Erin Griffith

Looking for New BRIC Opportunities? Bollywood is eying private equity as banks go slow. (Business Standard) The Anatomy of a Bonus: Banker bonuses will look different this year. Here's a breakdown. (FINS) And while you're at it, here's some stats about bonuses. Year End Crap-Up: Now that it's the end of the decade, there's even more journalist reflecting, pontificating, analyzing, etc. (Note: peHUB is certainly not immune.) Here's Mean Street's Second Annual "Meanie" Awards. (WSJ) Step Away from the Blackberrys and Apples: What our increasingly cyber lives is doing to the actual world around us. Like, the outside of the world wide web. (Washington Post) Person O' The Year: Time named Ben Bernanke its person of the year. He happens to have a whopping 21% approval rating. (Business Insider)

Blum Capital Partners, a San Francisco-based buyout firm, peHUB has learned. Dossey was previously a managing director at FdG Associates for 11 years. (Update: I spoke with Dossey and posted more info here.) Size-wise, the move is a step up-market for Dossey. Blum Capital's most recent fund is a $3 billion pool. Compare that with FdG Associates' latest fund, a 2005 vintage with $310 million in commitments. Likewise, Blum Capital, based in San Francisco, has invested in some high profile situations like Al Gore's Current Media and TPG's deal for Australian retailer Myer. (The former has seen a successful exit via IPO; the latter has not.) That's a different world than that of FdG, which buys lower mid-market family-owned businesses. In February, Dossey lead the firm's buyout of infrastructure company Joseph B. Fay & Co. The deal was valued at around $100 million.

Marlin Equity Partners recently announced the wildly oversubscribed close of its third fund, raising $650 million in just under four months. As we reported earlier, this was the hottest fundraise to occur within one of the iciest fundraising years in memory. Marlin entered the market in September with placement agent Probitas Partners, seeking $450 million (a slight jump from its prior $350 million vehicle). With private equity fundraising at its lowest levels since 2004, the firm expected to have a difficult run. They couldn't have been more wrong. For Marlin Equity, gathering commitments was the easy part! The firm received $1 billion worth of interest from LPs, creating the challenge of capping the fund at an appropriate level without excluding any LPs. I spoke with Marlin Equity Founder and Managing Partner David McGovern about the firm's track record, possible new hires and the difficulties with increasing its fund size and cutting LP commitments.

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. Playboy Entprises, which put itself up for sale earlier this year, has seen its lead bidder, Iconix Brand Group, drop out over issues separating the brand from its other assets. AT&T Inc is looking to sell its outsourced services business in Japan, Reuters reported. The business for sale generated about $500 million in annual revenue, and was 15 percent owned by Nippon Telephone & Telegraph, one of Japan's top telecoms carriers. (Reuters) Image Entertainment Inc said it may be forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it defaulted on payment under convertible note and it was exploring strategic alternatives. (Reuters) India's Reliance Communications is looking to sell its undersea fiber optic network and U.S. network businesses, hoping to raise around $3 billion in cash, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. (Reuters)

In-Depth: One of the better PE resume advice columns I've seen. (Job Search Digest) Bold predictions: 24/7 Wall Street predicts twelve huge M&A deals for 2010. (24/7) Woe as me: AIG executives are suffering financially, its CEO said. As Dealbreaker put it, they're practically living in the streets! (WSJ) Doomed: Movie Gallery, which already restructured once, has hired a restructuring advisor again. No surprise, how can they compete when even Blockbuster is getting killed by Netflix? (Debtwire) Good Riddance: Amid all these rose-colored retrospectives on the decade, its nice to have a little cynicism in the mix. Time magazine lays out the Ten Worst Things About the Worst Decade Ever. (Time)

The World Economic Forum released a new study on private equity's impact on growth, concluding that private equity-backed industries grow more rapidly than other industries. The study looked at total production, value added and employment.

We’ve criticized buyout firms for their egregious fee-taking, but it seems that their BDC peers aren’t much better. In a move not unlike buyout firms earning returns on bankrupt companies, business development corporations that lend to small and mid-market companies can take fees on loans that ultimately produce a loss on their balance sheet. That includes large groups like Apollo Investment Corp. all the way down to smaller shops like PennantPark Investment Corp. But one firm is looking to change the paradigm is Golub Capital. The New York-based firm recently filed to bring one of its funds public as a BDC, raising $150 million under the ticker GBDC. Comparing the fee structure described in the vehicle’s N-2 filing to that of its peers, it appears the firm has one of the most favorable fee structures around.

Buyout barons are no strangers to activist ire, although until now, it's mostly been from the likes of the SEIU in relation to tax loopholes. But today Blackstone Group and Steve Schwarzman have been singled out from a new group of protesters. As I type, a New Mexico-based group dressed as Santa and his elves is paying the BX headquarters an unwanted visit. The reason? Blackstone's investment in Sithe Global, a coal company the firm acquired 80% of in 2005. Reservoir Capital which retained 20% ownership. The activists, who hail from New Mexico, planned to deliver a lump of coal to Schwarzman because they oppose Sithe's plan for three new dirty coal-burning power plants in their region, including one on a Navajo Reservation. The activists oppose the plants, saying they will

Here's a look at the last week's worth of scoops, data, and analysis from the peHUB team. Catch up on what you missed before it goes behind our paywall... All First Reads | All Second Opinions The Year in Private Equity Quotes Another Sign That VCs Are Getting More Active First Round Capital's Got Talent Thiel to Speak at TEDxSV About Singularity Audax Mezz Fund in Market, But Where's the Close? Oh, The Places You'll Go (with apologies to Dr. Seuss) House Votes To Boost Tax On Carried Interest Startup Board Stress Remains Prevalent Another Pay-to-Play Resolution Falls Short Step Aside Pay-to-Play, Timothy Durham Has Redefined Sleaze in Private Equity Apple Downloads LaLa So How Was The White House Jobs Summit? Is Black Friday Syndrome Invading The Secondary Market? An Annual Tradition: Onset's Holiday Card Survey Says: Dealmakers Dour on Present, Optimistic on Future Twin Bridge Capital Buys Our Love With Best Holiday Gift Ever Follow The FTC's Privacy Roundtable

AOL Time Warner? What was the worst deal of the decade? (Deal Journal) Stupid Press Release of the Day: I thought this was spam, but nope, it's real. I've been invited to an event called "Sexy Power Brunch." I'm not even sure what that means but it just sounds bad. (Gem LLC) Hire More Women: On the hedge fund side, their returns surpass those of the menfolk. (Dealbook) Special treatment: Sovereign wealth funds want a bigger slide of the buyout pie. Mmmm pie. (Reuters)