Investment banks Deutsche Bank and Mainfirst are placing up to 2 percent in German chemical company Evonik at a fixed price of 32.20 per share, writes Reuters. The shares will be sold exclusively to institutional investors ahead of a public listing planned for Thursday in a private placement on behalf of the RAG foundation, a public-sector trust that will bear the liabilities of Germany’s wound-down coal mines, and private equity group CVC.

Reuters – A debt financing of more than 2 billion euros ($2.62 billion) backing the 3.1 billion euro ($4.06 billion) purchase of German metering firm Ista by private equity firm CVC will be a mix of leveraged loans and high-yield bonds, writes Reuters. CVC trumped rival BC Partners to buy a 76 percent stake from co-owner Charterhouse last week in Germany’s largest private equity deal since 2008, writes Reuters.

Here’s the latest after the weekend including the three-way battle to buyout Dell; the weekly Asian deals update; five ways big data will change your world and a look at who’s who in New England tech and biotech.

Private equity firm CVC is in talks on a bid for Britain’s largest retirement home builder McCarthy & Stone, writes Reuters. The firm is expected to team up with Alan Bowkett, who resigned as McCarthy & Stone chairman last week, to try to buy the company, which is owned by a number of banks and hedge funds.

The $100 billion Teacher Retirement System of Texas is to buy a stake in Formula One racing from the estate of collapsed investment bank Lehman Brothers, writes Reuters. The pension fund will buy a three percent stake in the motor racing business from the Lehman Brothers’ estate in a deal worth about $200 million, writes Reuters. This follows a string of powerful investors that have bought into Formula 1 as owner CVC gradually reduces its stake.

How do private equity firms deal with banks’ reluctance to stump up the money to back buyouts? They become lenders themselves, writes Reuters. Private equity firms ranging from CVC, one of Europe’s largest, to the smaller H.I.G. Capital are filling the vacuum left by retreating European banks, which have slashed leveraged lending by 42 percent to $72 billion so far this year, writes Reuters.

The owners of the AA have hired accountants Ernst & Young to begin work on valuing the 107-year-old motoring services company, writes Reuters. The process could see the AA eventually sold or floated on the stock market for as much as 5 billion pounds ($8.1 billion), writes Reuters. Acromas is backed by Charterhouse, CVC and Permira and was formed in 2007 through a 6.1 billion pound merger of AA and Saga.

Thursday morning we bring you news on AEG’s potential mega deal, Austalia’s CVC boss quitting the firm and the top ten most powerful women in Russia.

Wednesday’s First Read brings you snippets of African, Australian and Indian private equity as well as the latest on CVC’s sale of a 10 percent stake to investors and how to become a venture capitalist.

Euro-denominated buyout funds, which play a prominent role in CPP Investment Board’s portfolio, have provided some solid returns over the years. But there is one player that shines above the rest, according to the Buyouts performance database.