Angela Sormani

SV Life Sciences (SVLS) has appointed Dr. Heiner Dreismann as venture partner. Dr. Dreismann joins SVLS with more than 26 years of experience in the health care industry.

Investment banking firm Miller Buckfire has appointed John A. McKenna, Jr., as a managing director, effective immediately. McKenna has over 20 years of experience advising on large scale, complex financial restructurings and capital raising and mergers and acquisitions assignments.

Greenleaf Biofuels has closed funding with Sovereign Bank for its initial 10 million gallon per year multi-feedstock biodiesel plant in New Haven, CT. The Connecticut Community Investment Corporation (CTCIC), in conjunction with the SBA 504 program, will assume almost half of the Sovereign term loan once the plant is operational. Sovereign and CTCIC join the State of CT Department of Economic and Community Development and Advantage Capital Partners/Ironwood Capital as financial supporters of the project.

Intel Capital, the investment arm of Intel Corp , the global chipmaker, believes valuations of early-stage technology companies in India have reached a "near-bubble" stage, as too much capital chases too few quality opportunities, Reuters reports.

Francisco Partners-backed Quantros has appointed Keith Hagen as its new president and CEO. Hagen comes to Quantros from Aperio, where he served as the company's chief operating officer (COO). He assumes responsibility from John Trzeciak, who served as interim CEO following the acquisition of Quantros by Francisco Partners in October 2010. Trzeciak, an operating partner with Francisco Partners, will continue to serve on the Quantros board of directors.

The private equity arm of brokerage CLSA, CLSA Capital Partners said it has invested $22 million for a minority stake in Indian education specialist Resonance Eduventures, according to Reuters.

French insurer AXA, whose private equity business is currently up for grabs, said it was fully committed to delivering its mid-term earnings targets as of the end of September despite the current market environment. Reuters reported from a presentation given by Chief Executive Henri de Castries at a banking and insurance conference on Wednesday.

One thing is for sure in the European private equity fund managers’ space, a US presence is a must-have if you want to assert yourself as a global player and have credibility with your investors. This seems to count for both the veteran giants with tens of billions in their coffers such as Netherlands-based AlpInvest, UK-based Pantheon and Swiss-based Partners Group as well as the more modest players with single figure billions under management such as Switzerland- based fund-of-funds Adveq and CapVent and, most recently, London-based Hermes GPE.

Dunedin-backed Practice Plan, a UK provider of membership plans and other support services to dental practices, has made two acquisitions; Isoplan, a UK dental plan provider, and Medenta, a leader in dental patient finance.

UK-based LBA Angel Syndicate has contributed a 135,000 pound investment to help cornerstone early stage London based specialist mobile network operator Cycell Ltd ‘s 600,000 pound angel funding round.