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  • Close Brothers Corporate Finance appointed Alain Le Berre as a director in its European special situations group. He joined from Ernst & Young’s transaction advisory services team in Paris, where he was a partner. He was also a partner with Andersen Corporate Finance prior to the merger. Since 2000, Le Berre has advised companies and private equity groups on cross-border restructuring transactions, in particular US and German clients. Le Berre’s appointment reflects the growing demand Close Brothers is seeing for special situations advice in Continental Europe, both domestically and on a cross-border basis. He will be based in London and Paris.
  • Kelso Place Asset Management backed a buyout to acquire the Marshal line of enterprise security products from NetIQ Corp, a Nasdaq-listed provider of integrated systems and security management solutions. Ed Macnair, NetIQ’s current head of worldwide sales for Marshal, has led the management buyout and will become chief executive officer of Marshal Ltd. Peter Hodges and Kevin McFall, Marshal’s founders, will also be joining following the close of the transaction.
  • Vestar Capital Partners signed a definitive agreement to acquire Switzerland-based Nybron Flooring International, a leader in wood flooring products, from HIAG and Nordic Capital. HIAG and Nordic Capital created Nybron in 2000 through the simultaneous acquisition and merger of Kahrs, Bauwerk and Marty. Nordic Capital Fund IV entered into a binding agreement to sell all its interest in Anticimex, a North European company providing in-door environment services, to Ratos, a Swedish listed private equity company. Expected revenues for 2005 are €133m, of which major parts are generated in Sweden and Norway. The company has about 1,400 employees including franchisees.