John Sinik has quit as UBS AG's head of global leveraged finance, in order to join the London office of Towerbrook Capital Partners. UBS has not yet named a replacement. Towerbrook is in the midst of raising $2.5 billion for its latest fund. www.towerbrook.com
David Verey has stepped down as non-executive chairman of The Blackstone Group's UK operations. He joined Blackstone in April 2003 after having served as chairman of Lazard, and become non-executive UK chairman two years later. Dow Jones is reporting that the position will be abolished. www.blackstone.com
Uber Inc., a Beverly Hills, Calif.-based social networking startup run by former Friendster and NBC exec Scott Sassa, has called down $5.5 million of a $7.6 million Series B round, according to a regulatory filing. Shareholders include Universal Music Group and Sterling Stamos Co-Investors Fund. www.uber.com
Permira will next week sign a contract to sell German telecommunications company Debitel AG to rival Freenet AG for about 1.4 billion euros in cash and shares, Platow Brief reported, citing sources. The deal will create Germany's third-biggest mobile phone service company, after Deutsche Telekom AG.'s T-Mobile and Vodafone Group, with about 20 million customers, […]
Mezzanine Management Central Europe Ltd. (MMCE), the UK-based investment manager, announced the final closing of its second Central and East European mezzanine fund, Accession Mezzanine Capital II (AMC II), at 261 million euros. MMCE said the fund was oversubscribed and larger than its AMC I fund which raised 115 million euros in 2003. 'Current conditions […]
HgCapital has agreed to sell Boosey & Hawkes, a UK-based classical music publisher, to Imagem Music. The deal is valued at approximately Gbp126 million. HgCapital originally took B&H private in December 2003 for Gbp75 million. PRESS RELEASE HgCapital, the European sector-focused private equity investor, today announced that it has agreed to sell Boosey & […]
Evolutionary Genomics, a Louisville, Colo.-based developer of new strains of biofuel feedstocks, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Altira Group LLC. PRESS RELEASE Altira Group LLC — the pioneer and leader in venture capital and private equity funding for energy technology companies — announced today an investment in Evolutionary Genomics (EG), of […]
RiverVest Venture Partners has closed its second fund with $75 million in capital commitments. Its first fund had raised $45 million, plus SBIC leverage from the SBA. The St. Louis-based firm focuses on early-stage life sciences opportunities. PRESS RELEASE RiverVest Venture Partners announced today that it has completed fundraising for its second fund, RiverVest […]
ABS Capital Partners is targeting $400 million for its sixth fund, according to a regulatory filing. The Baltimore-based firm had raised $300 million for its fifth fund in 2005. www.abscapital.com
Qik (f.k.a. Vivisio), a San Mateo, Calif.-based mobile video broadcasting service, has raised $3 million in second-round funding. Individual investors include Marc Benioff (Salesforce), Arjun Gupta (Telesoft Partners) and George Garrick (Jingle Networks). www.qik.com