Some hoped that December would bring a jump in M&A but so far that hasn’t turned out. The value of U.S. M&A dropped 21% this week, while PE-backed mergers plunged 69%.

Trivest Capital is out marketing a fifth fund targeting $325 million.

Charlesbank Capital Partners has sponsored a recapitalization of Tulsa-based cedar distributor Cedar Creek, in exchange for a majority ownership position. ClearRidge Capital advised Cedar Creek on the deal. No financial terms were disclosed.

Sponsor-to-sponsor deals aren’t always popular, but they’re certainly in vogue right now.

The first quarter of this year saw a surge in sponsor-to-sponsor, or secondary buyouts, in which one private equity firm sells a portfolio company to another private equity firm (or group of firms). Data provider Preqin reports 24 such transactions last quarter worth $7 billion in deal value, compared to just $5.1 billion for 43 deals in all of 2009. And this doesn’t even include a rash of transactions announced today (see below).

What’s driving the activity? First, private equity pros are desperate to do deals. Despite everyone’s peacocking that ’08 and ’09 were “the best investing opportunities of our lives,” most buyout pros were all talk. The deal volume speaks for itself-PE pros were largely on the sidelines during

Late last week the private equity investment firm of Thomas H. Lee announced it acquired Papa Murphy’s, a chain of franchise-operated pizza stores. The deal value is approximately $180 million, according to Deal Journal. It represents a 10x Ebitda multiple, if you go with the $18 million Ebitda figure peHUB reported in January. To demonstrate [...]

The M&A market is tepid at best, but the auction for Papa Murphy’s International Inc., a cold pizza chain owned by Charlesbank Capital Partners, is heating up. The company hired North Point Advisors in November to shop the restaurant; first round bids are expected by month’s end. The M&A market is viewing Papa Murphy’s as [...]

Charlesbank Capital Partners has closed its seventh fund with $1.5 billion in capital commitments. The Boston-based firm focuses on mid-market LBOs, management buyouts and growth equity transactions. It previously raised $1 billion for its sixth fund in 2005.

Southcross Energy LLC, a Dallas-based natural gas transportation and processing company, has agreed to buy the Mississippi, Alabama and South Texas assets of Crosstex Energy LP (Nasdaq: XTEX). The deal is valued at $220 million. Southcross Energy is a portfolio company of Charlesbank Capital Partners.

Standard & Poor’s has cut the corporate rating of Bankruptcy Management Solutions Inc. from B- to CCC+, and also downgraded part of the company’s debt. BMS is an Irvine, Calif.-based provider of hardware and support services to bankruptcy trustees and certain other fiduciaries. It was acquired in 2006 by Charlesbank Capital Partners.

Charlesbank Capital Partners has acquired Tecomet, a Wilmington, Mass.-based contract manufacturer of complex components for the medical device and aerospace industries. No financial terms were disclosed. The seller was Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH).