Last word

Royal Philips Electronics, the Dutch consumer products group, has agreed to acquire Avent Holdings, a UK-based producer of baby and infant feeding product, from private equity outfit Charterhouse Capital Partners. The consideration of about £460m (€675m) is to be paid in cash upon completion of the transaction, which is expected in the third quarter of 2006.

Charterhouse Capital Partners acquired Avent Holdings for £300m in 2005.

For the 12 months ending March 2006, Avent reported sales of £113m (about €165m), up 12% over 2004–05, and an operating margin of 22%.

In March, Charterhouse Capital Partners also announced the acquisition of Levantina Group, a natural stone company based in Spain, for an enterprise value of €540m.

0US-based buyout firm Madison Dearborn Partners has closed its fifth fund at US$6.5bn. Limited partners include the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System, the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System and the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System, according to Private Equity Week, a sister paper to IFR Buyouts Europe.

0UK-based buyout firm CVC Capital Partners has bolstered its Paris office by hiring Domnin de Kerdaniel and Nicolas Mouté as a managing director and director, respectively.

De Kerdaniel was previously with UK-listed peer 3i’s French office and also covered the Benelux market, while Mouté was a managing director and head of acquisition finance for Dutch bank ING, also based in Paris.

Before 3i, De Kerdaniel had spent five years at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and worked on the purchase of French electrical retailer Legrand.