Fundraising

Armed with its new €5.8bn buyout fund, pan-European LBO house BC Partners has hired Nikos Stathopoulos from Apax and Giampiero Mazza from Englefield.

In its third exit in two months, San Francisco-based Gryphon Investors, along with Crosslink Capital, has sold sales training provider Miller Heiman to private equity firm Leeds Weld, generating a return of more than 5x its initial investment.

The Group, a new United Arab Emirates private equity firm, has been set up to invest AED200m in the region.

The UK mid-market private equity firm has announced changes to its senior management team, with Chris Dowling stepping down as managing partner.

The New York venture capital firm has closed its fifth fund on $675m with limited partners including Goldman Sachs, HarbourVest and Pantheon Ventures.

Days after the official launch of Blackstone’s $11bn fund, BC Partners has closed the largest-ever European buyout fund on “over €5.5bn”.

Doug Kimmelman, one of the major players behind Goldman Sachs’ power investments, will launch a $1bn private equity fund to invest in North American electricity assets.

Despite Carlyle’s recent abandonment of its Russian fundraising effort, Delta Private Equity has held a successful close of a $120m fund dedicated to Russia and Ukraine.

The private equity arm of Credit Suisse First Boston has closed its third secondary fund on $2.4 billion to invest in buyout, venture capital and real estate partnerships.

The US buyout giant has given up its attempts to raise a $300m Russian fund due to lack of investor interest.