Robert Venes

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, a US private equity firm, has appointed Marco Herbst as a senior principal in its London office.

Mid Europa Partners, a private equity firm focused on Central and Eastern Europe, has sold its 83% stake in Karneval, a Czech cable business, to Liberty Global of the US for €322.5m, generating a money multiple of just over five times.

Bridgepoint, a European mid-market private equity firm, has bolstered its European advisory committee with the appointment of Sir James Crosby, former chief executive officer of HBOS.

SHS, a German venture capital firm, is targeting €70m to invest in healthcare and life science businesses in the German-speaking region.

European private equity firms have raised €33bn in the first six months of 2006, up from €29.8bn in the first half of 2005, driven by increases in buyout fundraising.

JM Financial, a fund management company based in India, has raised $90m at a first close of its first private equity fund. The fund will make growth capital investments in Indian businesses.

LBO France, a French private equity firm, has acquired the airport ground and cargo handling business of Vinci, a construction group, for €315m.

Lion Capital, the former European arm of HM Capital Partners, has paid between $280m and $320m for Kettle Foods, a maker of snacks and ‘healthy’ food brands in the US and UK.

Summer is a busy time for the gym sector as people put in the hours to attain the perfect beach body. Private equity, it turns out, has been flexing its acquisition muscles too. By Robert Venes.

Close Brothers Private Equity, a UK mid-market buyout firm, has made its first direct investment in the pharmaceuticals sector with a $176m management buyout of Rosement Pharmaceuticals, a developer of off-patent oral liquid medicines.