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Taiwan financial holding firm Cathay Financial has paid $155 million for a 3.45% stake in Taishin Financial, buying the stake from buyout firm Newbridge Capital, Reuters reported. U.S.-based Newbridge Capital invested T$27 billion in 2006 for a 18 percent stake in Taishin and was its largest single foreign stake holder, Reuters wrote.

President Barack Obama will nominate Harvard economist Jeremy Stein and banker Jerome Powell to the two empty seats on the Federal Reserve's board of governors, Reuters reported Tuesday. Powell served at the Treasury during President George H. W. Bush's presidency, and later joined the Carlyle Group. He is currently a visiting scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington. Stein worked for the Obama administration as an adviser to the Treasury secretary and a National Economic Council staff member, Reuters wrote. He specializes in stock price behavior, corporate investment and financing decisions, risk management and capital allocation inside firms, Reuters wrote.

The Carlyle Group has begun fundraising for a new global financial services buyout fund, Reuters reported Tuesday. The firm is aiming to raise more than the $1.1 billion it secured for its first financials buyout fund. The new fund, Carlyle Global Financial Services Partners II, has a minimum commitment threshold for investors of $10 million and intends to fundraise for more than a year, Reuters wrote.

Adam Clammer and Herald Chen have resigned from the board of struggling photography company Eastman Kodak, Reuters reported, citing a Tuesday filing with U.S. regulators. Both directors represented private equity firm KKR & Co.

(Recent funding news based on Form D filings with the S.E.C.) New York-based Peer39 Inc. has raised $2.5 million in fresh capital, according to a regulatory filing. Peer39 provides data based on the content and structure of web pages, and aims to help companies improve the effectiveness of online display advertising. The company raised a […]

Abacus Finance Group announced Tuesday that it served as joint lead arranger and syndication agent for a senior secured debt financing to support the acquisition of Doss Aviation Inc. by J.F. Lehman & Company. Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Doss Aviation is a provider of critical military aviation support services. J.F. Lehman is a middle-market buyout shop focused on the defense, aerospace and maritime sectors. Terms of the deal were not released.

Buyout shop Audax Group is targeting $1 billion for its fourth fund, Audax Private Equity Fund IV, L.P., according to a regulatory filing. Audax, based in Boston, invests primarily in lower-middle market companies. The firm closed its third fund in 2007 with $1 billion in capital commitments. More recently, the firm announced last week that it had exited its investment in ColorMatrix in a $486 million sale to chemical maker PolyOne Corp.

The Halifax Group has sealed about $150 million in commitments for its middle-market private equity fund Halifax Capital Partners III, L.P., according to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The Raleigh, N.C.-based firm is targeting $350 million for the fund, according to the filing.

New York-based buyout firm Harvest Partners has raised roughly $835.7 million for its sixth fund, Harvest Partners VI L.P., the firm revealed in a regulatory filing. Harvest is aiming for $1.1 billion for the fund, according to the filing. In June, peHUB reported that Harvest had sealed $441.95 million for the fund, which at the time was targeting $800 million in total. Credit Suisse, which helped raise previous Harvest Partners funds, is also helping with the sixth fund, according to the filing.

Buyout shop Apax Partners is paying about 1.6 billion euros ($2.09 billion) to buy the mobile phone operator Orange Switzerland from France Telecom, Reuters reported. Apax said that the deal will be submitted to France Telecom's board in January.