Erin Griffith

Yesterday’s preliminary Q1 fundraising numbers show a massive drop from last year’s first quarter: $99.71 billion a year ago. Just $17.24 billion today. That’s a big hit but, as we’ve outlined before, funds somehow continue to get raised. In other words, fundraising is not dead. An article in today’s Financial Times hinted at that idea: "Two-thirds of investors are sitting on the sidelines and most are selling, not buying,” said Antoine Dréan, chief executive of Triago, which advises private equity groups on fundraising. “General partners are having to look for new sources of capital." What are these new sources of capital? How are “the haves” (e.g. Huntsman Gay, Siguler Guff, Brazos, Lovell Minnick) finding investors, while the majority of fundraisers—the “have nots”—are failing? I called Antione Drean to find out.

Happy April Fool's Day! Also, Happy Financial Fools Day: Protest reports from the G20 convention, from Reuters. And From The Front Lines: A photo that shows the ratio of press to protesters. (DB) Meanwhile: He-Man and "Postman Pat" are being rescued by private equity firm GTCR. Huzzah. (Dealzone) "Hubris" Interesting facts from this NY Times article on Cerberus' Investment in Chrysler:

Culled from regulatory filings, here are some recent private equity fundraising updates, not reported elsewhere. Emerald Hill Capital Partners, an Asian-focused fund of funds, has raised $155 million toward its $300 million target for its second fund. The fund received a commitment $60 million commitment from Utimco. Emerald Hill was founded in 2005 by Eugene Choung, former director of Private Equity for the University of Chicago Endowment, and David Spencer, formerly of GE Capital. Greyrock Capital Group, a Chicago-based mezzanine and equity investor, has raised $73 million from nine investors toward GCG Investors II. The fund, formed in March 2007, has a $250 million target. The firm has invested in three companies from fund two already: Paragon Products, Novolyte Technologies, and Andrews International. Pacific Investment Management Company, or Pimco, is in the market with its

Download an depth spreadsheet of worldwide quarterly M&A going back to 1985, after the jump. The grand total of global buyout deals done in the first quarter was 523 compared to 1,055 for the first quarter of 2008. That’s the lowest number of deals in a quarter since 2003. It’s interesting to note that even in 2008 and the back half of 2007, deal volume topped 1,000 every quarter, until Q4 of last year, which saw 757 deals. The decline continues… Private equity deals as a percentage of total M&A were at their lowest level since 2000 in the first quarter of ’09. Buyouts represented a mere 3.4% of all M&A this quarter, a number last seen in the Q2 of 2000. Our data goes back to 1985, and since then buyout deals as a percentage of total M&A has dipped below 2% just five quarters out of 96. Those instances happened between 1991 and 1994. It's fallen below 4% in 27 of the 96 quarters. For context, the percentage of buyout deals as a percentage of the total hit record highs during the boom years, shooting up to 24.1% in Q4 of 2006.

MBAs: What are they actually learning? Felix Salmon says he hopes that "if there isn't any demand for financial whizzbangery any more, then maybe the supply of it will wither quite quickly." (Market Movers) In Related News, "Duh" Department: BusinessWeek says networking is important for MBAs to find jobs. (BW) No Bankers: Soho House members in the financial industry have learned their presence isn't wanted anymore. (NY Post) Bubblespeak: "The Orwellian language of Wall Street finds its way to the Treasury Department." (Daniel Gross)

Updated As peHUB reported last week, Riverstone LLC quietly closed on $6 billion for its energy fund, called Riverstone/Carlyle Global Power & Energy Fund IV LP. The fund, a joint effort between Riverstone and Carlyle, invests in oil, gas, and the traditional energy fare. On the flipside, Riverstone has another fund in the market. This one focuses on renewable energy and is called Riverstone/Carlyle Renewable Energy Infrastructure Fund II LP. That vehicle seeks to raise $4 billion and has closed on $3.4 billion in commitments, a source said. It’s been in the

Deal Professor: Some thoughts on the absence of deals. "Private equity remains dead, dead, dead." (Dealbook) Op-Ed: We're not the boss of AIG, by Carl Icahn. (NY Times) A Culprit! The pay scale of banks is at least part of the reason they failed, a new survey says. (WSJ) Shouts & Murmurs: Woody Allen on Madoff. (New Yorker) Reliable Source: More evidence of the NY Post's credibility... The supposed Wall Streeter turned stripper they recently profiled was an actress, it turns out. (Huffington Post)

Last year, there were 49 total. This year, we've got half of that in the first quarter alone. And despite a few hints that the economy is waking up, there is no shortage of companies teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Download the spreadsheet below. The main thing that might slow the growth of this list is the companies' abilities to do distressed debt exchanges, which has kept the likes of Realogy, TPG and plenty others afloat. The other crutch is covenant lite. Judging by liabilities, original deal values, and even the names of the sponsors, we have yet to see a true mega-buyout fall as yet. And we likely won't until 2012 or 2013, thanks to generous lending terms like covenant lite and PIK toggles. By then, the hope is that the credit markets will be warm enough to refinance.

As you may remember, private equity firms need to be careful about the amount of secondary exchanges between their investors. If a firm exceeds 2%, a set of mildly draconian rules require it to register as a public partnership. As explained in a previous blog post, a firm can see up to 10% trade if it uses a qualified matching service, or QMS. With all eyes on the secondary market, it’s no surprise that QMS service providers have seen an uptick in business. Lawrence Allen, a managing member of QMS provider NYPPEX, estimates that 20% of all buyout funds have already hit their 2% target for this year. Meanwhile, he predicts that number will increase to 50% by June.

Shrinkage: AIG's private equity funds have seen a decline as steep as that of Terra Firma. (WSJ) Everyone's Talking About: The worthlessness of MBAs. Matthew Stewart writes, "The economic crisis has exposed the myth of business-school expertise." (The Big Money) AIG Wife: "We Were Betrayed!" (Clusterstock) Editorial: The Deal's Robert Teitelman discusses the exit stage left of "equity culture" and incoming of populist culture. (Dealscape) Something About This Headline: GE Cap Tries To Reposses Jalopy Jet. As a lender to a bankrupt clothing company, the firm gets the exciting task of liquidating its near-worthless assets. (Dealscape)