NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yucaipa Cos, a private equity firm controlled by billionaire Ron Burkle, said on Friday it had acquired an 8.3 percent stake in bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc (BKS.N), saying it believed the shares were undervalued.
The company’s shares rose 4 percent after-hours to $15.99, after the announcement.
Yucaipa funds said it had bought about 4.58 million shares since Nov. 24 for about $67.3 million, net of commissions, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Vanessa Indriolo, director of private equity at Fifth Third Bank, has been elected to the board of the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA). She will serve as two-year term.
 
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HONG KONG (Reuters) - China’s foreign exchange watchdog, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, will cut back on overseas equity buys next year after suffering major losses on the collapse of U.S. lender Washington Mutual, according to sources.
Earlier this year, SAFE, which controls around $2 trillion of China’s foreign reserves, agreed to invest up to $2.5 billion in fund of U.S. private equity giant TPG [TPG.UL] — its first foray into a foreign private equity fund, people close to the situation told Reuters.

Novartis has agreed to license a Phase I vaccine for cytomegalovirus infections from AlphaVax Inc., a Durham, N.C.-based developer of vaccine products for infectious diseases, biodefense and cancer. The deal includes a $20 million upfront payment and the possibility of future equity investments based on clinical milestones. AlphaVax has raised around $41 million in private equity funding from undisclosed investors.