The Carlyle Group has acquired a 15.5% stake in Taiwan Mobile, in exchange for control of Taiwanese cable television operator Kbro Co. The total swap transaction is valued at approximately $1 billion.
The Rubicon Project, a Los Angeles-based provider of an Internet advertising platform, has acquired audience optimization company Others Online. No financial terms were disclosed. Rubicon Project has raised has raised $33 million in equity and debt funding, from firms like Clearstone Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, IDG Ventures Asia and Silicon Valley Bank.
Richard Parsons, chairman of Citigroup and former CEO of Time Warner, has agreed to become a senior advisor to Providence Equity Partners.
VC Deals
XConnect, a London-based provider of peering and ENUM registry services to the telecom industry, has raised $10 million in Series B funding.Crescent Point Group of Singapore was joined by return backers Accel Partners, Grazia Equity and Venrock. The company previouslyraised $12 million in 2007.
Acadia Human Capital Solutions, a Columbia, S.C.-based provider of strategic HR software, has raised $5 million in VC funding, in conjunction with its acquisition byPMW Technology. Intersouth Partners led the round, with C&B Capitalalso participating.
Buyouts Deals
Baskins, a Livingston, Texas-based retailer of western work and weekend apparel, has been acquired by Banyan Mezzanine Fund, Consumer Growth Partners and Diamond State Ventures. No financial terms were disclosed. Sarowdin Partners advised Baskins on the deal. www.baskins.com
Harrah’s Entertainment, a casino operator owned by Apollo Management and TPG Capital, has bought $140 million of debt related to the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, according to the WSJ. Goldman Sachs was the seller.
Huntington Capital has sponsored a recapitalization of portfolio companyAdvanced Structural Alloys LLC,, according to LBO Wire. The deal was valued at approximately $4 million, with Huntington limited partner Crosse+Partners also participating. ASA is an Oxnard, Calif.-basedmaker ofcustom-designed aluminum wheels. www.huntingtoncapital.com
KKR, THL Partners and Providence Equity Partners reportedly are considering a joint bid for the Travel Channel, which is being sold by Cox Enterprises. The firms also are in talks with Discovery Communications to manage the channel, were they to win. Bids are expected to be in the range of $700 million to $800 million, with NBC Universal and Scripps Networks Interactive already having made bids.
Trans-Trade Inc., a Texas-based logistics company, has raised an undisclosed amount of private equity funding from Milestone Partners. It also has secured $13 million from F! ifth Street Finance, which disclosed the deal in a newsletter. www.transtrade.com
PE-Backed IPOs
Anthera Pharmaceuticals Inc., a San Mateo, Calif.-based developer of anti-inflammatory drugs, has filed for a $70 million IPO. It plans to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol ANTH, with Deutsche Bank Securities serving as lead underwriter. The company has raised around $75 million in VC funding, from firms like VantagePoint Venture Partners (32.97% pre-IPO stake), Sofinnova Ventures (21.24%), Caxton Advantage Life Sciences Fund (6.09%), HBM BioCapital (6.07%), Pappas Ventures (5.55%) and Mitsubishi International Corp. www.anthera.com
PE Exits
Grand Canyon Education Inc. (Nasdaq: LOPE) said that its secondary offering of 6 million shares priced at $16.50 per share. This includes 3 million shares being sold by Endeavour Capital, which reduces its ownership stake from 22.5% to 15.4 percent.
OpenTable Inc. (Nasdaq: OPEN), a San Francisco-based operator of an online restaurant reservation system, plans to offer 3.79 million common shares via a secondary public offering. It closed trading yesterday at $27.23 per share, compared to an IPO price earlier this year of $20 per share (it closed at $31.89 that day). Selling shareholders include: Impact Venture Partners Partners (cutting its stake from 15.83% to 10.27%), IAC/InterActive Corp. (9.84% to 6.38%) and Integral Capital Partners (5.79% to 4.41%). Benchmark Capital, which holds a 23.91% interest, is not planning to sell! any shares. www.opentable.com
Taylor-Wharton International, a portfolio company of Wind Point Partners, has sold Structural Composites Industries to a subsidiary of Worthington Industries (NYSE: WOR). SCI is a Pomona, Calif.-based maker of high-pressure cylinders used in commercial, military, marine and aerospace applications. No financial terms were disclosed. Lincoln International advised the seller.
PE-Backed M&A
ONE Industries, an acquisition platform focused on the motocross aftermarket parts and accessories industry, has acquired Rush Racing, a UK-based importer and exporter of racing equipment. No financial terms were disclosed. ONE Industries is a portfolio company of Wedbush Capital Partners.
Firms & Funds
Oak Hill Advisors has closed a new distressed debt fund with $1.125 billion in capital commitments. The fund began making investments last October.
Human Resources
Richard Allsopp has agreed to join fund placement and secondary advisory Campbell Lutyens as a partner. He is the former global head of private equity funds with UBS, which he left last year to form an internal fundraising operation at Babcock & Brown. Following B&B’s financial troubles, he worked to help the firm’s European infrastructure group spin out.
Kalpana Desai has joined Macquarie Group as deputy head of Macquarie Capital Asia. She is the former head of Asia M&A (excluding Japan) for Merrill Lynch.
Bob Jenkins and Jim Sutcliffe have joined CVC Capital Partners as senior advisors, with a f! ocus on the financial services sector. Jenkins is the former chairman and CEO of F&C Asset Management, while Sutcliffe was CEO of Old Mutual PLC.
Susan Gillick has joined Standish Management, a provider of outsourced accounting infrastructure to VC and PE firms, as head of the firm’s new Boston office. She previously was controller with Elevation Partners and, before that, was with Fox Paine & Co.
Adam Marcus has joined OpenView Venture Partners as a principal. He previously was a senior associate with Battery Ventures.
Rozell Mack III has joined Edge Capital Partners as a senior! advisor. He is a co-founding partner of Ascend Venture Group.
Laura Prager and Linda Prager have joined interdealer broker ICAP PLC, as co-heads and managing director of a new alternative investments group that will serve as a secondaries intermediary. Laura previously founded LP Strategic Capital, while Linda was US head of Citiy’s prime brokerage business consulting practice. The two are sisters.
Joe Radecki has joined Lincoln International as a managing director and head of the firm’s U.S. restructuring and special situations group. He previously led restructuring groups at banks like Jefferies, CIBC and Piper Jaffray.
If you do not receive this within five minutes, please try and sign in again. If the problem persists, please
email: