Done deals:

• Palmer Harvey and McLane has added to its wholesale operations after swallowing rival T&A Symonds for undisclosed terms
• Insurance broking and risk management firm THB Group has bolstered its operations with the purchase of software developer and online risk assessment firm Cardinus for an initial £2.84 million
• Employee benefits consultancy PIFC Consulting has been bought by financial advisers Thinc Group, part of the AXA Group, for undisclosed terms
• Chilled beverage and snack vending machines distributor The Vending Corporation has undergone a management buy-out, backed by £2 million from investment bank Beringea’s ProVen and ProVen Growth & Income VCTs
• Book publisher Quarto has bagged US-based publisher and distributor MBI Publishing Company for $12.5 million (£6.2 million)
• Car component supplier Fuel Parts UK has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms
• Vision Colour Print has been forced into administration through Grant Thornton with the loss of 54 jobs at the printing business
• Cargo handling firm RMS Group has been snapped up by its management for £20 million, in a deal backed by venture capitalists YFM and PIF
• Northacre, in a joint venture with Minerva, has acquired property investor LLH Limited Partnership for a nominal £5

Deals in the pipeline:

• The Fisher Engineering company is to be gobbled up by rival Severfield-Rowan, the UK’s largest structural steel group, for £90 million
• Gaming Portals, a software developer to the Internet gaming market, is to acquire gaming portal casino.co.uk from the Media Corporation for about £3 million
• CD and DVD retailer ChoicesUK is to go into administration through PricewaterhouseCoopers, jeopardising the future of the firm’s 1,700 staff
• J Sainsbury is set to acquire a 400,000 sq ft distribution centre from fellow supermarket chain Morrisons for £22 million
• LLH Limited Partnership is set to tie-up an acquisition of the Leinster House Hotel for £20.25 million cash by October this year