Erin Griffith

Paul Capital has met the $455 million target for its fourth private equity fund-of-funds, according to an SEC filing. The vehicle, called Paul Capital Top Tier investments IV LP, was formed in April of 2007. Its prior fund-of-funds is a 2005 vintage with $626 in commitments. That $455 million comes from 19 investors, including Coal Pension Trustees Services, Florida Retirement System Trust Fund and Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. The filing describes the business as “Venture capital investment partnership,” although the firm’s website states that that includes small cap buyout funds as well. The fund also makes co-investments.

That's what a recent Forbes article suggests. The story, titled "It's a Good Time To Go To A B-Level B-School," reports that students at top tier B-schools aren't getting Wall Street job offers. Not surprising. I could feel that tension at the Wharton Conference last month, where the ratio of MBA students to PE pros was about 10 to one, and every student's eyes were darting from nametag to nametag in a desperate frenzy for a potential employer to stalk. What surprised me from the article, though, is the fact that job acceptances at regional business schools like Northeastern and University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business are actually up over last year's rates. With Wall Street jobs evaporating, students at less prestigious schools than Wharton, Harvard, or Stanford, are the ones finding jobs.

Valentine's Day: It's comin' up. Make your own powedery-heart-candy messages with the Acme heart generator, or read some of Business Pundit's Bailout Hearts. Sadness: The Deal Toy industry is getting hurt by the dearth of M&A. (WSJ) Be On MTV: The cable channel is recruiting laid-off Wall Streeters for a reality show that's supposed to be The Real World meets Wall Street. (Seven analysts picked to live in a house... yeesh.) Anyways, Maria Woehr of The Deal has the details of MTV's ads. (Dealscape) Updates: Yesterday we discussed Stephen Fowler, a VC that's gained internet fame for his horrifically rude performance on the reality TV show Wife Swap. Well, it doesn't end there. Now his wife has apologized for him and tried to retract it... but the Internet doesn't forget. Also, can I add that Stephen Fowler is now the number one search query on Google? (Valleywag) Grill Out: Heidi Moore offers up an excellent marathon liveblog of the House Financial Services Committee questioning today. (Deal Journal)

Frontenac Company, a lower middle market private equity firm based in Chicago, quietly closed its ninth buyout fund in December, according to Thomson One Banker’s database. T1 Banker gets its info directly from the firms. The firm did not return multiple calls for comment. The reason, perhaps, is that it appears Frontenac lowered its fund […]

Could the acquirers become the acquirees? I've heard rumblings of private equity consolidation for a few weeks now, stemming from research done by law firm Simmons & Simmons. The study found that 79% of 700 surveyed PE pros expect increased consolidation in 2009. I dismissed this as unlikely, but the topic continues to surface in conversations. There even are some trader rumors that Blackstone and KKR could acquire 3i. Would struggling buyout firms really merge with each other? At the very least, the image of PE pros nervously biting their nails in fear of a hostile takeover is ironic, since they're usually the ones inflicting such fear on public company employees. Either way, there are several issues with this idea, which I've laid out in a nice little list.

Bank CEO Q&A: Andrew Ross Sorkin has a list of questions to ask bailed-out bank CEOs, and Felix Salmon attempts to answer them. (Market Movers) Jettison: Carlyle is unloading one of its private jets. Oh, it's the one clad in "gaudy gold plating," Cityfile reports. Jerks: Stephen Fowler, a GP at Fulcrum Fund, a VC firm, appeared on Wife Swap last week, "confirming every stereotype one might have about (San Francisco's) precious, spoiled environmentalists," says Valleywag. He was so horrific he had to issue a public apology (after suing a web site that published his home address and finding a site named stephenfowlersucks.com). (Valleywag) Everybody Loves Lists: 15 Companies that might not survive 2009. PE-backed companies on the list include Claire's Stores (Apollo), Chrysler (Cerberus), Realogy (Apollo), Station Casinos, (Colony Capital), Loehmann's (Crescent Capital Investments) and Sbarro, (MidOcean Partners). (US News & World Report)

It’s no stretch to say LPs are horrified at the idea of private equity firms investing alongside the U.S. Government in the so-called bad banks, as proposed this week by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. One LP even emailed peHUB, “I would murder them,” when asked his reaction to such a move. A bit harsh, perhaps, […]

Yesterday I talked to a few PE pros about the big news: Private equity is finally getting its chance to help assuage the economic crisis, after months of complaining that it has "massive pools of capital that could be put to good use." Setting aside any conversation on logistics, or any debate over whether it's smart for private equity firms to gobble up toxic mortgage-backed securities willy-nilly, or whether LPs want them to, or whether they even want to... let's look, for a minute, at the potential positive effect this decision could have on perceptions of the private equity community. Those I spoke with were both interested and delighted at the inclusion of private equity in the plan for bailing out our banks. Said one PE pro: "The government is finally acknowledging that private equity firms are an important source of capital for companies."

Some Pointers: Tips for entering the private equity job market from Private Equity Blogger. Alan Patricof: "VC Investing Not Dead, Just Different" for Dealbook. Deal Journal: Attends, reviews the Jefferies Group annual restructuring party, in a piece called A Wall Street Party That Isn't Depressing. Saturday Night Live: Pelosi and Reid on the Stimulus Package. (Wall Street Folly) Lists: Britain's top 100 private equity-backed companies. (Alt Assets)

Just over a month into 2009 and we've already seen 11 LBO-backed bankruptcies. That's up over the eight we had this time last year, but nowhere near the massive wave some were predicting. In fact, the size of these bankruptcies has also been much smaller than expected. The argument remains that mega-buyouts from the '06 and early '07 glory days have a few years before their debt matures. Judging by purchase price, the largest companies to go down are Star Tribune, the newspaper backed by Avista, sugar alternative maker Merisant Worldwide, backed by Pegasus Capital, and Bruno's Supermarkets, backed by Lone Star Funds. If TPG's Aleris files in the coming weeks as expected, it would take the prize. TPG purchased the struggling aerospace supplier for $3.3 billion in 2006. Find the spreadsheet after the jump.