Done deals

Pandora Books, a supplier of book collections to schools, has acquired Badger Publishing from EDCO, the Irish educational publishing division of Smurfit Kappa Group Plc. The acquisition was backed by private equity firm Key Capital Partners, which funded the original MBO of Pandora in April 2008.

London & Stamford Property has acquired One Fleet Place, a prime City of London office building, from Legal & General Assurance Society for £74 million.

Morgan Crucible, a designer, manufacturer and marketer of carbon and ceramic components for applications for a range of markets, has upped its shareholding in NP Aerospace, a composite technical moulding and vehicle integration business serving the defence and civil sectors, by acquiring 11 per cent of the ordinary share capital for £12.2 million.

ITV, through its production business ITV Studios, has taken a 25 per cent stake in Carbon Media, an independent production company, for £1.1 million. lTV Studios will also make a development facility of £150,000 available to Carbon Media for a five-year period.    

Parasol, an employment services firm, has acquired Quay Accounting, a £1.5 million-turnover operation with branches in Poole, Dorset, and Aberdeen as well as Wilmslow. The terms of the deal have not been revealed.

French electricity supplier Electricité de France has officially completed a £12 billion acquisition of British Energy following regulatory approval by the European Commission in December.

Deals in the pipeline

Atlantic Tele-Network has announced that its US rural wireless business, Commnet Wireless, has completed the acquisition of the wireless network assets of CC Communications.

MasterCard, Inc, has announced the acquisition of Orbiscom, a Dublin-based payments services software provider for major financial institutions, for up to $100 million.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, one of Europe’s largest publishing houses, has announced the acquisition of Arden Shakespeare from Cengage Learning. The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

CRH Plc, the international building materials group, today announced 16 acquisitions and investments totalling €273 million (£250 million) undertaken during the second half of 2008. Bringing full year spend to €1 billion.

Through its Spanish subsidiary Agrupació Energías Renovables, RWE Innogy has acquired a 23.75 per cent stake in Explotaciones Eólicas de Aldehuelas, a Spanish wind farm operator. The terms of the deal have not been revealed.

Cardiff-based law firm Morgan Cole will merge with Bristol-based CIP Solicitors, a specialist in the UK insurance sector with particular strengths in large loss and catastrophic injury work.