ZIO Studios, a Bogota, Colombia-based animation and gaming studios, added Diego Angel, videogame pioneer whose company was acquired by Rockstar Games, to its board of directors. ZIO has a team of over 65 creative and technical staff members and is made up of 3 studios: BRAINZ, its games and new media unit; STORYZ, its TV/Film animation production house; and MOMPOZT, its post-production and visual effects shop.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Toronto, Canada-based Algorithmics for $387m, subject to price adjustments at closing. Algorithmics provides banks, investment and insurance businesses with risk analytics software, content and advisory services designed to help assess risk, address regulatory requirements and make more insightful business decisions. Algorithmics is a member of Fitch Group, which is majority owned by Fimalac, a holding company based in Paris.
GE Capital, Healthcare Financial Services announced has closed, as administrative agent, $115m in senior secured credit facilities for Avon, Connecticut-based Evolution1 (formerly Evolution Benefits, Inc.), a portfolio company of Genstar Capital, LLC. The financing was used to recapitalize Genstar’s acquisition of Evolution Benefits and support the company’s acquisition of Lighthouse1, LLC. Evolution1 and its partners ia a large electronic payment, on-premise and cloud computing healthcare solution that administers reimbursement accounts, including HSAs, HRAs, FSAs, VEBAs, Wellness and Transit Plans.
CSN Stores, an online shopping site carrying a large selection of home products as rebrande as Wayfair.com. The rebranding follows the company’s $165m first round of funding from Battery Ventures, Great Hill Partners, HarbourVest Partners and Spark Capital (read here). It is hiring and plans to hire as many as 200 additional people by year’s end, bringing the total number to more than 1,000 (http://www.Wayfair.com/careers).
President Scott Thompson announced on the company’s blog that Former Visa executive Rupert Keeley is joining PayPal to run Asia Pacific operations. Keeley will help PayPal expand the team and enhance relationships with key customers and partners across the region.