Vision Capital has acquired Vitopel from funds advised by DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and J.P. Morgan Partners. Vitopel is a producer of BOPP (bi-axially oriented polypropylene) film in Latin America, generating over $300 million of revenue in 2011. As part of the transaction, Vision Capital completed a debt restructuring led by Vitopel’s existing creditors, Credit [...]

Private equity firm Warburg Pincus will buy DLJ Merchant Banking Partners’ Total Safety, a provider of outsourced safety and compliance solutions to clients requiring education and training. Specifics of the deal were not publicized. Total Safety is based in Houston, Texas. PRESS RELEASE: Warburg Pincus to Acquire Total Safety HOUSTON, Sep 07, 2011 Total Safety, [...]

Nestle Health Science, a subsidiary of Nestle SA, will buy specialty pharmaceutical and diagnostic company Prometheus Laboratories Inc. for an undisclosed amount, the company announced Tuesday. Prometheus is focused on developing science-based nutritional solutions for medical conditions. The company had raised funding from investors including DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, SPVC, Sprout Group, Apax Partners, Pamlico Capital and Brentwood Venture Capital.

Were you sniffing about the economy last year? You must have been among the seemingly select few who didn’t sell their startup in 2010. According to new exit data published by peHUB parent Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association, last year saw more venture-backed M&A exits since people began recording this kind of thing in 1985. According to their findings, 420 deals were sewn up last year, roughly 18 percent of them IT-based.

A notoriously slow period of deal-making, even 2010′s fourth quarter was pretty good for M&A, with 88 venture-backed M&A deals reported as of December 31. Combined, the average disclosed deal value in the fourth quarter was $157.7 million, with HealthSpring’s acquisition of Bravo Health winning biggest venture-backed deal in the quarter. (It was apparently a win for investors, too. Bravo Health sold for $545 million. Backers including New Enterprise Associates and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners had sunk $157 million into the healthcare services company since its 1996 founding.)

Swiss drug maker Nycomed has acquired a majority stake in the Chinese pharmaceutical company Guangdong Techpool Bio-Pharma, Reuters reported. Nycomed paid roughly $210 million for a 51.34% stake in the Guangdong-based company. Zurich-based Nycomed is owned by four private equity firms: Nordic Capital, Credit Suisse’s DLJ Merchant Banking, Coller International Partners and New York-based Avista Capital Partners.

All that dry powder is driving up multiples for industrial deals.

Before the go-go days of 2006, industrial firms were selling for 6.5x to 7.5x EBITDA. The credit-fueled buyout craze then caused multiples to surge to 8.5x to 9.5x EBITDA for industrial companies that were worth only 7x, before the credit crunch made multiples irrelevant (no deals, no multiples).

Today, PE firms are back shopping for deals and industrial companies are selling for inflated multiples, roughly 8.5x to 9.5x EBITDA, an East Coast private equity pro told me earlier today.

DLJ Merchant Banking Partners is prepping portfolio company Total Safety U.S. for a sale, multiple sources tell peHUB.

Before continuing, it is important to note that those sources do not include either DLJMB or Total Safety CEO David Fanta, who strenuously denied sale plans. “We’re owned by private equity, so obviously there will a deal at some point,” Fanta said. “But it’s not happening right now.”

So we have a case of “they said, they said.” Pretty typical, although on-the-record denials about such things are fairly unusual (we considered spiking the story, but then got independent confirmation from an additional source).

TowerBrook Capital Partners yesterday announced that it has partnered with John Janitz and Dom Schiano to explore investments in the industrial and related sectors.

The pair previously served as “industry partners” with DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, and remain listed on the DLJMB website. Also still listed is fellow industry partner Scott Marden, who left two months ago to join Compass Partners (along with a couple of principals).

All of this should serve as a reminder that DLJMB is nowhere near raising a new fund. It’s still investing out of a $2.1 billion vehicle that closed in Q3 2006, and which has less than $150 million left in uncommitted capital (following a recent $165m infusion info Swiss smart metering co. Landis+Gyr).

Landis+Gyr, a Switerland-based provider of electricity metering and smart meter solutions, has raised $165 million in private equity funding led by DLJ Merchant Banking Partners.

As usual, we have a week’s worth of ratings actions on the debt of LBO-backed companies by Moody’s Investors Service Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services.

Company: Rafaella Apparel Group
Sponsor: Cerberus Capital Management LP
Action: S&P lowered its corporate credit rating on Rafaella to ‘CC’ from ‘CCC’ and its issue-level rating on the senior secured notes to ‘C’ from ‘CCC-’.
Highlight: The company commenced a modified Dutch auction tender offer to purchase up to 51% of its outstanding 11.25% senior secured notes due 2011.