Oliver Smiddy

Private equity returns from developed markets outside the US continue to outstrip those of emerging markets, according to Cambridge Associates research.

Duet Group, which in October formed a joint venture with TLG Capital to invest in Africa, has completed its first deal on the continent and has announced plans for a forthcoming $150m fundraising.

German GP Perusa Partners has closed fundraising for its second vehicle with €207m in commitments, meeting its hard-cap in the process.

Bahrain-based buyout firm Investcorp has appointed Scott Freidheim as chief executive of its European arm, two months after naming a US head.

Marcel Kaufmann and Christoph Künzle, two executives at Swiss asset manager Strategic Capital Management (SCM), have spun out to form Advanta Capital.

Ian Brown, former head of European origination at Lloyds Bank, has been promoted to head of the UK bank’s corporate markets acquisition finance division.

In a sign that both Nordic private equity and the energy sector remain in vogue, Norwegian group HitecVision’s latest fund has reached its hard-cap in less than four months.

Lloyds Banking Group, part-owned by the UK state, is mulling the sale of about €500m of private equity fund stakes as it follows other lenders in divesting non-core assets.

Guy Hands-led Terra Firma has held exploratory talks with two sovereign wealth funds over the possibility of managing capital on a segregated account basis.

Peter Englander, a partner at Apax Partners, is retiring at the end of the month after 30 years at the firm.