North America

Private equity and venture capital news from North America

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• Cartilage treatment business Carticept gets $20m 10 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Carticept Medical Inc, a developer of products for the treatment of cartilage injuries and osteoarthritis, has completed a $20m series B financing round. New investor SonoSite Inc, a medtech company in the ultrasound space, joined return venture capital investors Domain Associates and New Enterprise Associates.

• New Enterprise Associates adds Ron Bernal as venture partner 10 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. New Enterprise Associates (NEA), the technology-focused venture capital firm which raised $2.5bn earlier this year, has appointed industry veteran Ron Bernal as a venture partner. In this new role, Bernal, a former entrepreneur-in-residence with NEA, will work with the firm’s enterprise infrastructure and services, electronics and energy technology teams.

• Carlyle to seek $1bn buyer for defence and aviation company Arinc 10 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. US private equity firm Carlyle is seeking buyers for defence and aviation company Arinc in a sale that could fetch $1bn, according to reports.

• Another exec leaves Wilshire Private Markets 10 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Wilshire Private Markets’ CIO Jeff Ennis has resigned, with the private equity fund of funds halting fundraising, a report by consultant Hymans Robertson has revealed.

• Apollo to buy Citigroup’s real estate division 10 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. US private equity firm Apollo Management has agreed to purchase the real estate investment division of financial services giant Citigroup, according to Bloomberg.

• GMAC CFO heads to Providence Equity Partners 10 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Providence Equity Partners, a global private equity firm specialising in media, entertainment and communications investments, has hired former GMAC executive vice president and CFO Robert Hull. He will join Providence as CFO, succeeding Raymond Mathieu, who will become a managing director focused on special projects.

• SiBEAM raises $36.5m to take wireless chipset mainstream 09 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. California-based semiconductor company SiBEAM Inc has closed $36.5m in series D funding led by Foundation Capital. The financing will be used to push its 60 GHz wireless chipsets into the mainstream marketplace while funding future projects and further expansion.

• Advent International poaches Carlyle investor relations executive 09 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Private equity firm Advent International has bolstered its ability to service investors with the hire of Robert Brown, a former managing director of Carlyle’s North American fundraising and investor relations.

• Law firms launch investigations into Infogroup deal 09 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. With yesterday’s media reports that CCMP Capital has agreed to buy Infogroup Inc corroborated by an official statement, at least three law firms have stepped up to announce they are investigating the veracity of the deal.

• Carlyle ramps up debt business with new hire 09 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Morgan Stanley’s former sales and trading chief, Mitch Petrick, will join private equity firm Carlyle to head its distressed debt and leveraged finance business in the US and Europe.

• Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz bailed out by private equity 09 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz has turned to US private equity firm Colony Capital to help repair her finances, according to reports. Under the terms of the arrangement, Colony is to become Leibovitz’s sole creditor, and will help to market her portfolio of photographs, which include the infamous Rolling Stone magazine cover featuring a naked John Lennon with Yoko Ono, taken hours before his murder.

• PE firms line up for Marsh & McLennan’s Kroll 09 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. A number of major private equity houses have entered first round bids to take control of Kroll, the corporate investigations unit of global insurance broker and consultancy company Marsh & McLennan, for around $1.3bn, the Financial Times reports.

• Harrah's catches break with $5.5bn debt maturity extension 08 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Harrah's Entertainment Inc, the afflicted casino operator owned by private equity firms Apollo Global Management and TPG, has agreed with its lenders to have the maturity on $5.5bn in loans delayed until 2015.

• DoubleVerify raises $10m to keep eye on online ads 08 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. New York City-based online advertising verifier DoubleVerify has closed $10m in series B financing in a round led by Institutional Venture Partners. The financing will be used to fund company expansion in response to increasing demand.

• CalPERS appoints former Barclays exec as chief operating investment officer 08 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. The California Public employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has appointed Janine Guillot as the pension fund’s chief operating investment officer.

• ABRY to take broadband business RCN private in $1.2bn deal 08 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Internet and cable TV company RCN Corporation will be acquired by ABRY Partners, a Boston-based media-focused private equity firm, having agreed to a $1.2bn buy-out.

• CCMP Capital to buy Infogroup for $460m 08 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. New York private equity firm CCMP Capital has agreed to buy Infogroup Inc, a data and marketing services business, for approximately $460m, according to the Wall Street Journal.

• LA's SouthWest Water going private 05 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Los Angeles-based water utility SouthWest Water Company has agreed to be taken private by JP Morgan Asset Management and Water Asset Management for $275m cash.

• TransMedics raises $36m for organ transplant system 05 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. TransMedics Inc, a medical device company focusing on delivering a solution for organ transplantation, has closed a $36m financing round led by Foundation Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB).

• Denham Capital to sell US coal producer to Essar Group 05 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Energy-focused private equity firm Denham Capital is to sell US coal producer Trinity Coal to Indian conglomerate Essar Group. In a deal valued at $600m, Essar plans to use the coal to service its steel plant and iron ore operations in North America.

• Biotech company Vaxart raises $12.5m to treat bird flu 04 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. San Francisco-based biotech company Vaxart Inc has finalised $12.5m of series B financing, led by Care Capital of Princeton, New Jersey. The funding will be put to work in advancing the company’s lead product, an oral vaccine for avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, into Phase I clinical trials.

• PE firms back new US government-bond brokerage business 04 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Private equity firms General Atlantic and Stone Point Capital have put up $200m for a new venture that will offer brokerage services for the trade of government bonds, according to the Wall Street Journal.

• US fashion group discusses buying Tommy Hilfiger from Apax 04 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. UK private equity firm Apax Partners is in talks with US fashion corporation Phillips Van Heusen about a possible sale of portfolio company Tommy Hilfiger, according to reports. A takeover bid by Phillips Van Heusen, which also owns Calvin Klein, could value the clothing brand at $3bn.