Fundraising

The PEI 50, a new ranking from Private Equity International magazine, reveals The Carlyle Group has the largest private equity direct-investment programme in the world, having raised $32.5 billion in the last five years.

Teachers’ Private Capital, the private equity arm of the Canadian pension, has launched its first foothold outside of Toronto with a London office led by Andrew Claerhout.

Film producers Harvey and Joel Weinstein’s company has reportedly teamed up with Goldman Sachs to set up a $285m Asian film fund, which will finance some leading Asian cinematic talent.

Nordic buyout firm Industri Kapital has achieved a 3.5 times return on its investment by selling veterinary laboratory Ceva Santé Animale to a private equity consortium.

The US private equity community has contributed substantial sums to the ever-expanding war chests of the US presidential hopefuls. Republican candidate Mitt Romney, the co-founder of Bain Capital, has predictably been the most generously supported.

Quadrant Private Equity has closed an A$500 million fund for investment in the Australasian mid-market, after recently completing its first deal from the fund.

UK-based Coller Capital has closed a $4.5 billion secondaries fund, the biggest ever raised. The fund was nonetheless substantially over-subscribed.

US mobile phone service provider MetroPCS has raised $1.15 billion in its initial public offering – the largest amount raised so far by a US IPO this year and an exit for which some of its investors waited more than a decade.

Camcor Partners has closed a $200 million venture capital fund, which will invest in the oil sands business.

Venture capital firm TVM Capital has backed two firms in the space of a week, investing $20 million in a UK submarine company and $12 million in a US-based media services group.