Erin Griffith

What happens when even your creditor doesn’t want your assets? Troubled fund-of-funds manager HRJ Capital is in the process of finding out. Back in December, it was revealed that HRJ was unable to repay a $68.9 million warehouse loan from Silicon Valley Bank, which has essentially been used to “fund” certain outgoing LP commitments. SVB […]

Slow News Day: So yesterday there was an Economist story that mentioned Henry Kravis paid $22 million for this ugly chair. Of course, snark-tastic blogs Gawker and Dealbreaker picked up on it. Well, this info, which is apparently untrue, annoyed the folks at KKR enough to send out very prompt and categorical denials of such an instance. Even Kravis himself emailed Gawker. (So that's what I have to do to get in contact with him?) Capping off the zany gossip hijinks now known as "Chairgate" (thanks, Dealzone), we can rest in peace, as The Economist has issued a correction. I consider this entire trivial thing further proof that (A) there is seriously nothing going on in private equity these days and (B) PE pros will forever be sensitive about their post-Schwarzman Birthday lavishness. Whew. In Other News: Bankers are starting to think they'd be better off at a smaller, nimbler firms. (Dealbook) B-Schools and the Almighty Dollar: "A business school dean argues that students should be taught the societal value of business, not profit at any cost." Sounds nice in theory. (BusinessWeek) No Surprise Here: Michael Moore is looking for "Streeters" to have a "casual chat" with about Wall Street for his upcoming unnamed project. Wall Street Folly calls it a "Career Death Wish." (Wall Street Folly)

The secondary market may be stalled until year-end numbers are out, but that hasn’t dampened interest in the asset class. Aside from firms starting new secondary intermediary practices left and right, many of the largest legacy buyers are in the market with new funds. Notably, one (Landmark) is raising a dedicated “secondary-lite” fund. Here’s the latest, according to sources and SEC filings: Landmark Partners (1) The Connecticut-based firm is raising Landmark Equity Partners XIV. The effort has a $2 billion target (a $2.3 billion hard cap, according to an SEC filing). Formed in May of 2008, the fund had gathered $590.15 million in commitments from 37 investors as of

This Versus That: The financial sector meltdown has now surpassed that of the tech sector during the Internet bubble collapse, judging by stocks. (Marketbeat) Berkshire Hathaway: It's trading at a premium on Buffet's investing skills. But what's the probability of default? (Market Movers) CNBC In The News: Everyone has an opinion on it. NY Times asks if last week was CNBC's best or worst week ever. (NY Times) Speaking of that: The paper is no longer accepting comments on the story. Here are the editors' picks. Pitching Hacks: ScottDig reviews the venture capital pitching guide book, "Pitching Hacks." (Scottdig)

Cleantech funds take heed: There is new money in the market. Boston-based HarbourVest Partners is launching a cleantech fund-of-funds. The vehicle currently is in the market with a target of around $150 million, a source familiar with the situation told peHUB. HarbourVest has held at least one close on $95.5 million in commitments and has […]

News of a potential wind-down from UK buyout firm Candover raises the question of what exactly that situation would entail. A run-off means the firm won’t raise new funds and basically manage its existing companies till they can be sold. Clearly it’s difficult to retain talent at a firm with no prospects of raising a new fund. In today’s job market, that may be less the case, but it hasn’t been at smaller firms like J.W. Childs and Willis Stein. Both firms, which haven’t shown much evidence of future fundraising efforts, have seen top talent exit. So if Candover begins losing managers, it would seem to follow that the best move is to sell off as many of the companies as possible. It’s all very hypothetical at this point, but is Candover’s portfolio up for grabs? Would there be buyers for the companies? Take a look at exactly what those funds include below.

Jon Stewart Still Slamming CNBC: This time he has just one joke. He said to Letterman: "There are three 24-hour financial networks. All their slogans are like, ‘We know what's going on on Wall Street.' But then you turn it on during the crisis, and they're like, ‘We don't know what's going on.' It'd be like turning on The Weather Channel during a hurricane and they're just doing this: ‘Why am I wet?! What's happening to me? And it's windy!" What's going on? I'm scared!' How do you not know?" (Gawker) Want More? In other CNBC Vs. Stewart Cattiness, Dealbreaker has CNBC's hilariously immature unofficial response. (Even better, I'm pretty sure the headline is a Mean Girls reference.) (Dealbreaker) The Future of PE LPA Agreements? Pension funds are fighting for hedgies to lower their fees. Methinks PE will be next in their path, if it's not already happening. (WSJ) Get Jobs As Bankruptcy Lawyers: Corporate bankruptcies jumped 54% in 2008. (Reuters) Or Apply Here: One firm that's looking to add 100 fixed income employees. (Dealbook)

Still on the “Secondary-Lite” beat, I stumbled upon a list of some funds that are considered attractive in the early stage secondary market. I spoke with Thomas Liadet, a Principal at placement agent and secondaries intermediary Campbell Lutyens, who said LP stakes in the following funds have drawn strong interest from investors:

As usual, I have a week’s worth of Moody’s and S&P downgrades on PE-backed companies. Repeat offenders include Apollo Management, KKR, Carlyle Group and Bain Capital. We’ve also got one upgrade, which is Carlyle Group and Fenway Partners’ American Achievement Group. It’s basically an upgrade from the default rating after AAC’s parent company purchased some of its own senior PIK notes at a massive discount. Anyways, on to the list of 16:

Controversy: Seems last night's Daily Show attack on financial journalists (watch it here) has sparked much debate in the blogosphere. Felix Salmon discusses it here, and I also quite like Dealscape's take, "On Financial Journalism and its Critics," viewable here: (Dealscape) Literally: The sky is falling at AIG, apparently. Photo of the day: (EV Grieve) Speaking of AIG: Our colleagues at Dealzone have outtakes of Congress's grilling of the insurance giant. (AIG) Watch And Learn: According to a new study, watching booze-soaked movies is directly correlated to viewers drinking more. (Reuters)