Other Done Deals

• AXA Private Equity has acquired a further 50 per cent in portfolio company The Spotless Group, a producer and distributor of homecare and cleaning products, taking its stake to 65.6 per cent. Source: Private Equity Europe
• New Earth Solutions, a recycling and waste management company, has received a further £4 million from environmental investor Impax Asset Management.

Deals in the Pipeline

• London & Stamford Property has announced that together with its joint venture partner it has exchanged contracts to acquire a 50 per cent interest in the freehold of Meadowhall Shopping Centre from British Land for up to £170 million. The deal values Meadowhall at £1.175 billion and is net of £835 million of existing.
• Thomas Cook Group Plc has announced that it will acquire Lufthansa AG‘s 24.9 per cent stake in Thomas Cook’s German airline Condor through the exercise of the options granted in 2007. The price agreed under the options at that time is €77 million (£67 million), which will be payable in cash at completion.
• Avacta Group Plc, a provider of tools for life science research and molecular diagnostics, has announced the acquisition of YorkTest Veterinary Services, a York-based veterinary laboratory services business, for up to £825,000.
• Greece’s Marfin Investment Group is in talks with the Greek government to buy Olympic Airlines, the ailing state-owned carrier, after an international tender collapsed last week.
• BG Group Plc, a UK conglomerate with a portfolio of exploration and production, liquefied natural gas, transmission and distribution and power generation business interests, has trumped Arrow Energy with an all-cash takeover offer for Pure Energy Resources.
• Volex Group has announced that it has agreed to sell its wiring harness division to Ionix Holdings, a management buyout vehicle led by Bill Taylor, vice president of global operations at Volex, for a nominal sum of £1 payable in cash on completion.
• Telephonetics Plc, the speech recognition and voice automation specialist, has announced the acquisition of Dorset-based Eden Origin, the specialist provider of codeless enterprise application integration, business process management and mashup solutions. The size of the deal has not been disclosed.