Dan Primack

KKR reported Q2 earnings this morning, and also said that it has scrapped a planned sale of $500 million worth of new common units. There's an analyst call scheduled for 10am, and I plan to live-blog it below. Too bad KKR isn't also doing a "media-only" call like Blackstone, since folks like me aren't typically allowed into the questioning queue on analyst calls... KKR Earnings Call

KKR today received an A- counterparty credit rating from Standard & Poor's, about one month after the private equity firm began listing its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The given outlook was "stable." "The stable outlook incorporates our expectation that fee-related earnings should remain stable, while distributable earnings are likely to fluctuate with investment realizations," wrote analyst Chris Cary.

Justin Wender and I weren 't able to connect via phone, but he sent over the following statement on his departure from Castle Harlan: “I have always been very committed to Castle Harlan and really expected to make it my whole career. I think most people who know me know that. After many conversations over the last several months about the long term direction and future ownership of the firm, it became clear to me that I didn’t share the same perspective as that of John and Leonard, and those differences simply couldn't be reconciled. I'm disappointed that we didn't come to a mutual agreement. I have the utmost respect for the people and the firm and wish them the best.” Still don't know what the differences were about -- sounds like firm economics -- nor why Wender and John Castle had such different views of the aforementioned conversations (Castle said he had been "flexible" earlier today)...

Today’s top private equity story is also its oddest: Justin Wender’s decision to resign as president of Castle Harlan. For the uninitiated, Wender was named president of Castle Harlan back in 2006, as firm co-founders Len Harlan and John Castle continued to transition into more patriarchal positions (both remain fulltime). He had been with the […]

The September issue of Vanity Fair hit newsstands today, with a 9-page article detailing the rise and (partial) fall of Steven Rattner. It’s a great read for those who don’t know much about Rattner, or how he is alleged to have participated in a pay-to-play scheme involving private equity firms and the New York state […]

One of the big knocks on pre-crisis private equity was that it had eschewed its buy-low/sell-high mantra, in favor of buy high and (hope to) sell higher. A lot of it was properly pinned on cheap debt, but some was caused by a sheep-like portfolio land rush (“They did a deal? Well then, we’ll do a deal…”). I bring it up today because of some new data from Thomson Reuters (download here), about PE-backed M&A volume in 2010 (through Monday). It works out to 1,755 global deals valued at just over $103 billion, compared to 1,558 deals worth nearly $39 billion over the same period in 2009.

Bertram Capital has raised more than $500 million for its second growth equity fund, peHUB has learned. The San Mateo, Calif.-based firm still needs to make a few more allocation decisions, and expects to hold a final close on $520 million within the next few weeks (including up to a $20 million general partner commitment). Bertram launched fundraising back in March with a $500 million target. It had originally planned to begin marketing in early 2009, but held off as smaller deal sizes allowed Bertram to lengthen the investment runway of its $350 million first fund.

Ridgemont Equity Partners launched today, as an independent private equity firm staffed by the former Banc of America Capital Investors team. This is part of BoA's continued pruning of private equity exposure, which has included layoffs, spinoffs and secondary sales (most of which was set into motion long before Paul Volcker began to rule). Ridgemont will continue to manage a $1.5 billion legacy portfolio for BoA, plus also raise its own fund. Typical deals will be mid-market buyout and growth equity investments of between $25 million and $100 million. I spent some time of the phone with Ridgemont partner Travis Hain, who previously served as co-founder and managing partner of BACI. Some notes after the jump...

Private equity deal volume his a two-year high last month, according to new numbers from Thomson Reuters. There was $27.4 billion of announced activity -- including the $4.6 billion deal for Tomkins PLC -- which was the largest level since $30.4 billion of announced activity in July 2008. Overall, PE-sponsored deals represented 15% of global M&A. You can get both global M&A and PE-backed M&A data after the jump:

During a media call last Thursday, Blackstone Group president Tony James said: "We’ve had first closings in our cleantech fund and a final closing for BCP VI. We have a few investors still completing documentation and we current anticipate BCP VI to end up at approximately $13.5 billion.” Seems I heard the first part (final closing for BCP VI) and not the contradictory second part. But I got kind of curious, when the Oregon Investment Council approved a $200 million commitment to BCP VI this week. And then an LP source noted that Oregon was not the only LP that hadn’t made a final decision as of James’ pronouncement.