News in brief

Vestar Capital Partners, a global private equity firm, has increased its exposure in Europe with the launch of an office in Germany, headed by Jens Tonn, a former partner at UK-based Candover.

Tonn will lead a team of four in Munich, developing Vestar’s business in the German-speaking region. Vestar already has European offices in Paris and Milan, along with US sites in New York, Denver and Boston, as well as an office in Tokyo. Tonn spent nine years at Candover, most recently as managing director of its German operation, including leading the acquisitions of BertelsmannSpringer and Vestolit. Prior to that, he was head of the M&A department at Citicorp. Daniel Boege will join Tonn as a vice president having previously spent five years with European buyout firm Permira. Vestar Capital Partners’ most recent European transactions include the acquisition of French funeral business OGF Group alongside Astorg Partners and AXE Re as part of an international private equity consortium.

US private equity fund-of-funds group HarbourVest Partners is to float a new fund, HarbourVest Global Private Equity (HGPE), on the Amsterdam exchange. The fund is looking to raise US$400m, of which more than 90% will be invested in a selection of other HarbourVest funds. Several large US institutional investors are exchanging holdings in other HarbourVest funds for shares in HGPE. The fund is expected to have an initial market cap of US$830m and the initial investments will provide exposure to 5,570 companies. Bookbuilding began on Monday and is scheduled to run until December 5. Lehman Brothers is sole global coordinator, and is a joint bookrunner with Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs.