Dan Primack

BusinessWeek is reporting that Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners won the Clear Channel auction only after its competition “walked away from a bidding war.” BusinessWeek is wrong. The claim is part of an article that features Tom Hicks, an LBO pioneer who currently is investing in both private equity and real estate deals via a […]

I’ve run out of analogies to describe Pacific Corporate Group. So now I’ll just use an adjective: Dysfunctional. For the uninitiated, PCG is a La Jolla, Calif.-based private equity consultant and fund-of-funds manager with an unparalleled ability to chase away top talent. Names like Mike Moy, Kelly DePonte, Scott Vollmer, Craig White and Peter Martenson […]

Venture Capital Journal is putting the finishing touches on its year-end issue, and per usual is soliciting one-line predictions about the 2007 venture capital market. Either pithy or prescient will work, with the best ones being a combination of the two. Got a prediction? Just email it over to me.

I was on CNBC this morning (video here) to discuss last year’s $6.6 billion buyout of the original category killer: Toys ‘R’ Us. It was part of an ongoing “Buyout Scorecard” series, but the reality is that it’s too early to be rending judgment on equity sponsors Bain Capital, KKR and Vornado Realty. Not far […]

Just a reminder that today is the last day for firms to participate in our 4th Annual Internship Rodeo. We have 45 listings so far — many of which have been viewed by hundreds of MBA candidates from such business schools as HBS, Michigan, Stanford, Wharton & Yale. So if you are looking to hire […]

It’s finally happened: Thomas H. Lee and Thomas H. Lee Partners are simultaneously vying for institutional LP attention. No, that’s not a misprint – like my “Leonard Greed & Associates” flub from earlier this week – and I pity any unknowledgeable LP associate who’s been assigned to conduct due diligence on both. Or maybe not […]

I’ll be on CNBC tomorrow morning at 7:40am to discuss the Toys ‘R’ U buyout, one year later. Lots of debt, lots of real estate and lots of Barbie Dolls… Got any thoughts, be sure to let me know.

With all the mega-LBO activity of late, it’s sometimes easy to forget that the most transactional action remains in the middle-markets (redefined as deals between $50 million and $1 billion). So let’s play 5 Questions with Randal Stephenson, head of middle-market M&A at CIT Group:  1. Private equity deals are making up an ever-larger piece […]

Private equity collusion will clearly go down as one of this year’s most over-hyped private equity stories. There have yet to be any formal allegations – save for what’s in that sloppy class-action suit – and the DoJ inquiry letters were vague enough to double as RFPs for a Private Equity for Dummies tome. In […]

Apologies for the light posting today – gotten a bit caught up both reporting and Internship Rodeo management. So just a few quick links to finish off the day (or to begin it, if you’re in Asia). * Charles River Ventures continues on its quest to become the McDonald’s of venture capital (QuickStart=Drive-Thru), this time […]