Troubled Hungarian canned food producer Globus has sold its meat processing unit to Hamé, the largest food group in the Czech Republic. Hamé, acquired by Nordic Partners Food & Beverage in 2008, already operates a unit in Hungary. The addition of the Globus unit is expected to increase the company's Hungarian production by two or three times.

KupiVIP.ru, the Russian online shopping club has a new minority investor in Direct Group, the market expansion firm headed by Pascal Clément. As part of the deal, whose financial details have not been disclosed, Clément will be given a seat on KupiVIP.ru’s Board. Direct Group plans to bring the same industry expertise it utilized in previous portfolio company Ozon.ru, to the table at KupiVIP.ru, hoping to gain up to 3% of the market within the next few years. Other KupiVIP.ru investors include Mangrove Capital Partners, Arlan and ABRT Fund.

U.S. based private equity firm CCMP Capital Advisors is poised to sell its only Central European asset, Nowaco Central Europe. CCMP is looking to get roughly EUR 250 million for the Czech frozen food distributer, it paid EUR 90 million for the company in a joint purchase with Bancroft Private Equity from Denmark's Nowaco A/S in 2005. Bancroft is also seeking to sell its stake in Nowaco.

A new seed fund designed to aid Russian start-ups is on the horizon as Russian Venture Company (RVK) refocuses its investments to better support Russian technology companies. RVK publicly announced, through the firm's General Director, the establishment of a new seed fund valued at RUB 2 billion.

Penta Investments, one of the leading investment groups in Central Europe is continuing its aggressive approach in the region by acquiring Polish wire and rope producer Fabryka Lin i Drutu Drumet. The Polish Economic Court has accepted the Penta bid of PLN 120 million for Drumet, which was already involved in bankruptcy proceedings.

Mid Europa Partners, the owner of Danish molding and casting company DISA Group, has announced the completion of a merger between DISA and another portfolio company, Wheelabrator. Wheelabrator is an international company operating in the metal surface preparation field.

In 2008 Arx Equity Partners acquired commercial textile manufacturer Lanex a.s., and Singing Rock s.r.o. Now the companies are near completion of a merger that also includes BWA Czech a.s.; the conclusion of which will come when the new corporation is added to the Commercial Register on June 1st. Lanex a.s. will be the operating name of the new company while Singing Rock will continue development, marketing, and manufacture of its products under the current brand name. Structurally, Singing Rock will operate as a strategic business unit of Lanex.

Yuri Milner, founding partner and CEO of Digital Sky Technologies (DST), has recently put forth the possibility of his company offering an IPO within the next three years. Specific dates have not been mentioned since market conditions will play a big role in the decision when the time comes. The company was recently valued at roughly $1 billion when Russia's Alisher Usmanov purchased a 2% share of DST from Renaissance Partners.

The majority shareholder of Romanian insurance firm ARDF is poised to delist it from the RASDAQ market after acquiring what remains of the company's shares. Generali PPF plans a public offer for mandatory takeover of ARDF, at a cost of up to RON 21.58 million. The outstanding shares amount to 18% of the total, or 196,206,286 shares.

Icon Private Equity, a Russian based investment firm, is preparing to invest in bringing internet access to some of Russia's most remote areas. The plan to build and develop WiMax networks covers 11 regions including Leningrad and Moscow, and is expected to cost Icon around USD 200 million. The network is set to begin commercial operations by the 3rd quarter of 2009, with a customer base made up mostly of individual subscribers and small to medium-sized businesses.