Erin Griffith

A handful of today’s PE-related headlines. Factbox: By my calculations, three of the top ten widest M&A spreads are LBO-backed. That seems like good news until you realize LBOs only make up 20% of the total pending deals tracked by Reuters (its 35 total). That means just slightly less than half of the pending public-to-private […]

Workout bankers haven’t been this hot of a commodity since the downturn of the early 90s. During the recent lending boom, loan workout departments at institutional lending houses (often called special situation groups) didn’t get much action. Their jobs involved renegotiating loans taken out by companies that were non-compliant, close to default, or in default. […]

Insight Equity has hired UBS to help it raise its second fund, sources familiar with the effort said. The Dallas-based turnaround firm announced its fund raising plans to LPs at its investor meeting last week and will begin its formal marketing process in the coming weeks. The firm is planning a “substantial” increase in fund […]

Today both Dealscape Blog and Buyouts took stock of the 20-plus LBO-backed bankruptcies of 2008. The stories are particularly timely, since another one bit the dust today. As predicted by the NY Post, Goody’s filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. Backed by Prentice Capital Management, the clothing store operator is […]

RCP Advisors will execute a first close on its sixth fund at the end of June, a source familiar with the situation said. The buyout funds-of-funds manager will close on $200 million, slightly more than halfway to its $350 million target. RCP Advisors VI comes hot on the heels of the firm’s 2007 fund, which […]

Investors in hedge fund Contrarian Capital Management have pulled $1 billion in commitments from the struggling firm, the New York Post reported yesterday. According to the story, that’s about 14 percent of the distressed-focused firm’s total assets under management. NYP cited the fund’s negative 1.24% return in 2007 as the reason. But according to a […]

Apollo Management has hired Neal Shear, Morgan Stanley’s former head of trading, to launch a commodities trading business. The move is consistent with Apollo’s plan to pursue new investment avenues as mega-buyout opportunities dwindle. Further evidence of diversification includes the firm’s expansion of its global credit and distressed debt team, and its allocation of $1 […]

The Blackstone Group’s COO Hamilton “Tony” James wants it to be known that his support of covenant lite and PIK toggle deals is not merely self-serving. He supports relaxed lending terms for the greater good of deal-makers everywhere. “Covenant lite and PIKs are in everyone’s interest,” he said at The Deal’s Private Capital Symposium this […]

The money that Apollo Management raised last year by selling part of its management company in a private offering will likely be used to finance an expansion in real estate and commodities, possibly through acquisition, according to a source familiar with the situation. Shortly, the firm will also have an additional currency to use for acquisitions—publicly […]