Iris Dorbian

Investment firm D.A Davidson & Co. said Thursday that it has opened a capital markets office in New York City. Also, the firm has tapped Steve Shepard, managing director and Lou Luther, associate vice president of institutional sales, to open the office. Both Shepard and Luther report to Raoul Clark, who heads the firm's institutional equity sales.

Meketa Investment Group has named Michael Dean as head of real assets and Christopher Tehranian as senior vice president and head of infrastructure research. Meketa is a global investment consulting firm.

Middle market private equity firm Genstar Capital Management has teamed up with David M. Armstong to launch Palomar Insurance Holdings. Genstar and Palomar management have invested $75 million in Palomar. Armstrong will serve as CEO of Palomar. Palomar will provide commercial and residential earthquake insurance.

The Carlyle Group has acquired ECi Software Solutions. No financial terms were disclosed. Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Harris Williams & Co advised ECi while Latham & Watkins and PricewaterhouseCoopers advised Carlyle. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, ECi is a provider of business management and ecommerce software solutions.

Papa Murphy’s Holdings has filed for an IPO. The number of shares that will be offered as well as the pricing terms have yet to be set. The stock will list on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “FRSH." Jefferies, Robert W. Baird & Co. and Wells Fargo Securities will serve as the lead underwriters. Based in Vancouver, Washington, Papa Murphy's Holding, which is backed by Lee Equity Partners, is a pizza chain franchisor.

Global private equity asset management firm Hamilton Lane has raised approximately $63 million in the final close of its first Brazil fund-of-funds.The pool will focus on healthcare, education, natural resources, energy and essential consumer goods sectors in Brazil.

National Response Corp., a portfolio company of J.F. Lehman & Company, has completed its acquisition of Sureclean Limited. No financial terms were disclosed. BNP Paribas Securities Corp arranged senior debt financing for the deal while Ernst & Young served as financial advisor to NRC. Based in the UK, Sureclean is a provider of specialty environmental and industrial solutions.

Water Street Healthcare Partners and JLL Partners said Wednesday that they have completed the merger of CCBR-SYNARC and BioClinica. No financial terms were disclosed. Both Water Street and JLL Partners have named Jeffrey McMullen to serve as chairman of the combined company, which will provide specialty outsourced clinical services.

BioConsortia, an agricultural biotech company based in Davis, Calif., has hired Marcus Meadows-Smith as CEO. Prior to working at BioConsortia, Meadows-Smith worked at AgraQuest where he served as CEO. BioConsortia is the newly formed parent company of BioDiscovery New Zealand, which was seeded by Khosla Ventures.

Investment firm ICE Canyon has hired Jaime G. Garza as managing director and portfolio manager. Previously, Garza worked at Black River Asset Management´s emerging markets group where he served as managing director and portfolio manager.