Oliver Smiddy

US mid-market firm Olympus Partners has promoted two of its principals to partner.

Cognetas has pulled the auction of French fuel pump company Tokheim after three bids failed to meet its pricing expectations. The firm will now consider refinancing the company’s significant debt, according to sources.

UK-headquartered buyout firm STAR Capital Partners has acquired a suite of four companies, including a luxury yacht-builder, for €180m.

Bridges Ventures has corralled £72m in commitments for the first close on its latest SME-focused fund, nearly eclipsing the total fundraising efforts of its last fund raised pre-crisis.

Nearly 50 percent of investors are stuck with commitments to so-called ‘zombie funds’, according to Coller Capital's Winter Barometer.

Investment bank Natixis will acquire French buyout firm AtriA, less than six months after it sold some of its in-house private equity units.

European mid-market buyout house Bridgepoint has won the race to acquire online cycling retailer Wiggle, paying Isis Equity Partners £180m to acquire the UK-based company.

A number of large bubble-era buyouts are at ‘high risk’ of default according to rating agency Moody’s, which warned the GPs involved faced an uphill battle to generate returns on those deals.

Life sciences-focused venture firm EMBL Ventures has held a first close for its second fund on €40m, despite institutional investors’ recent apathy towards venture in general.

The Emerging Markets Private Equity Association has appointed Henry Obi, the chief operating officer of Helios Investment Partners, as its first chairman of the newly-created EMPEA Africa Council.