Barry Whyte

EQT, a Swedish private equity firm, is trying to off-load German cable operator Kabel Baden-Wuerttemberg, either by a sale or a public listing, according to Reuters. EQT bought Kabel BW from Blackstone in April 2006 for about 1.3 billion euros ($1.8 billion). It has pumped a further 500 million euros ($696.2 million) in network expansion.

Bankhause Lampe and LGT could end up in a bidding war for Frankfurt-based BHF, which is being sold by Deutsche Bank. Deutsche inherited BHF as part of its 1 billion euro ($1.39 billion) takeover of Sal Oppenheim. According to reports, LGT may join forces with private equity firm Apollo. BHP is expected to go for around $300 million, half of its $650 million value, because of the amount of restructuring needed.

Silver Lake, a private equity firm based in California, has invested in Nobao Renewable Energy Holdings, a Chinese energy efficiency company. The financial details of the deal were not revealed.

Shares in Citadel Capital, the Egyptian private equity firm, rose in early trading the day after the firm suggested that it could launch an IPO for one or two of its portfolio companies. The IPOs would be in the region of $175 million to $250 million and could happen in the next year to two years. Citadel, founded in 2004, controls investments worth $8.3 billion.

The African Development Bank has invested $15 million in Catalyst Fund, a private equity fund based in Kenya which invests in consumer goods, services, and agribusiness in the East Africa Community.

Cardinal Asset Management has been selected by the Irish government as one of the final two bidders for state-owned building society EBS. Bancassurer Irish Life & Permanent is the other bidder. Doughty Hanson and JC Flowers had also bid for the building society, but failed to get through to the last round.

Ventas, an American real-estate investment trust will pay private equity funds managed by Lazard Real Estate Partners $1.5 billion for the real estate assets of Atria Senior Living Group. The deal makes Ventas the largest U.S. owner for senior housing communities. Ventas is to pay $150 million in cash and 25 million shares of its common stock (worth $1.35 billion) for the 118 housing communities, and it takes on $1.6 billion of Atria’s debt.

Caterpillar Inc, the construction and mining equipment company, has bought MWM Holding GmbH from private equity firm 3i for EUR580 million ($810 million) in cash. MWM is involved in developing combustion engines for natural gas, diesel and special gases. 3i will generate a 2.2x return on its investment.

Betfair, the world’s largest online betting website, has launched an initial public offering of shares on the main market of the London Stock Exchange which, at a share price of 13 pounds ($20.41), values the company at 1.39 billion pounds ($2.18 billion). Betfair was initially funded by European venture capital firm Balderton, which sold a large part of its stake to Japanese holding company Softbank, which paid £355 million ($554 million). Softbank currently owns 23% of Betfair while Balderton holds a 7% stake.

China’s CNOOC and Ghana National Petroleum Corp have made a higher bid than Exxon Mobil for the assets of Kosmos Energy LLC, including a stake in the Jubilee field. CNOOC and GNPC bid $5 billion, compared to the $4 billion Exxon bid, for the assets, which are currently owned by private equity firms Blackstone and Warburg Pincus.