Silver Lake Partners announced that it is leading a $1.6 billion investment in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, alongside DST Capital, Yunfeng Capital and existing Alibaba shareholder Temasek. The deal is designed as a tender offer to provide liquidity for Alibaba employees, and values the company at approximately $32 billion. Read more…
Backyard Discovery, a portfolio company of Baird Private Equity, has acquired Classic Manor, a builder of wooden sheds. No financial terms were disclosed. www.classicmanor.com
Tillery Capital has recapitalized Venture Technology Groups Inc., a Farmington Hills, Mich.-based specialty flow control product distributing and engineering company. No financial terms were disclosed.www.venturegroups.com
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
Permira has agreed to acquire up to a 61% stake in Netafim Ltd., an Israeli maker of irrigation systems. No financial terms were disclosed, but Reuters reports that the deal values Netafim at approximately $1 billion. Sellers include Markstone Capital. www.permira.com
Powervar Holdings LLC, a portfolio company of Pfingsten Partners, has acquired Oneac Corp. from Emerson. No financial terms were disclosed. Oneac is a Libertyville, Ill.-based maker of power quality products for power conditioning and protection against line disturbances and outages. No financial terms were disclosed. www.oneac.com
USI Insurance Services, a portfolio company of GS Capital Partners, has acquired the assets of First Place Insurance Agency Ltd., a Youngstown, Ohio-based mid-market insurance brokerage, from First Place Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: FPFC). No financial terms were disclosed. USI also said that it has signed a marketing agreement with First Place Financial that should be worth $3.6 million in revenue annually.
Warburg Pincus and Vestar Capital Partners have acquired International Asset Systems from the Pritzker family (which will retain a minority interest). IAS is an Oakland, Calif.-based provider of intermodal web-based applications and brokerage services. www.warburgpincus.com
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
The Gores Group has agreed to acquire Alpheus Communications, a Houston-based fiber optic and data center operator, from Genesis Park and El Paso Corp. No financial terms were disclosed. www.goresgroup.com
AssuredPartners Inc., a Lake Mary, Fla.-based portfolio company of GTCR, has acquired Neace Lukens, a Louisville, Ky.-based private insurance broker. No financial terms were disclosed. www.assuredptr.com
HealthWyse, a Wilmington, Mass.-based provider of clinical and financial software to home healthcare and hospice providers, has raised an undisclosed amount of growth equity funding from Housatonic Partners. www.healthwyse.com
PeerApp Ltd., a Newton, Mass.-based provider of Internet caching and content delivery platforms has raised an undisclosed amount of group equity funding. Summit Partners led the round, and was joined by firms like Cedar Fund, Evergreen Partners and Pilot House Ventures Group. The company previously raised over $11 million. www.peerapp.com
Summit Partners has acquired a majority stake in CareCentrix, an East Hartford, Conn.-based provider of home health benefits management services to the managed care industry, from Water Street Healthcare Partners. No financial terms were disclosed. Water Street will retain a minority equity position. www.carecentrix.com
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) shareholders have approved a $45 per share, or $1.64 billion, acquisition offer from Providence Equity Partners. www.blackboard.com
Accel-KKR has acquired a majority stake in Infinisource Inc., a Coldwater, Mich.–based provider of benefits administration technology and services. No financial terms were disclosed. www.infinisource.com
Investcorp has acquired a majority stake in Sur La Table, a Seattle-based kitchenware retailer with 86 locations. Sellers Freeman Spogli & Co. and the Behnke family will retain minority positions.www.surlatable.com
SunGard has agreed to acquire Syntesys, a France-based SWIFT service bureau, for an undisclosed amount. SunGard is owned by seven private equity firms, while Syntesys is backed by CM-CIC Capital Prive. www.sungard.com
Ventizz Capital has acquired a majority stake in Thomas-Krenn AG, a German provider of server technologies and hosting services. No financial terms were disclosed. www.ventizz.com
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
The Blackstone Group and Prestige Brands (NYSE: PBH) have partnered on a bid for the consumer drug portfolio of GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK), according to Dow Jones. Other bidders include Bain Capital, while Goldman Sachs is managing the process. GSK is hoping the portfolio will be valued at between £1.5 billion and £2 billion. www.blackstone.com
Aspen Manufacturing, a Humble, Texas-based maker of air conditioning coils, has secured a minority equity investment from Houston-based Pummerin Investments. www.aspenmfg.com
First Reserve Corp. has acquired Amromco Energy, a Houston-based oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Romania. No financial terms were disclosed. www.firstreserve.com
