Erin Griffith

In a move to clean up private equity's image (and save a little money in the process), The Carlyle Group has followed in KKR's footsteps by partnering with the Environmental Defense Fund. But while KKR's partnership served to "green up" a small handful of its existing portfolio companies, Carlyle has gone even greener. (And right around St. Patty's Day! They're related, right?) The mega-buyout firm, in partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund, will implement something called "Eco ValueScreen." It's a due diligence process that identifies places for improvement as well as that holy grail of "value creation" in acquisition targets, all with the purpose of reducing a company's environmental impact. The screen was developed by Carlyle and EDF alongside environmental consulting firm The Payne Firm. The firms haven't estimated any exact savings figure for Carlyle, but the idea is that the screen goes beyond basic risk mitigation in the diligence process Further, other buyout firms will be able to implement the screen for their own diligence processes.

Co-Investing with Lady Gaga: Hilco and Gordon Brothers, which bought Polaroid after a dramatic battle with Patriarch Partners, had an unusual coinvestor on the deal by the name of Stefani Germanotta aka, Lady Gaga. (NY Post) KKR to buy Harley? If this rumour is true, I'd like to point out that a Harley take-private would mean private equity is responsible for the loss of yet another awesome stock ticker: HOG. The first, of course, was Apollo's buyout of Cedar Fair (Symbol: FUN.) (Reuters) Great, Great Quote: PR guru Mike Sitrick, the "spin doctor of restructuring," told the FT his clients range from "Thomas H. Lee to Tommy Lee." Awesome. (FT) Via PE Beat. Three Sins Against Innovation: In your enthusiasm to spur innovation, make sure you're not burning those who can provide it best. (Businessweek) Shia LeBeouf: The Wall Street 2 star said: "Wall Street is the most sex-drugs-and-rock-'n'-roll atmosphere that exists on the planet." (Daily Intel) Meanwhile: Paul Farrell says Oliver Stone's upcoming movie is an open of a great market crash in 2010. (MarketWatch)

Lexington Partners has closed on $3.108 billion in capital commitments toward its seventh fund, according to regulatory filings. The New York-based secondaries firm launched fundraising for Lexington Capital Partners VII LP in early 2008 with a $5 billion target. As of last week, the firm had secured $2.378 billion in commitments from 91 US-based investors and $730.2 million in commitments from 48 overseas investors. Park Hill is serving as placement agent.

Odyssey Investment Partners has quietly acquired Peninsula Packaging Company, two people familiar with the situation said. The New York-based private equity firm won the company in an auction run by BMO Capital, paying upwards of 7x Ebitda for the company, the people said. Currently, BMO is helping the firm arrange a financing package which includes […]

Flexing: Calpers is looking to flex its power, by removing the limit on the number of shareholder proposals it can issue to companies in its portfolio. (NY Times) What Happens When You Do The Right Thing? You get fired. That's what happened to the Lehman whistleblower at least. (WSJ) Recipe: I have to agree with Tom Davenport's list of Six Ingredients for a Good Online Comment. I'd venture to say any comment that has even two of these six ingredients is a vast improvement over the majority of comments on the internet. (But not peHUB's civilized, intelligent commenters!) (Harvard Business Review) Stay By Stay Home: Out of the maelstrom that is SxSW coverage, I link to a single post: GigaOm's commentary on entrepreneurial stereotypes. (GigaOm) Twitter Royalty: Most Re-tweeted twitters. Way to Go: How the Fed Slept Through Lehman. (Felix Salmon)

Avista Capital Partners yesterday closed its second fund with $1.8 billion in commitments, after more than 15 months in market, peHUB has learned. Following a first close on around $1 billion in August 2008, Avista basically sat on the sidelines while the financial world -- and PE fundraising environment -- collapsed around it. After gaining a fundraising extension in August 2009, the firm decided to tap the market again with a lowered target of around $2 billion (it had originally sought between $2.5 billion and $3 billion). Thompson Dean, Avista's co-CEO and co-managing partner, said the firm did not lower its target to merely appease LPs, but as a result of the dramatic changes in the market. “It was a reflection of reality,” he explained.

Private equity is done licking its wounds. The industry’s near-exclusive focus on existing portfolio companies, a trend that marked 2009, is officially over, according to a survey from investment bank McGladrey Capital Markets. The company surveyed 50 private equity groups today at its annual Private Equity Group symposium. Said Hector Cuellar, president of McGladrey Capital Markets, […]

* Running a Company, but Can't Open an Attachment. Dick Fuld is blaming the Repo 105 mess on the fact that he can't open an email attachment on his phone. (FINS) *The club deal lawsuit rages (or should I say sputters) on through its 3rd appeal. (Deal Journal) * Barclay's Defines the word "Jerks" Loosely. (Daily Intel) * Top ten works of journalism from the decade. (NYU) *Avatar will make $400 million for News Corp. It'll also net a tidy profit for Dune Capital, a private equity firm. (Bloomberg)

Here are some potential M&A ideas, rumored or official, to jumpstart your deal pipeline. Our sources are various news reports and the Buyouts “Seeking Buyers” list. For prior lists, see below. Mobile content provider "Jamster," doing business as Jamba, is being sold by its parent company, News Corporation, mergermarket reported. Swoozie's Inc., a maker of luxury gifts and stationery that filed for bankruptcy just weeks ago, will put itself up for sale at an auction on March 25, the company said on Monday. (Reuters)

Contrary to conventional wisdom, brands really can travel uphill. Apax Partners' successful ownership of apparel company Tommy Hilfiger is living proof. When the buyout firm took Tommy Hilfiger private in 2006, Tommy-branded apparel was being sold by warehouse outlet stores at deep discounts. Apax saw value in its international operations, and plunked down $450 million in equity for a total deal value of $1.6 billion. The firm promoted Fred Gehring from head of Europe to CEO, and embarked on two years of intense turnaround execution. Apax and Tommy's management sold its distribution business, acquired of licensees and aggressively expanded stores. Furthermore, Apax helped return Tommy Hilfiger to its status as a higher-end apparel brand by cutting back lower-end distribution and improving product quality. Ebitda increased by 42 percent under Apax's ownership, and debt fell from 4.3x Ebitda to 1.5x. That all happened in a matter of two years.