Transplace, which is backed by CI Capital, has merged with Celtic International. The deal closed today. Financial terms were not disclosed. However, the combined companies have revenue of more than $1 billion. Dallas-based Transplace is a third party logistics provider, while Celtic, of Tinley Park, Ill., provides provides intermodal and highway brokerage services.

Two restaurant companies owned by Sun Capital Partners Inc. recently filed for bankruptcy, highlighting the risks for the many sponsors that have bought into the cyclical sector in recent months, Buyouts reports in its upcoming issue. Friendly’s Ice Cream Corp. and Real Mex Restaurants Inc. filed for bankruptcy within days of each other, citing a [...]

What stories did your colleagues find to be must-read this past week? Below are the 10 posts that were most popular with regular readers of peHUB:

Miami Shop Eyes $450 Million for Growth Buyouts, by Bernard Vaughan

Arsenal Capital to Reload with Fund III, by Jon Marino

Banned for Life: Catching up with Entrepreneur Noah Kagan, by Connie Loizos

As Froth Makes Comeback, So Does ‘Sudden Wealth Syndrome,’ by Connie Loizos

BrightSource IPO Could Make Big Winners of VantagePoint, DFJ, by Mark Boslet

Welsh Carson Looking for “Toeholds”: Queally, by Bernard Vaughan

CI Capital Raises $620M for Roll-Up Deals, by Steve Bills

Poll Results: Majority Believes White iPhone 4 Will Be Released But Most Would Still Buy iPhone 5, by Luisa Beltran

Tony Roma’s, Known for Its Ribs, is Up for Sale, by Luisa Beltran

Patria, Backed by Blackstone, Seen Smashing $900M target of Fourth Fund, by Luisa Beltran

CI Capital, the investment arm of Egypt’s Commercial International Bank, will launch three new investment funds, it announced, and has three IPOs in the pipeline. The three funds are: a capital protected fund; a bond fund; and a real estate fund. CI has already raised 250 million Egyptian pounds ($44 million) from its debut fund, Hemeya.

(Reuters) – Ply Gem Holdings Inc filed with U.S. regulators on Friday to raise up to $300 million in an initial public offering of common stock. The North Carolina-based company told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a preliminary prospectus that J.P. Morgan Securities, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, UBS Securities and Deutsche Bank were [...]

As usual, we have a week’s worth of ratings actions on the debt of LBO-backed companies from ratings agencies Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s. This week there were two upgrades and a downgrade.

Company: Harrah’s
Sponsor: Apollo Management and TPG
Action: S&P raised its corporate credit and issue-level ratings on the company and its operating subsidiary by one notch. S&P raised the corporate credit rating to ‘B-’ from ‘CCC+’.
Highlight: “The ratings upgrade reflects our assessment that several actions taken by management over the past several quarters have positioned the company with sufficient capacity to weather the current downturn in the gaming sector,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Ben Bubeck.

CI Capital Partners has acquired Transplace, a provider of non-asset-based third party logistics and transportation management services. No financial terms were disclosed. Transplace was founded in 2000 by six U.S. freight carriers, and this year will generate more than $700 million in revenue from approximately 650 customers.

As usual, we have a week’s worth of downgrades PE-backed company debt from Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s. (It’s a day early this week as tomorrow is a holiday.)

This week there are only four, two of which were followed by withdrawals. As these withdrawals — which happen “at the company’s request” — increase, I’m starting to wonder about the ratings agencies (which naturally take their fair share of the blame for the credit crunch). I don’t like the idea that if a company doesn’t like what’s being said about its debt, it can make one phone call to silence the critics. It’d be like a public company dropping an analyst that rates it a “sell.” It’s unfair to debt holders.

CI Capital Partners has agreed to sell Valley National Gases, an Independence, Ohio-based distributor of industrial and medical gases and welding supplies, to Matheson Tri-Gas Inc., a subsidiary of Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp. No financial terms were disclosed.

CI Capital Partners plans to acquire a majority of Ply Gem Industries Inc.’s 9% senior subordinated notes. No financial terms were disclosed. CI is an existing shareholder in Ply Gem, a Cary, N.C.-based maker of products for use in the residential new construction, do-it-yourself and professional renovation markets.