is serving as placement agent.

South Korean prosecutors claim to have found illegal aspects of Lone Star Funds’ 2003 acquisition of Korea Exchange Bank. Dallas-based Lone Star issued a fresh denial of the allegations.

The Teachers’ Retirement System of Illinois has increased the private equity allocation for its $39 billion portfolio from 6% to 8 percent. It also made two fund commitments: $100 million to Providence Equity Partners VI and $50 million to J.C. Flowers II.

TSG Consumer Partners, a San Francisco-based private equity firm focused on branded consumer companies, has closed its fifth fund with $875 million in capital commitments.

Westham Capital Partners, a Richmond, Va.-based private equity firm, has formed a strategic partnership with Stamford, Conn.-based Atlantic Street Capital Management. Under the terms of the agreement, Westham will serve as an outsourced business development partner and co-investor, providing coverage of deal sources located throughout most of the United States.