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Boston-based Candescent Partners has led a syndicate of firms in the buyout of Mansfield, Mass.-based Quadrant Software, which makes electronic document management software. Co-investors include Harbert Mezzanine Capital, Bush O'Donnell Capital Partners, Massachusetts Capital Resource Company and Brooke Private Equity Associates. The group bought Quadrant from its founders. Financial terms were not released.
Lockheed Martin Corp. is nearing a $350 million deal to sell its military services unit Pacific Architects and Engineers, Reuters reported. The company has seen interest from several parties since it put the business unit up for sale in June. Currently the mostly likely buyers include private equity firm Veritas Capital and engineering firm Aecom Technology, Reuters said. An announcement could come by the end of this year, or in early 2011, Reuters said.
Australian investment bank Macquarie Group has added Thomas Hassen as chairman of its oil and gas investment banking group, Reuters said. Hassen was most recently at buyout shop Irving Place Capital. In the new post, Hassen will be based in New York.
Macquarie Renaissance Infrastructure Fund, a Russia-focused private equity fund, has paid $125 million for a 16% stake in private leasing company Brunswick Rail, Reuters reported. The deal combined an undisclosed amount of equity and debt, and is part of a planned $500 million fundraising goal for Brunswick Rail. Macquarie Renaissance is a joint venture between Australia's Macquarie Group and Russia's Renaissance Capital.
ABM Industries has paid $300 million for The Linc Group, a portfolio company of private equity firm GI Partners. The deal represents a 4.4x return for GI Partners, which acquired the company in a 2003 management-led buyout of the Linc from the Enron bankruptcy process. The Irvine, Calif.-based Linc Group provides technical building services, including ventilation and air condition services, lighting and electrical services and maintenance and repair. GI Partners has offices in Menlo Park, Calif.; London and Munich. The firm has raised $3.9 billion in capital since its formation in 2001.
HSBC has spun off its Asia private equity fund management business, Reuters reported. The group’s management team now holds 80.1% of the business, with HSBC retaining the remaining shares. HSBC planned earlier this year to spin off this group, as well as four other regional private equity businesses, as it attempts to focus more on core operations, Reuters said.
British buyout shop 3i Group is planning a $1.5 billion India fund for infrastructure investments in sectors such as power and roadways, Reuters reported. The firm in 2008 launched a $1.2 billion fund for similar infrastructure investment in India. That fund is now 80% invested, Reuters said.
Just days after Chinese regulators approved Morgan Stanley’s divestment from China International Capital Corp., a syndicate of investors, led by private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and TPG Capital, have stepped up with an offer, Reuters reported. The two U.S. buyout shops, as well as the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. and the insurance arm of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., have teamed up to buy the 34.3% stake. Morgan Stanley is expected to get more than $1 billion for the stake, which it received for just $37 million more than a decade ago, Reuters said.
Cleveland-based private equity firm Linsalata Capital Partners has added James Guddy as vice president. Guddy joins Linsalata from Symmetry Advisors, a firm he created. He has also worked as head of strategy and finance for a subsidiary of Cleveland-based GrafTech International. Linsalata Capital was formed in 1984, and is currently investing from its $425 million sixth fund.
Publicly traded Verisk Analytics will pay $90 million to buy Crowe Paradis Services from New York-based private equity firm Clarion Capital Partners. Crowe Paradis Services provides insurance companies and third-party administrators products designed to help them comply with the Medicare Secondary Payer Act. Crowe Paradis is based in North Reading, Mass. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of this year.