EVCA has published a draft code of conduct for placement agents, setting out standards of behaviour and best practice among those who advise on fundraising processes.

Sweden has used the first day of its six-month EU presidency to launch a defence of the private equity and hedge fund asset classes.

The volume of private equity investments in the UK will pick up in the next 12 months, according to a recent survey of industry executives.

Matrix Private Equity Partners has sold Tottel Publishing for £10m (€11.5m), generating a four-times return on its investment.

Current shareholder Investor Growth Capital has acquired 90 per cent of Stockholm-based Projectplace International, alongside new investors Via Venture Partners and InnovationsKapital.

Wellington Partners and Vinci Capital-Renaissance PME have co-led a CHF23m funding round in Swiss medtech group Symetis.

European and Israeli cleantech companies raised $259m (€184m) in 30 disclosed rounds in the second quarter of the year.

Banks are close to reaching an agreement to take control of Apax Partners-backed business-to-business publisher Incisive Media in a debt-for-equity swap.

Gala Coral Group, the debt-laden gaming company backed by Candover, Cinven and Permira, is to shed up to 200 back-office staff in a latest round of cost-cutting measures.

Interest in Springer Science & Media, the German media company owned by Candover and Cinven, has cooled following first-round bids for the company.