Dan Primack

TA Associates today announced that it has acquired a minority stake in K2 Advisors, a $5.5 billion hedge fund-of-funds manager. So we’ve got 5 Questions for Roger Kafker, a TA managing director who will sit on the K2 board: 1. Could this deal be a precursor to TA Associates launching its own hedge fund products? Kafker: […]

Update: Shareholder lawsuits are commonplace in public-to-private buyouts, as someone is always convinced that they’re getting short shrift. But I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a buyout firm sue its acquisition target for choosing the other guy. But that’s what happened yesterday in Texas, when Apollo Management sued EGL Inc. (Nasdaq: EAGL) and its chairman […]

I’ll be appearing on CNBC’s Power Lunch program at 1:30pm ET, to discuss the Q2 outlook for M&A and private equity deals. My snapshot opinion? Expect increased activity, particularly if public market bears can help drive down prices… Update: Link to the video

Update after jump Two weeks ago, secondary firms began introducing themselves to Jason Rottenberg, managing director of U.S. Army-affiliated venture fund OnPoint Technologies. “We’ve heard that you’re losing your funding in the 2008 budget,” the firms said. “And we might be interested in purchasing your investment portfolio.” Rottenberg politely responded that OnPoint still has plenty […]

The Blackstone Group has a love/hate relationship with the press. It loves seeing its name in print, but often hates the other words surrounding it (particularly things like “locust,” “collusion,” etc.).  But Blackstone had a perfect opportunity to get even with its media critics – if only it had been creative (and perhaps mean) enough. […]

Jens Bisgaard-Frantzen has resigned as managing partner of ATP Private Equity Partners, one of Europe’s largest investors in private equity funds with more than Euro 3 billion in capital under management. A formal statement is expected later this morning. Bisgaard-Frantzen describes the split as amicable, and says that the primary issue was a disagreement over […]

Earlier this week, I detailed several storylines related to The Blackstone Group going public. Now that we’ve passed that Rubicon, the story has evolved into a larger question of whether or not the IPO represents a private equity peak. Or, as Rob Cox of BreakingViews suggested earlier today on CNBC, could this be private equity’s […]

Ok, we’ve all had about 18 hours to digest the Blackstone IPO filing – and I accelerated the process last night with a few Red Stripes. So, what have we learned? Not much, except that Goldman Sachs didn’t have the inside track it had been reported to have. Almost all of the information in Blackstone’s […]

Wayne Harber of Hamilton Lane Advisors passed away last Friday from an apparent heart attack, at the age of 53. He had joined the firm nine years ago, and focused on business development outside of the United States. I did not know Wayne, but those who did say that he was known for his sense […]

The Blackstone Group has filed for a $4 billion IPO. It did not disclose the number of shares or a propsective price range. Download the filing here: Blackstone.pdf I’m still skimming through the document, but one thing jumped out first: The complete absence of Goldman Sachs. The original CNBC report last week said that Blackstone […]