Private Exits

Clifton House Acquisition Ltd. has sold The Expanded Metal Company Ltd. (EMCO), a UK-based supplier of expanded metal mesh components and finished goods, to Gibraltar Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: ROCK). No financial terms were disclosed, except that EMCO has annual sales of approximately $62 million.

Harvest Partners has completed its sale of Communications Supply Corp. to Wesco International Inc. (NYSE: WCC). No financial terms were disclosed. Communications Supply Corp. is a Carol Stream Ill.-based distributor of low voltage network infrastructure and industrial wire and cable products.

KPS Special Situations Funds has agreed to sell Ebro Electronics GmbH & Co. KG to Nova Analytics Corp. for an undisclosed amount. Ebro is a German producer of instruments that measure temperature, pressure, humidity and pH.

KPS Special Situations Funds has agreed to sell Speedline Technologies Inc. to Illinois Tool Works (NYSE: ITW). No financial terms were disclosed. Speedline is a Franklin, Mass.-based maker of equipment used in the assembly of printed circuit boards and semiconductor packages.

Neiman Marcus Group has agreed to sell handbag maker Kate Spade to Liz Claiborne Inc. (NYSE: LIZ) for $124 million (including to-be-retired debt). Neiman Marcus was acquired last year in a $5.1 billion public-to-private buyout by Texas Pacific Group and Warburg Pincus.

Nomura Holdings Inc. has agreed to acquire electronic brokerage Instinet Inc. from Silver Lake Partners and company management. No financial terms were disclosed, although various media reports put the price at around $1 billion. Silver Lake paid just over $200 million last year for a majority stake in Instinet from the Nasdaq Stock Market, which had just acquired the assets from Reuters (Nasdaq paid $1.88 billion for the entire Instinet Group Inc., but spun off the institutional brokerage biz to Silver Lake).

Nordic Capital has agreed to sell Sweden-based fitness club chain SATS to Tryg I Danmark Smba for an undisclosed amount. Nordic Capital originally acquired the company in 2002, with 2005 revenue coming in at around €120 million.

Virgin Active, the UK-based health and fitness group owned by Virgin Group, has completed its acquisition of Holmes Place’s UK business from Permira and Bridgepoint. The deal included £142.5 million leverage package underwritten by UBS, with both Permira and Bridgepoint re-investing in the equity for a combined 12% Virgin Active stake. No additional financial terms were disclosed.