Suzanne Weinstock

The New York Common Retirement Fund’s Nick Smirensky has left the $155bn pension to helm the investment activities of the New York State Health Foundation.

Department store Mervyns, bought in 2004 by Cerberus Capital Management and Sun Capital Partners for $1.2bn, will liquidate after filing for bankruptcy protection in July.

The fund’s co-managers, JLA Ventures and RBC Venture Partners, have each contributed a new hire to the smartphone-focused venture capital group. The additions of Marc Faucher and Matt Golden bring the head count to eight.

The California-based producer of luxury electric cars, which is supported by roughly $140m in venture financing, has instituted a number of measures to see it through the difficult market conditions including layoffs and leadership changes.

The consumer products-focused private equity firm has completed its sixth exit in two years with the sale of Meguiar’s.

The Cleveland, Ohio-based private equity firm has added Argentine medical device company Metrolab to Budapest-based portfolio company Diatron.

Achronix Semiconductor has held a first close of its Series B financing on $43m. The funding round includes participation from Battery Ventures, Easton Capital Investment Group, Entrepia Ventures and New Science Ventures.

The energy-focused spin-out of collapsed hedge fund Sowood Capital will invest up to $80m of equity in Plantation Energy for the construction of a manufacturing facility in Western Australia.

The Dubai government-backed private equity firm has opened an office in New York following the opening of a Shanghai office last year. The firm’s high-profile investments in North America have included Cirque du Soleil and Barneys New York.

$1tr in leveraged loans has been affected by the collapse in investment banking, which has left the sector with far fewer sources of lending than before.