Abacus Finance Group announced Tuesday that it served as joint lead arranger and syndication agent for a senior secured debt financing to support the acquisition of Doss Aviation Inc. by J.F. Lehman & Company. Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Doss Aviation is a provider of critical military aviation support services. J.F. Lehman is a middle-market buyout shop focused on the defense, aerospace and maritime sectors. Terms of the deal were not released.
Buyout shop Apax Partners is paying about 1.6 billion euros ($2.09 billion) to buy the mobile phone operator Orange Switzerland from France Telecom, Reuters reported. Apax said that the deal will be submitted to France Telecom's board in January.
GE Capital, through its bank affiliate GE Capital Financial Inc., announced Tuesday that it was buying MetLife’s U.S. retail deposit business. Terms of the deal were not released. The deal is expected to close in mid-2012.
Equity One Inc. has paid $23.2 million to acquire Old Connecticut Path, a 80,000 square foot shopping center, as part of a joint venture with New York State Common Retirement Fund. Equity One is a developer and operator of shopping centers. New York State Common Retirement Fund has $146.5 billion in assets.
Marc Coucke, the founder and chief executive of Belgian health products distributor
Omega Pharma, has succeeded in a $1.1 billion takeover of the company, Reuters reported. Coucke's investment vehicle, Couckinvest, now owns 91.32% of the company, which sells non-prescription products to pharmacists.
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Reliance Communications, the Indian mobile phone carrier, is in the final stages of talks to sell its tower unit to private equity firms the Carlyle Group and the Blackstone Group, Reuters reported, citing the Times of India. The deal could be worth as much as $4 billion, Reuters reported.
Middle-market private equity firm Gryphon Investors has acquired a majority stake in Riverside, Calif.-based K&N Engineering, a provider of air and oil filtration products for the automobile industry. Terms of the deal were not released.
Sony Corp. is selling its nearly 50% stake in an LCD joint venture with Samsung Electronics to the South Korean company for $940 million, Reuters reported over the weekend. The seven-year-old venture cut its capital by 15% in July and industry sources had said Sony was negotiating an exit, aiming to switch to cheaper outsourcing for flat screens for its TVs while Samsung pushes ahead with next-generation displays, Reuters wrote.
Exor SpA, the investment company of Italy's Agnelli family, has agreed to sell its travel and tourism company unit Alpitour to private equity funds Wise SGR SpA and J. Hirsh & co., Reuters wrote Friday. Terms of the deal were not released.