Dan Primack

Littlejohn & Co. is in talks to buy CTI Foods Inc. from CIC Partners, according to a recent list of transactions granted early termination of the HSR waiting period. No pricing terms were disclosed. Both Littlejohn and CIC Partners declined comment, although a source tells me that "this is far from done." CIC Partners formed CTI Foods in 2003, via the acqusition and merger of SSI Food Services and S&S Foods LLC from J.R. Simplot Company. The Wilder, Idaho-based company already had a processing facility in California, and later would add a couple in Texas, in order to provide frozen, fresh and precooked food products to restaurant chains like Wendy's and Taco Bell.

Back in 2008, Dow Jones reported that a group of large institutional investors had formed a lobbying group to collectively press for more LP-friendly fund terms. The story was later refuted by some of the reported participants (one Canadian pension plan rep called it “poppycock”), but not before I wondered if such an effort could be viewed as a form of collusion. Fast forward to last week, when Private Equity International’s David Snow raised the “C” word in reference to the ILPA guidelines drafted last fall. This was followed up yesterday by WSJ scribe Peter Lattman, who reported that “at least three large private equity firms have retained outside counsel to examine potential antitrust issues.” In other words, some general partners believe in an LP cartel, with the ILPA guidelines being used as the preferred means of intimidation. Let us count the reasons why they’re wrong:

Golden Gate Capital is in talks to make an investment in Clover Technologies, a company that recycles and remanufactures imaging supplies like ink cartridges and cell phones. The deal was first disclosed yesterday by the Federal Trade Commission, in a list of transactions granted early termination of the HSR waiting period. There were no financing details, including whether or not Golden Gate is planning to take a majority stake (the San Francisco-based firm makes both buyout and growth equity investments).

Apollo Global Management plans to offer $50 million worth of new shares as part of its listing on the New York Stock Exchange, according to an amended regulatory filing. Previously, the private equity firm only had been seeking to move its listing over to the NYSE from the GSTrUE, where it currently trades. Seems some existing […]

Compass Advisers today will announce the return of Scott Marden, a longtime media banker and executive who has spent the past four years overseeing information and media private equity for DLJ Merchant Banking Partners. He will be in charge of a new principal investment effort that will try raising a $600 million fund focused on middle-market opportunities in the business and information services space. Marden was part of Compass in 1999, when it raised over $900 million for a private equity fund focused on Europe. He left two years later to become president of McGraw Hill's media and information group (BusinessWeek, etc.), before moving onto DLJ MB.

Yale University's investment office yesterday disclosed that it had voted last June to increase its target private equity allocation from 21% to 26 percent. This came amid mounting private equity losses, but was portrayed by many media outlets as "contrarian" investment chief David Swensen sticking to his guns. In reality, however, Swensen didn't have much of a choice. As of last June, Yale's actual exposure to private equity was at 24.3 percent. That's a major climb from 20.2% the prior year, and nearly 10 percentage points higher than Yale's private equity allocation just four years earlier. In other words, raising the target allocation was largely an effort to reflect reality. "But wait," says rhetorical reader. "Why is Swensen raising the target even above current exposures, other than because he really believes in the asset class?" Well, I'm glad you asked.

We’ve got 500 readers playing in our annual March Madness contest, and have a sole leader after the first day of play: Jeff Edwards, an analyst with Pantheon Ventures. Jeff correctly picked 15 of yesterday's 16 games, whiffing only on Georgetown vs. Ohio University. Unfortunately, Jeff has Georgetown going all the way to the Final Four, so he's basically blown his chance of winning the pool. At least he gets a few hours of early bragging rights... Also, congrats to the five players who correctly picked 14 games yesterday: Bob Aspell (Sverica International), Mike Duda (Deutsche Inc.), Greg Wappett (Provident Healthcare Partners), David Santoni (Prestwick Partners) and someone named JMP1782.

UPDATE: False alarm here. Cuomo's announcement dealt with an investigation into "the manipulation of salary and overtime payments that leads to inflated pensions at the expense of taxpayers." No relation to the pay-to-play situation, save for it involving the state pension system. Andrew Cuomo's office just announced that he will hold a press conference at 12:30pm this afternoon, to discuss an "expansion" of the ongoing New York state pension scandal. That doesn't sound like a Rattner deal or Hank Morris plea (particularly given this being filed yesterday), but perhaps new info and indictments. Unclear if this specifically relates to pay-to-play or not. My guess -- and it's only that -- is that the name Alan Hevesi could come up more than in passing. After all, when former NY chief investment officer David Logisci recently plead guilty, he said that he was instructed to deal with Morris by his superiors. Moreover, Cuomo said that Loglisci didn't

I was off duty last week when KKR filed the S-1 for its un-IPO, and neglected to take an actual look until yesterday. Not too much new info, save for the following fund performance data (through 12/31/09) that I haven’t seen reported elsewhere: * European Fund (1999): 100% called, 19.9% net IRR * Millennium Fund (2002): 100% called, 17.7% net IRR * European Fund II (2005): 100% called, -13.4% net IRR * 2006 Fund (2006): 74% called, -2.8% net IRR Since its founding, KKR funds have a 19.2% net IRR. My first thought upon seeing the numbers was that the 2006 Fund is beginning to look a bit light on dry powder, particularly given that mega-buyout funds from that vintage may need to hold a bit more reserve capital than usual (due to possible refinancings, etc.). Plus, KKR keeps being tied to possible multi-billion take-privates like Harley-Davidson.

My weekly segment with Reuters Insider was about KKR's pending IPO, which isn't really an IPO at all. Per usual, filming took place from an 8x8 room filled with dirty clothes and video equipment: