Oliver Smiddy

German special situations specialist Orlando Management is close to wrapping up fundraising for its third fund, having garnered about €200m from institutional investors in a process that took weeks rather than months.

General Atlantic was part of a quartet of co-investors which has backed Colombia-listed investment company Grupo Sura’s $3.6bn acquisition of ING Group’s assets in Latin America.

In addition to a round of New Year promotions, HarbourVest Partners has appointed former 3i executive Stuart Howard as chief operating officer within its European listed products division.

Private equity firms across the world clamoured to round off the year on a high, leading to a slew of new investments and exits.

The North American market was the setting for a late surge in deal activity, with a number of firms agreeing buyouts as the year drew to a close.

After a number of notable fundraising successes worldwide in 2011, and some failures, several firms launched new funds in the run-up to the Christmas break or held closes.

There are fewer than two weeks to go before voting closes for The Private Equity International Awards 2011, the industry’s largest impartial awards, voted for entirely by readers.

Firms should bite the bullet and realise investments next year, despite the disconnect between pricing expectations, writes Alex White, a corporate finance partner at BDO.

Bill Crossan, managing partner at Growth Capital Partners, believes that despite a gloom-laden economy there is still cause for optimism in 2012.

Switzerland-listed fund Castle Private Equity has become the latest publically traded fund to bow to shareholder pressure, having announced a raft of changes ahead of a radical restructuring.