CVC Capital Partners has agreed to buy Italy’s Cerved from private equity peers Bain Capital and Clessidra for 1.13 billion euros ($1.5 billion), writes Reuters. Cerved is a provider of business credit data and provides information to over 30,000 clients, including 90 percent of Italian banks and more than 80 percent of Italy’s top 1,000 companies.

The private equity owners of Italy’s Avio are pressing ahead with talks to sell the airplane engine parts maker, as a planned listing looks less likely, writes Reuters. Avio is owned by BCV Investments, in which Cinven private equity has a majority stake. A consortium of buyers made up of private equity funds CVC Capital Partners and Clessidra, and state-backed Fondo Strategico Italiano, are now pushing ahead with talks to buy Avio, writes Reuters.

Turnaround and recovery funds of 2001 and 2002 vintage are the money spinners for CalPERs as of its most recent private equity performance report. European-headquartered firms also make up almost half of the top ten performers for CalPERS for this period.

Advent International, Carlyle Group, Charterhouse, Avista and Clessidra all submitted second round bids for Italian drugs company Rottapharm, Reuters reported Thursday. The company is hoping to be valued at up to 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion), Reuters wrote.

Private equity fund Clessidra is dropping plans to bid on RCS MediaGroup‘s $50-million-stake in Italian Internet company Dada, Reuters reported. RCS, the publisher of Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, started due diligence on its 50.7 percent Dada stake in October, Reuters wrote. The Carlyle Group is rumored to be interested in the Dada stake, as are Germany’s United Internet and France’s Digital Virgo, Reuters reported.

LONDON/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Italian private equity firm Clessidra is seeking to sell the Prenergy power station, a project that will be Britain’s largest biomass power plant, Prenergy said on Friday. In an emailed statement, Prenergy told Reuters that Royal Bank of Canada had been hired to handle the sale, and Clessidra wanted to sell the [...]

MILAN (Reuters) – Talks between Italian designer Roberto Cavalli and private equity fund Clessidra over a stake in the fashion house have been broken off, a source close to the matter said on Wednesday. Cavalli, known for his animal print designs and flowing long dresses, told an Italian newspaper in June he had signed a [...]

MILAN (Reuters) – Italian fashion house Prada said on Friday it had turned down an approach by investors interested in buying a minority stake. “There are no discussions to sell a stake in the company even though I cannot deny that there are investors interested in (Prada),” a spokesman said. Last Saturday, Italian business daily [...]

(Reuters) – Italian designer Roberto Cavalli is no longer sure about selling a stake in his fashion house and expects 2009 turnover to be down 12 to 13 percent, he told an Italian newspaper in an interview published on Wednesday. Cavalli, whose bold prints have won him fans among celebrities such as Victoria Beckham and [...]

(Reuters) – Italian designer Roberto Cavalli said he had agreed to sell a minority stake in his fashion house to private equity company Clessidra, business daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported on Thursday. “I am close to signing a preliminary (agreement) for the sale of a minority stake to the Clessidra fund,” Cavalli was quoted [...]