CVC has beaten out other buyout firms, including Madison Dearborn Partners and Providence Equity Partners, in the race to buy AlixPartners from private equity owner Hellman & Friedman, sources tell Reuters.

AlixPartners announced Monday several senior level appointments. David Lovett, MD and leader of AlixPartners’s turnaround & restructuring services for the Europe, Middle East and Asia region, is retiring effective Dec. 31. Donald Featherstone will succeed Lovett and, effective Jan. 1, he will become leader of the turnaround & restructuring services for the EMEA region. Luca Ramella, an AlixPartners MD, was named to the EMEA Operating Committee. Stephen M. “Steve” Deedy was named co-leader of global information management services division, while Patrick M. “Pat” Byrne was hired as an MD and co-leader of the firm’s enterprise improvement division in North America.

AlixPartners has acquired Boston-based consulting firm Mercatus. Terms of the deal were not released. Mercatus advises financial institutions including retail banks, wealth management firms and payments providers on business growth decisions, and advises private equity firms on retail financial services investments, the company said in a written release.

AlixPartners promoted Sanjay Bailur, Joel Bines, David Hewish, Elmar Kades, Francois Neveux, Lorenzo Pietromarchi and Adam Werner to the role of managing directors. The appointments were effective Jan. 1. The global business-advisory firm based in Chicago also promoted 25 to the role of director.

Going public: Oh, thaaat’s why the 2011 IPO projections look so good… Payoff: Many folks wised up and stopped buying Merrill Lynch’s mortgage-backed securities—except for those who were paid to keep buying Payback: the Treasury Dept. scoops up $2.7B from TARP recipients   They’ve got game: gaming companies found plenty of eager investors this year [...]