Ashford Hospitality purchases the Pier House Resort for US$90 million cash. The Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. announced today that it has already inked a final contract to purchase the Pier House Resort and Caribbean Spa in Key West, Florida that has 142 rooms for an estimated amount of US$90 million cash.

Darby's DLAMF II invests US$15 million in Alta Rail Technology. Darby Private Equity, the equity unit of Franklin Templeton Investments, had announced that it has completed an investment wortth US$15 million in Alta Rail Technology.

MaRS welcomes Salim Teja as ICE Sector Program Managing Director. In an announcement from the MaRS Discovery District, it was happy to disclose the appointment Salim Teja as the ICE Sector Program's Managing Director.

Granite Partners invests in SIM Digital which in turn uses the investment to purchase PS Production.

OMERS acquires Civica from 3i for GBP390 million. The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System's private equity investment unit OMERS Private Equity has completed the purchase of Civica from private equity firm 3i.

Comvest Partners with Kayne Anderson opens a US$24 million loan facility for SCG Financial Acquisition.

Quicksilver Resources withdraws its IPO because of weak natural gas liquid prices. In a bittersweet move, Quicksilver Resources has withdrawn its IPO plans because of weak natural gas liquid prices.

Octopus leads funding round for TrialReach totalling GBP2 million. In an announcement today by Octopus, it disclosed that it headed the growth finances round of TrialReach by GBP2 million.

Additional financing was obtained by FoodPanda for its delivery services. The Berlin based online food delivery business, Foodpanda, was able to obtain a US$20 million additional funding as reported by Reuters.

Canopus and Transentia joined by Alacrita to form a new company. The consulting firm on transatlantic life science, Alacrita combined the expertise of two consulting firms on life science performance and named Dr.