Connie Loizos
Sunrise Medical, a New York-based maker of high-end wheelchairs and seating systems that was controlled by Vestar Capital Partners, is being acquired by Equistone Partners Europe, the former buyouts business of Barclays. Terms of the deal aren't being disclosed.
Bazaarvoice, an online customer ratings and review service that went public last February, has appointed Stephen Collins as its new CEO. Collins, who has been the company's CFO since 2010, succeeds company cofounder Brett Hurt, who has been CEO since Bazaarvoice's 2005 inception. Bazaarvoice has also acquired the vertical ad media Longboard Media for roughly $27 million. Longboard, founded in 2008, had raised $6 million from investors.
Houston-based Sidewinder Drilling, a land-drilling company controlled by the private equity firm Avista Capital Partners, has acquired Union Drilling of Fort Worth, Tx., after Union shareholders tendered more than 75 percent of the company's outstanding shares to Sidewinder.
John Wiley & Sons, the publicly traded publishing company,has acquired Efficient Learning Systems (ELS), an e-learning system provider in areas like professional finance and accounting, for $24 million.
Foundation Partners Group, an owner and operator of funeral homes and cemeteries in the U.S., has appointed Brad Rex as president and CEO. Rex was mostly recently CEO of his own hospitality consulting company; previously, he was chief customer officer for Hilton Grand Vacations. Foundation is a portfolio company of the Baltimore-based private equity firm Sterling Partners.
Bahrain-based investment firm Arcapita has withdrawn a planned London listing of its PointPark Properties (P3) unit, highlighting valuation gaps still exist between sellers and investors despite renewed life in the European IPO market.
Rock Ventures -- a Detroit-based umbrella entity formed around the portfolio of companies of Dan Gilbert, the founder of Quicken Loans -- is building 33,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and a 1,300-space parking garage in downtown Detroit's central business district. Construction will begin next month.
The San Francisco-based private equity firm Mainsail Partners has announced three new hires, including Kathyrn Cavanaugh, Amy Corrieo, and Chris Cassidy. Cavanaugh, a former venture capitalist who last worked for Sightline Partners and De Novo Ventures, joins Mainsail as vice president of talent, a recruiting position. Corrieo, previously director of Finance for Professional Healthcare, is now Mainsail's controller. And Cassidy, who joined Mainsail two years ago after working in marketing at Yahoo, has been promoted to operating partner at the firm.
Sausalito, Calif.-based Glassdoor, a five-year-old online career and jobs site, has raised $20 million in venture financing led by DAG Ventures, with participation from existing investors Benchmark Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures and Battery Ventures. This new round brings Glassdoor’s total capital raised to $42.2 million.
The Las Vegas-based footwear maker USA Dawgs has completed a round of growth capital financing round, a transaction on which the Peakstone Group, an investment bank focused on the middle market, served. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.