Dealwatch: Middle market

April 8 - Dealscape blog (The Deal) - Midmarket dealmakers have kicked off April with a flurry of news, from record-breaking new funds and investments to deals for small, well-known companies:

• TPG unveiled April 8 an $800 million investment in Russian pharmaceutical distributor SIA International, said to be the biggest-ever PE investment in a Russian company.
• April 7, Advent International said it had raised a $10.4 billion global fund, which it called the largest-ever focused on the midmarket.
• The same day, Neilsen Co. revealed it had bagged IAG Research Inc. for $225 million, and Discover Financial Services said it would pay Citigroup Inc. $165 million for Diners Club International.

And in an April 7 Special Report, The Deal profiled several "Faces of the middle market," or "more than a dozen personalities, many of which recall an era when folks rolled up their sleeves, got their hands dirty and didn't rely on debt to do the job for them." Read More.