Austria's EK Mittelstandsfinanzierungs AG (EK Fin) has acquired a 15% stake in Transfer Industries Ltd., a holding company which owns the majority share of Global Hydro Energy GmbH. EK Fin cited the booming renewable energy market in Europe, as well as Global Hydro's recent growth, as reasons to add the company to its portfolio.

Already the Ukraine's largest investor with more than €4.2 billion committed to 194 projects, the EBRD has agreed to provide a substantial loan to LLC Ergop

Swiss cloud computing firm Parallels has received a new round of venture capital as at least two investors bought in to an industry which is expected to reach USD 44.2 billion within the next several years. Russia Partners, a subsidiary of emerging market investor Siguler Guff & Co., was joined by Bessemer Venture Partners of New York in acquiring a minority stake. Bessemer has been an investor in Parallels since 2005.

Looking to the future of Vitalux as an attractive acquisition in the pharmaceutical industry, Euroventures Ukraine Fund (EUF) II is standing behind the Ukrainian pharmacy chain as it expands its presence in Kyiv. The Vitalux expansion includes 14 new stores on Kyiv's western bank as well as the assimilation of current pharmacies operating under different brand names into the Vitalux family.

Daimler AG recently announced it has begun the process to strengthen its position and role KAMAZ, the Russian truck and bus manufacturer in which it already owns a 10% interest. Daimler has teamed up with the EBRD and signed a memorandum of understanding to purchase a 5% stake currently owned by Troika Dialog. Under terms of the proposal, the deal would be completed as two transactions; Daimler would acquire 1% with the EBRD getting the remaining 4%.

Mail.ru co-owners Digital Sky Technologies (DST) and Naspers appear to be engaged in talks that could result in a merger of the two companies' social networking holdings in Poland. Russian-based DST owns a 75% stake in Nasza-Klasa.pl while the South African-based Naspers owns the Gadu Gadu instant messaging service.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has approved a €50 million investment for Mezzanine Management Central Europe Limited's new eastern European fund, Accession Mezzanine Capital III. The two have a well-established relationship having worked together on the earlier AMC I & II funds. The EBRD's commitment to the corporate sector in the CEE region has been demonstrated over the years through total investments in excess of €2.5 billion.

Upon acquiring Czech opthalmology company Lexum Group last year, ARX Equity Partners pledged to work with Lexum founder Marc Filipec to expand the company within Central and Eastern Europe. Holding to that pledge Lexum recently announced the acquisition of Intermedica, a leading player in Poland's opthalmology clinic market, for an undisclosed price.

Citing the burgeoning global market for disposable medical devices, Istanbul's RHEA Investments has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Turkish medical manufacturer SETA Medical Products. The deal, to be transacted through RHEA's Vakif Girisim venture capital fund, values SETA at approximately USD 4.6 million.

Almaz Capital Partners has made an investment in Russian online game producer Alawar, making it the second Russian games sector deal in the last month after the Mangrove and ABRT funding of Drimmi. Through its Russia Fund I, Almaz has acquired 23% of Alawar at a cost of about USD 3 million; 15% was purchased from Finam Capital Partners and the remaining 8% from business angel investor Alexander Katalov. Finam's original investment in Alawar amounted to USD 1 million in 2007 while the company's valuation has increased 1200% since then.