Iris Dorbian

Nebula said Wednesday that it has named Mark Leslie to its board of directors. Leslie is the former chairman and CEO of Veritas Software. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif, Nebula, which is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and Highland Capital Partners, is a provider of cloud solutions.

Venrock said Wednesday that it has promoted David Stepp to partner. Prior to joining Venrock, Stepp worked at Cooley LLP where his practice focused on venture capital partnerships and emerging growth and small-cap public technology companies. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Venrock is a venture capital firm.

The Abraaj Group, an investor in growth markets, said Wednesday that it has sold its stake in HFC Bank to Republic Bank Limited, an independent Caribbean bank. No financial terms were disclosed. Based in Ghana, HFC is a provider of financial services.

Global investment firm KKR said Wednesday that it has inked an agreement to buy ReSearch Pharmaceutical Services from Warburg Pincus. No financial terms were disclosed. Citigroup acted as exclusive financial advisor to RPS for the transaction while Credit Suisse, Jefferies and UBS Investment Bank served as financial advisors to KKR. Also, debt financing will be provided by Credit Suisse, Jefferies, UBS Investment Bank, Citigroup and KKR Capital Markets. When the transaction closes, which is expected to be in the third quarter of 2013, RPS will merge with PRA International, another recent KKR acquisition. Headquartered in Fort Washington, Penn., RPS is a global contract research organization.

Baltic-focused private equity firm BaltCap has sold Medicap Holding AS to synlab, a European provider of laboratory services. No financial terms were disclosed. Based in Estonia, Medicap Holding is a healthcare service provider.

Praesidian Capital said Wednesday that it has invested $17.4 million to recapitalize John's Incredible Pizza Company. Praesidian’s investment represents 58% of a $30 million deal, the balance of which was shared equally with Brookside Mezzanine Partners and Kemper Corp. Based in Rancho Santa Margarita in Southern Calif., John's Incredible Pizza Company is a pizza franchise.

Kaplan, a worldwide provider of test prep services, has acquired the test prep assets and social learning platform of Grockit. No financial terms were disclosed. GSV Advisors served as exclusive financial advisor to Grockit for this transaction. Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., Grockit, which has rebranded itself as Learnist, is a provider of social learning applications and technologies. Learnist is backed by Atlas Venture, Benchmark Capital, Discovery Communications, Integral Capital Partners, GSV Capital and NewSchools Ventures.

Hepregen Corp. said Wednesday that it has named Martin J. Joyce as both vice president of finance and administration as well as CFO. Prior to joining Hepregen, Joyce was a member of Danforth Advisors group. Based in Medford, Mass., Hepregen Corp, which is backed by Battelle Venture Partners and Innovation Valley Partners, is a life science company focused on reducing the liver toxicity of existing pharmaceuticals.

Mandalay Sports Media said Wednesday that two private equity firms, Columbia Capital and Rho Ventures, have each acquired a minority equity stake in the company. No financial terms were disclosed. Also, representatives from Columbia and Rho will join MSM's board of directors. Based in Studio City, Calif., MSM is a sports content and media company.

Houston-based BMC Software said Wednesday that its subsidiary, BMC Software Finance, will be offering a private placement of $1,380 million in senior notes. Proceeds of the transaction will be used to finance a portion of Boxer Parent Company's proposed buy of BMC. BMC Software Finance is backed by Bain Capital Partners, Golden Gate Private Equity, GIC Special Investments Pte Ltd, Insight Venture Management and Elliott Associates.