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Top Three
Norwest Venture Partners has agreed to acquire a 2.11% equity stake in Mumbai-based National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. from IL&FS Securities Services Ltd. The deal is valued at Rs 250 Crores ($53.1m).
Essent has scrapped the auction for its waste management unit, Essent Milieu, blaming low bids among the reasons. The Dutch utility had been hoping to fetch more than €1 billion, with ING running the process.
The Riverside Company has closed its fifth general fund with $1.17 billion in capital commitments, compared to a $900 million target. The fund will focus on investments in North American companies with EBITDA between $5 million and $15 million. Limited partners include the State of Oregon, Meketa Investment Group, the Illinois State Board of Investment, IAM National Pension Fund, Sentry Insurance, Mass Mutual and the University of Washington.
VC Deals
Telx, a New York-based interconnection and colocation data center operator, has raised $43.5 million in new private funding. RBC Capital Markets was joined by return backers CIT Communications and Media & Entertainment.
Vyatta Inc., a San Mateo, Calif.-based maker of open-source routers, has raised $10.1 million in Series C funding, according to a regulatory filing. The company had previously raised $18.5 million from firms like Comcast Interactive Capital, ArrowPath Venture Partners, Velocity Interactive Group and JPMorgan Partners. www.vyatta.com
Active Implants Corp., a Memphis, Tenn.-based provider of polymer technology for the hip and knee segments of the orthopaedic market, has raised $10 million in Series C funding. No investor information was disclosed.
RingRevenue Inc., a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based provider of a pay-per-call platform for the affiliate network market, has raised $3.5 million in Series A funding. GRP Partners led the round, and was joined by Rincon Venture Partners and Great Pacific Capital.
Catheter Connections Inc., a Park City, Utah-based developer of solutions for preventing hospital-acquired infections resulting from catheters, has raised $1.3 million in seed funding from the Kickstar Seed Fund/vSpring Capital.
The Box, an Israeli developer of content for broadcast entertainment and advertising, has raised “several million dollars” from Greylock Partners.
Buyout Deals
Advent Venture Partners has sponsored a management buyout of The Foundry, a UK-based developer of visual effects software. No financial terms were disclosed.
AIG is in talks to line up financing to facilitate the sale of its aircraft leasing unit (ILFC), but reportedly would consider options like selling some aircraft if the financing falls through.
Bertelsmann AG reportedly has dropped out of the auction for a 49% stake in German academic publisher Springer Science and Business Media. The remaining bidders are Apax Partners, TPG Capital, EQT Partners and The Carlyle Group/Providence Equity Partners. Sellers are Candover and CVC Capital Partners.
Cartesian Capital Group has formed Iris Reinsurance Ltd., a Bermuda-based provider of industry-loss warranties. No financial terms were disclosed. Iris Reinsurance will be run by Chase Toogood (formerly with Credit Suisse and ACE Capital Re) and Schuyler Havens (Freestone Capital Management).
Debenhams (LSE: DEB), a UK department store chain whose shareholders include TPG Capital and CVC Capital Partners, plans to raise over £300 million in a public share offering.
GMAC LLC, a portfolio company of Cerberus Capital Management, yesterday launched a $4.25 billion guaranteed two-part note sale. This is the company’s first debt issue backed by the FDIC.
LLR Partners has increased its acquisition offer for I-many (Nasdaq: IMNY), an Edison, N.J.-based provider of enterprise contract management software and services. Under terms of the agreement, I-many stockholders would now receive $0.49 per share in cash, compared to an original offer of $0.43 per share. The total transaction price would be $47.3 million (or $26.6 million net of I-many’s debt and transaction-related expenses).
Merck & Co. is exploring the sale of its stake in Merial, an animal health joint venture with French pharma company Sanofi-Avantis SA. It also may sell a similar unit at Schering-Plough, which last month agreed to merge with Merck for $41 billion.
Sunflower Food & Spice Co., a Kansas City-based maker of sunflower seeds and other snacks, has raised $7 million in private financing from Advantage Capital Partners. The financing was done in partnership with both the Missouri New Markets Development program and the federal New Markets Tax Credit program.
WellPoint Inc. (NYSE: WLP) “evaluated and explored” the possibility of a leveraged buyout, according to CFO Wayne DeVeydt, but determined that “it’s not something we really can accomplish” due to Blue Cross Blue Shield ownership rules.
PE-Backed IPOs
Noble Environmental Power LLC, an Essex, Conn.-based developer of wind-powered renewable electric generating projects, has withdrawn registration for a proposed $375 million IPO. No explanation was provided. Noble had planned to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol NEPI, with Citi, Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers and JPMorgan serving as co-lead underwriters.
PE-Backed M&A
Fine Point Technologies Inc., a New York-based provider of tools for broadband network connectivity management, has acquired German telecom integrator Sonic Telecom GmbH from private equity firm Access Point LLC. No pricing terms were disclosed. Fine Point has raised VC funding from Edison Venture Fund.
PE Exits
Computer Associates Inc. (Nasdaq: CA) has acquired most of the assets of San Jose, Calif.-based cloud computing company Cassatt Corp. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, although VentureWire reports that Cassatt had been on the verge of bankruptcy. Cassatt had raised more than $76 million in VC funding since 2003, from firms like New Enterprise Associates, Warburg Pincus, Hewlett-Packard and Quatris Fund.
SourceForge (Nasdaq: LNUX) has agreed to acquire Ohloh Corp., a Bellevue, Wash.-based operator of an open source data and information community. No financial terms were disclosed. Ohloh has raised an undisclosed amount of VC funding from Divergent Ventures.
Firms & Funds
The Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System reported a negative 7.5% performance for Q1 2009. It also reported lagging private equity and venture capital data through Q4 2008, including a year-end loss of 26 percent. Such investments comprise 23% of SERS’ assets under management.
Human Resources
David Russ has agreed to joined Credit Suisse as head of a new investment strategies office. He previously was chief investment officer for Dartmouth College.
Frazier Healthcare Ventures has made four promotions to its growth equity team: Brian Morfitt and David Kosloff to principal and Steven Tallman and Joseph Whitters to operating partners.
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