PE Week Wire, Oct. 3, 2006

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Top Three

Providence Equity Partners is raising up to $10 billion for its sixth fund, according to Buyouts Magazine. Its previous fund closed in late 2004 with $4.25 billion. www.provequity.com

Nordic Capital and Apax Partners are moving ahead with a $2.2 billion offer to acquire listed Swedish healthcare company Capio AB, even though the company’s board unanimously rejected the offer last week.

Texas Pacific Group has agreed to acquire the Transfusion Therapies business of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX). The deal is valued at $540 million, and is expected to close in Q1 2007. Maverick Capital also is participating alongside TPG. The Transfusion Therapies business includes a global product portfolio of manual and automated blood-collection products and storage equipment, as well as five manufacturing facilities located in Haina, Dominican Republic; La Chatre, France; Maricao and San German, Puerto Rico; and Nabeul, Tunisia. www.baxter.com

VC Deals

MedServe Inc., a Houston, Texas-based provider of medical waste removal and destruction services for healthcare facilities, has raised $50 million in private equity funding from Avista Capital Partners. The capital will be used to fund national consolidation of small operators in the medical waste industry. www.medserveinc.com www.avistacap.com

Cempra Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Morrisville, N.C.-based developer of anti-infectives, has closed its Series A round with $22 million. Backers include Aisling Capital, Intersouth Partners and banker I. Wistar Morris III. www.cempra.com

PayPerPost, an Orlando, Fla.-based marketplace for advertisers to reach bloggers, videographers, photographers, podcasters and social networks, has raised $3 million in Series A funding. Inflexion Partners led the deal, and was joined by Village Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. www.payperpost.com

Saban Capital Group has launched a new venture that will develop and market family entertainment properties. Its first effort is called Hollywood Star Dogs.

Safe Lites LLC, an Eden Prairie, Minn.-based developer of electroluminescent lighting technology, has raised $1 million in Series D funding from the Weksel In*stment Group. Counsel Funding Partners advised Safe Lites on the deal. www.safelites.com

Buyout Deals

Caxton-Iseman Capital and Royal Palm Capital Partners have acquired American Residential Services LLC, a Memphis, Tenn.–based provider of HVAC and plumbing services, from The ServiceMaster Co. (NYSE: SVM). No financial terms were disclosed, except that ARS had 2005 revenue in excess of $500 million. www.ars.com

Istithmar and Salford Capital Partners have offered to acquire the Georgian business interests – including Magticom Ltd. — of telecom company Metromedia International Group Inc. (Amex: MMG) for $480 million.

Ripplewood Holdings LLC has offered to buy the U.S. construction-gear rental unit of Sweden-based Atlas Copco AB for around $4 billion, according to a Bloomberg interview with Goldman Sachs analyst James Moore.

GTCR has completed the formation of BNY ConvergEx Group, which rolls up the trade execution, commission management and independent research businesses of BNY Securities Group with Eze Castle Software, a provider of trade order management. The entire transaction is valued at over $1 billion, with GTCR and Bank of New York each holding 35.4% ownership stakes, and Eze Castle and company management holding the remainder. Bank of New York’s B-Trade and G-Trade businesses are expected to become part of the new company in 2008. www.gtcr.com

Indigo Partners has acquired a 49% stake in Indonesian airline Mandala Airlines from PT Cardig International Aviation. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which results in Cardig retaining a 51% position. www.mandalaair.com

WL Ross & Co. has acquired OCM India Ltd., an India-based textile manufacturing facility, for $37 million.

PE-Backed IPOs

GlobalStar Inc., a Milpitas, Calif.-based provider of voice and data communications services via satellite, has set its proposed IPO terms to 6.5 million common shares being offered at between $16 and $18 per share. It plans to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol GSAT, with Wachovia Securities and JPMorgan serving as co-lead underwriters. Shareholders include Thermo Funding Co., Columbia Ventures Corp., Banc of America Securities and Qualcomm. www.globalstar.com

Trubion Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Seattle-based drug company focused on inflammatory diseases and cancer, has set its proposed IPO terms to 4 million common shares being offered at between $13 and $15 per share.. It plans to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol TRBN, with Morgan Stanley serving as lead underwriter. The company has raised around $46 million in VC funding from firms like Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Oxford Bioscience Partners, Prospect Venture Partners, Venrock Associates and ATP Capital. www.trubion.com

