Graham Partners has acquired Universal Cold Storage and Universal Pasteurization Co., both based in Lincoln, Nebraska, to form UCS & UPC Holdings Co. Financial terms were not announced. The seller was Universal founder and CEO John Jacobson. The investment is Graham's first in the food processing technology space. Jeffrey Legath, Henry Nassau, Sarah Gelb, Sean Porter, Brad Pollack and Jonathan Stott of Dechert provided legal advice to Graham Partners.
Warburg Pincus has agreed to make a majority investment in CROSSMARK. Financial terms were not announced. Company management will have a "significant" equity position. Plano, Texas-based CROSSMARK is a sales and marketing services company in the consumer goods industry. BofA Merrill Lynchadvised CROSSMARK, while Slava Leykind and Fuad Sawaya of Sawaya Segalas provided financial advice to Warburg.
Markel Corp. said Wednesday that it has agreed to buy Alterra Capital Holdings for about $3.13 billion. Each Alterra common share will be converted into the right to receive 0.04315 Markel common shares plus $10 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2013. Markel will end up owning 69% of the combined company wile Alterra will have about 31%. Alterra, a reinsurer, is backed by Stone Point Capital. Citigroup advised Markel while BofA Merrill Lynch provided financial advice to Alterra.
Synteract, which is backed by Gryphon Investors, has agreed to buy Harrison Clinical Research. Financial terms were not announced. Munich, Germany-based Harrison is a clinical research company.
Tengrap Capital Partners, the Connecticut-based private equity firm concentrating on retail and consumer brands, will invest in Laura Geller Beauty, a cosmetic brand developed by makeup artist Laura Geller. Specifics of the deal were not publicized.
JAM Distributing Co., a distributor of lubricants, fuel and other products, has been acquired by North Carolina-based private equity firm Ridgemont Equity Partners. Specifics on the deal were not publicized. JAM is based in Houston.
Frontier Capital has exited its investment in Azaleos Corporation, a provider of managed email, collaboration and unified communications services. The company was acquired by Avanade, a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation. Terms were not disclosed. Azaleos is based in Seattle.
LaSalle Capital Group is putting an undisclosed amount into Impex Global, a distributor of specialized films used in the packaging industry. The Company's founder and CEO, Ash Shah, will continue to lead Impex, the company said. Terms of the investment were not released. Impex is based in Houston.
Russian state technology firm Rusnano, alongside a group of investors, is investing $93 million in three U.S.-based pharmaceutical firms to develop drugs to treat illnesses such as epilepsy, Reuters reported Wednesday. Rusnano is making the investment with U.S. venture capital fund Domain Associates and other investors. Rusnano partnered with Domain in March with plans to invest around $760 million in U.S. healthcare and parmaceutical firms to bring new drugs to the Russian market.
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Inc. on Wednesday said there were "numerous issues" with a supposed takeover offer from PST Capital Group Ltd., revealed in a securities filing, Reuters wrote. Rocky Mountain said it received a letter from PST with the address on the envelope handwritten. It was addressed to the chairman of the board, whose name was misspelled. Furthermore, Rocky Mountain said the return address listed a law firm that, when contacted, said it did not represent PST.