Steve Gelsi

Spire Capital Partners said it raised $133 million for Spire Capital Partners III LP, including an investment from Teacher Retirement System of Texas’s emerging managers program, according to a regulatory filing for the New York-based lower mid-market buyout firm.

Dominus Capital has put portfolio company Spectrum Corp on the selling block in a transaction being handled by Lazard’s middle market advisory shop out of Minneapolis, according to two sources familiar with the deal.

Energy Capital Partners topped off Energy Capital Partners III at $1.5 billion above its $3.5 billion target as the latest in a series of big energy funds, bringing the New Jersey firm’s total fundraising tally to $13 billion in eight years.

Baird Capital has closed its second European buyout fund at just under $100 million including an investment from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, as the private equity arm of Robert W. Baird & Co hopes to capitalize on an expected economic up-tick in the region.

Panda Power Funds, the Dallas-based private equity firm that invests in energy projects, has raised $535.5 million for Panda Power Fund II LP as it looks to roughly double the size of its debut fund, according to Form D filings and sources familiar with the firm. 

New MainStream Capital, a specialist in equity investments and leveraged buyouts of middle-market companies, has reached a first close for New MainStream Partners Fund II on its way to a $250 million target, three years after its spin-out as a group of portfolio companies from the Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking unit, according to a person familiar with the firm.

Trivest Partners LP has closed the acquisition of a unit of Niagara Conservation Corp as an add-on for its AM Conservation Group platform, in a move aimed at building a market leader in the estimated $100 million niche business of providing products to utility companies that save water and electricity.