The 451 Group, the New York-based parent of 451 Research and Uptime Institute, has announced it is acquiring the research, data, and advisory firm Yankee Group from the Boston-based private equity firm Alta Communications. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

Alta Communications, which failed to raise a new fund four years ago, has lost Partner Wayne Mack, who has formed Stratus Media Holdings.

UBM Medica has sold the Consultant Print Group to HMP Communications. Financial terms were not announced. HMP’s investors include Alta Communications and Susquehanna Private Equity Investments. News of the deal was announced by Berkery Noyes which advised UBM.

CombineNet, a Pittsburgh-based provider of sourcing and optimization technologies, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Alta Communications.

Yankee Group, a Boston-based market research company, has raised $10 million in new private equity funding from majority shareholder Alta Communications. The capital will be used to support ” the strategic expansion of its research on the impact of global connectivity.”

Bluewater Broadcasting LLC, a Montgomery, Ala.-based radio broadcaster backed by Alta Communications, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company has between $10 million and $50 million in liabilities. www.altacomm.com

Robert Emmert has joined McCarthy Capital as a partner, and head of the Omaha-based firm’s Boston office. He previously was a general partner with Alta Communications.

Alta Communications and Mustang Group have acquired Mr. Youth, a New York–based social marketing agency. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which was facilitated by AdMedia Partners.

The big surprise from my evening with a group of middle market buyout pros assembled by Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business and Management was that two out of the three had discussed launching debt funds. Something like a quarter of all middle market buyout deals done are financed by GE Capital, the panelists told nearly [...]