PE-Backed M&A

Fresh Start Bakeries, a portfolio company of Lindsay Goldberg & Bessemer, has acquired the Pennant Foods bakery unit of Chef Solutions, a portfolio company of Questor Partners. No financial terms were disclosed. www.freshstartbakeries.com www.chefsolutions.com

Arrowhead Brass Products, a Los Angeles–based manufacturer of plumbing products, has merged with Champion Irrigation LLC of El Monte, California. Caltius Equity Partners will retain a minority stake in Arrowhead Brass, which was advised on the deal by The Mercanti Group. www.arrowheadbrass.com www.championirrigation.com

PE Exits

Harvest Partners has agreed to sell Communications Supply Holdings Inc. to Wesco International Inc. (NYSE: WCC). No financial terms were disclosed. CSH is a Carol Stream, Ill.-based distributor of low-voltage network infrastructure and industrial wire and cable products. It is expected to generate approximately $600 million in 2006 revenue. www.gocsc.com

Knight Capital Group (Nasdaq: NITE) has acquired ValuBond Inc., an Atlanta-based provider of electronic access and trade execution products for the fixed income market. The deal was valued at $18.2 million in cash. ValuBond had raised over $30 million in VC funding since its 1999 inception, from firms like Alliance Technology Ventures, Financial Technology Ventures, LabMorgan and Wasatch Venture Fund. www.knight.com www.valubond.com

Miscellaneous

Imagination Technologies Group PLC (LSE: IMG), a UK-based system-on-a-chip IP company, has raised £5.8 million in PIPE funding from Intel Capital, as part of a larger strategic collaboration agreement with Intel Corp. www.imgtec.com

Nasdaq Stock Market said yesterday that it will raise the annual fee charged to companies that list on its exchange. The new fee will go into effect for 2007, and is expected to range from $30,000 for up to 10 million outstanding shares (currently $24,500) to $95,000 for over 150 million outstanding shares (now $75,000). www.nasdaq.com

Firms & Funds

Berkshire Partners of Boston has closed its seventh private equity fund with $3.1 billion in capital commitments. www.berkshirepartners.com

Scottish Equity Partners, a Glasgow-based technology VC firm, has closed its third fund with £160 million in capital commitments. Limited partners include Swiss Re, Skandia, Gartmore and Scottish Widows. www.sep.co.uk

Greenhill SAVP of New York has closed its inaugural fund with $102 million in capital commitments. www.savp.com

Jonathan Reich and Adam Reich, former principals and co-presidents of Michael Fox International, have formed Greystone Private Equity. The group will operate as an affiliate of Greystone & Co., and will make control and non-control acquisitions of assets like industrial machinery & equipment, real estate, inventory and accounts receivables.

Human Resources

Michael Capellas has joined Silver Lake Partners as a senior advisor. He was president and CEO of MCI from December 2000 through January 2006, and helped oversee its acquisition by Verizon Communications. Before MCI, he was president of Hewlett-Packard. www.silverlake.com

Mike Connolly has joined Mirabilis Medica Inc., a Seattle-based developer of ultrasound technology for medical imaging. He previously was a principal with Mirabilis backer vSpring Capital. www.mirabilismedica.com

Jim Rutter has left Square1 Bank, where he had been in charge of the Silicon Valley office. www.square1bank.com

Jerry Fadden has joined Tri-Artisan Partners as a managing director. He previously was a turnaround consultant, most recently serving as interim CFO for aluminum and vinyl windows manufacturer Altrium Cos. www.tri-artisan.com

Mark Hoover has joined Woodside Fund as a venture partner. He previously was co-founder and president of early-stage tech consultancy Acuitive Inc. www.woodsidefund.com

Caroline Kovac has joined Burrill & Co. as a managing director. She previously was with IBM, where she helped form the strategic direction of the company’s global healthcare and life sciences business. www.burrillandco.com

Anil Sarin has joined Bessemer Venture Partners as a Mumbai, India-based director of public equities. He previously was co-head of equities at Prudential ICICI Asset Management. www.bvp.com