Matilda Battersby

The partner of German venture capital firm Wellington Partners has resigned after 10 years but will remain affiliated with the firm to help transfer the management of his portfolio companies.

A mortgage company has teamed with a title company to launch First Equity Capital, a fund ‘to stem the tide of foreclosures and delinquencies’ in the US housing market. In December, more than 300,000 home owners filed foreclosure in the US.

The UK-based firm has added on two companies to healthcare platform Enara Group, which last week acquired Surrey-based Beech Care and Nursing Agency.

The European private equity firm secured €26.5m of senior debt for Redext from the lenders that originally backed the company in 2005, including Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Banesto and CAM.

The private equity firm lost €185m on its investment into German manufacturer Edscha, which declared bankruptcy yesterday. Edscha is a manufacturer of car parts for companies including BMW and Rolls Royce, but a drop in demand has affected the company in the last three months.

The private equity firm has sold its 48% stake in the Swedish manufacturing company to private equity firm Ratos.

The French growth equity firm has raised a little more than half the target sum for its small cap fund after six months of marketing.

The UK-based firm has added on Beech Care and Nursing Agency to healthcare portfolio company Enara Group. Last year the firm exited its first buy-and-build investment in the same sector, having made eight add-on acquisitions to UK company Healthcare Homes.

3i veteran Cressida Hogg has replaced Michael Queen, who took over as 3i's CEO from Philip Yea earlier this week. 3i's infrastructure arm also said it sold a 31% stake in its Infrastructure Investors fund to Barclays for £164m.

The fund has been raised to promote the regional development of the North East region of the UK. It will be created by One NorthEast with help from a European Union initiative.