Ken Yager has joined MorrisAnderson & Associates as a managing director. He previously ran Newpoint Ventures, and before that worked in the equity sponsor business development group of Bank of America. www.morrisanderson.com
John Edwards has joined UK-based Augusta & Co. as a partner focused on mid-market corporate finance. He previously was with Amethyst Corporate Finance. www.augustaco.com
Bayside Capital LLC, the distressed debt affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, has promoted Lewis Schoenwetter to Managing Director. www.higcapital.com
Lawrence Tse, a former HP executive who currently serves as an advisor to General Atlantic, has been named acting CFO of fables semiconductor company Vimicro International Corp. (Nasdaq: VIMC). www.vimicro.com
North Castle Partners has completed its previously-announced sale of portfolio company Avalon Natural Products Inc. to The Hain Celestial Group Inc. (Nasdaq: HAIN) for $120 million. Avalon is a provider of natural products in the areas of skin care, hair care, bath and body and sun care. www.hain-celestial.com
Charles Chocolates, an Emeryville, Calif.-based chocolate-maker, has raised $1.5 million in Series A funding from Keiretsu Forum. www.charleschocolates.com
RoundTable Healthcare Partners has completed its acquisition of Advantis Medical Inc., a manufacturer of organizing systems for surgical instruments, implants and medical devices. No financial terms were disclosed. Advantis will be combined with existing RoundTable portfolio company Instrumed International Inc.
eStudySite has raised $6 million in first-round funding from Celerity Partners and Ticonderoga Capital. The San Diego-based enrollment and research organization provides inpatient and outpatient clinical research services to pharmaceutical and contract research organizations. www.estudysite.com
Omeros Corp., a Seattle-based drug company, has raised $9 million in private equity and grant funding from the Stanley Medical Research Institute. The capital will be used to further developer Omeros' drug candidate for the treatment of schizophrenia. www.omeros.com
Soasta Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. has raised $2 million in second-round funding led by Canaan Partners. The company develops software tools for the testing, certification and demonstration of SOA-based systems. www.soasta.com