High Road Capital Partners, started by a former Riverside Company partner and aiming to raise $200 million for a debut fund, has teamed with Charter Oak Capital Partners, a Westport, Conn.-based buyout firm, to buy Milwaukee Gear Company and its sister company, Treat All Metals Inc., from their family owners. It was High Road Capital's first deal since launching in January 2007.

The Office of the Connecticut State Treasurer late last month issued an RFP for a private equity consultant to develop a co-investment program for the $26 billion Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds. Deadline for applications is Sept. 15. A decision is expected in December, and the contract is expected to start no later than March.

Wind Point Partners, a Chicago-based firm that acquires mid-sized companies in business services, health care, and other fields, held a first close of $760 million on its seventh fund in late July. That already makes the fund, which has a $1 billion target, larger than its $700 million predecessor.

Once trumpeted as an industry impervious to the gyrations of the broader domestic economy, gaming tallied unusually feverish M&A activity in 2006 and 2007 as buyers queued up for what seemed like a surefire bet.