Brad Meikle

Emerging-market focused private equity firm Abraaj Group has closed a $990 million sub-Saharan Africa fund, its third in the region, the firm said on Monday, Reuter reported.

The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec plans to commit billions of dollars more to direct deals in the years ahead, signalling a continuing shift in strategy for one of the world’s largest private equity investors.

Global clean energy investment in the first quarter of this year fell to its lowest quarterly level for two years, as large deals slowed in China, Europe and Brazil, research showed on Friday, Reuters reported.

Real estate investment trust Excel Trust Inc said it would be bought by Blackstone Property Partners LP, part of Blackstone Group LP, for about $2 billion in cash, Reuters reported.

Private equity houses Abraaj Group and TPG have completed their investment in Saudi Arabian fast-food chain Kudu, Abraaj said in a statement on Thursday.

General Electric Co is nearing a deal to sell practically all of its $30 billion real estate portfolio to a consortium led by Blackstone Group and Wells Fargo & Co, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Cirque du Soleil is in advanced talks with two private equity consortia about selling a majority stake in what is the largest theatrical production company in the world, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Apollo Global Management is in talks to expand its business into the Middle East for the first time through a joint venture with a local investment firm, three sources aware of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

Striding confidently through Matty’s Toy Stop in Manhasset, N.Y., Catie Tepedino, 7, is the sort of consumer who may hold the fate of the U.S. toy business in her own little fists, Reuters reported.

A retired U.S. Army colonel has agreed to plead guilty to negotiating a job with financier Lynn Tilton’s private equity firm while also taking steps to ensure a helicopter company it controlled got paid faster by the Department of Defense.