Canadian private equity firm Kilmer Sports Ventures in talks with French football club Kilmer Sports has entered exclusive negotiations with shareholders to acquire AS Saint-Etienne, a French professional football club. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Read more.

Blackstone-led consortium mulls deal for Indian Haldiram’s Haldiram's, which runs 150 restaurants in India as well as a popular snacking business, is in talks to sell a $8.5bn stake to a group of investors including Blackstone, Singapore state fund GIC and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Read more.

Graphite Capital sells Compass Community to Cap10 Partners Graphite Capital has announced the sale of Compass Community, which provides fostering services and children's residential care. Compass has significantly expanded under Graphite's ownership. Read more.

SCP acquires majority stake in premium chocolate business Spire Capital Partners has taken a majority stake in Chocolissimo, a premium chocolate confectionery business. Chocolissimo specialises in personalised chocolate gifts. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Read more.

Punch reports ‘encouraging’ trading The Fortress Investment Group-backed pub group has reported strong trading for the third quarter, with profitability ahead of the prior year. For the 28 weeks to 25 February, total revenue was £165.1m, compared to £158.1m in the prior year period. Read more.

Private equity firms consider Peloton buy-out deal The New York-based fitness company is reportedly in talks with a number of private equity firms for a possible takeover deal. The company has seen its market capitalisation dip from $49.3bn in 2021 to about $1.3bn this week. Read more.