Dan Primack

Yesterday we reported on updated VC benchmark data from Cambridge Associates and the NVCA. What we neglected to mention was that Cambridge also updated its non-VC private equity fund benchmarks (no NVCA participation, so no press release). The headline numbers are: 7.19% for 10-year, 10.35% for five-year and 22.35% for one-year. Those figures are described as "end-to-end pooled mean net period to limited partners." We also learn that mid-cap funds typically outperform small-cap, large-cap or mega-cap funds. View the benchmarks after the jump...

Conventional wisdom is that The Carlyle Group will be the next private equity firm to go public, following Blackstone, KKR and (still in registration) Apollo Management. Such thinking is probably accurate, considering that Carlyle honcho has dropped hints about an IPO off and on for the past several years. But let me throw out an alternative theory: Carlyle could remain private as a way to stand apart from the herd (or perhaps as a way to stand with TPG and Providence). The “public currency to retain talent” argument for going public has to be a tough sell right now, given the stagnation of BX and KKR stock prices.

Parthenon Capital looks ready to sell Intermedix Corp., a provider of billing and other business process solutions to emergency services providers. An FTC alert suggests that the buyer would be fellow buyout firm THL Partners, although no pricing details were disclosed. Such FTC reports typically mean that the buyer and seller have an agreement in […]

Optimism is breaking out all over the alternative asset class. Last week, we learned that venture capitalists no longer believe their industry is "broken." This week, private equity pros say that the credit crisis has ended or is on its way out within the next 12 months, according to the results of a survey by Rothstein Kass. Moreover, a majority of respondents said to expect more new fund launches this year than existing fund failures. Most respondents also expected increased IPO activity and downward pressure on fees (ok, GPs probably don't consider that last part to be good news, but I do). On the minus, 77% of respondents said that it would continue to take longer to sell portfolio companies, while just over half said 2010 deal-flow is weak. Get all the results after the jump...

Parody perfection...

Moody's is out today with a new report on Harrah’s, the casino giant taken private two years ago for $27 billion. And its conclusions are not good for Harrah’s owners Apollo Management and TPG Capital. Instead, Moody’s virtually compares the pair — only identified as “management” — to degenerate gamblers. The company has enormous debts, but rarely takes the opportunity to pay them down. Instead, it keeps spending on new initiatives, hoping that the payouts will constitute salvation.

[Updated below] MR Investment Partners has launched as a technology-focused private equity firm, with a particular focus on growth equity financing. The principals are: Richard McGinn, the former Lucent CEO who most recently was a general partner with RRE Ventures; and Chris Roden, a former Citi banker who also served as CEO for both Seabridge […]

During a media call earlier today, Blackstone Group president Tony James said that the firm has held a $13.5 billion final close on its latest buyout fund. Had I been making the announcement, the word "finally" probably would have been added. This is the fund that Blackstone originally began raising with a $20 billion target in October 2007, long before most Americans had ever heard of credit default swaps or "President" Obama. It held a belated first close on just over $7 billion the following August (i.e., two years ago), cut the target to $15 billion and then hit a long dry patch. Somewhere along the way, James said that the fund would still reached "well into the teens." Blackstone had around $9 billion as of earlier this year, set a June 30 deadline, missed the deadline and then persuaded a bunch of fence-sitters at the last moment. Some have speculated that the carrots were sweetened fees, but James said today that there were no substantial term changes made between the first and final close (perhaps because it would have introduced "most favored nation" complications?).

The Blackstone Group released Q2 earnings this morning, and will be hosting a media call at 9:30am ET. It's been a while since I've live-blogged on of these, and figured it was time (particularly because we're expecting an update on the firm's fundraising efforts). So be sure to check in here soon: Blackstone Group Q2 Earnings call

Turns out there is another item of note in the FTC filing that revealed the Shoes for Crews auction winner. This one is about PSC Industrials, an industrial and environmental cleanup company owned by Carl Icahn. The filing indicates that private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg is buying PSC out of its third fund, which closed last year with $4.7 billion. No additional details were disclosed, although Icahn tells peHUB that the deal should be completed within a week or so. PSC Industrials used to be known as Philip Services Corp., before Icahn spun off its scrap metal processing unit into an independent business (and put it under the Ichan Enterprises umbrella). The Houston-based company provides industrial cleaning, envionmental, transportation and container services in North America, Mexico and Puerto Rico.