Firms and Funds

Npower buys social housing maintenance business

**Updated with source and spokesperson comments below.** The secondary intermediary field isn't a crowded one. Until recently, your advisory options for unloading LP interests on the secondary market were limited to three established players: Cogent Partners, UBS, and Probitas Partners. It makes sense, since prior to last year, the demand for their services hasn't overwhelmed the market's existing players. But now, with distressed LPs selling at deep discounts, there's a renewed interest in the asset class by anyone and everyone, including, you guessed it, the investment banks.

Last month, Senator John Ensign (R-NV) introduced legislation that would have provided a temporary suspension of income taxes for companies buying back their own distressed debt. The plan did not make it into the Senate’s economic stimulus package, but Ensign nonetheless managed to get a compromise that would amount to a massive bailout for private equity-backed companies. For the uninitiated, companies are required to pay income tax on any “gains” made by buying back their own debt at reduced prices. For example, imagine that Wire Corp. negotiates with its lenders to buy back $1 billion worth of notes for $700 million. Wire Corp. would then be required to pay income tax on the $300 million difference. The original Ensign bill would have eliminated those taxes for 2009 and 2010, but the compromise would defer 2009 and 2010 payments until 2011 (at the earliest), and then allow them to be paid out over an eight-year period.

Seidler Equity Partners, a Marina Del Rey, Calif.-based private equity firm, is targeting $400 million for its fourth fund, according to LBO Wire. www.sepfunds.com

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China International Capital Corp (CICC), the country’s biggest investment bank, and government-owned Shanghai International Group (SIG) are setting up a private equity venture that will manage up to 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion), a senior CICC executive said on Wednesday. The new venture, to be named Golden Partners Capital, is aiming to […]

LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. private equity firm TPG has broken off talks to sell a stake in itself to investors including Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund and two California state pension funds, the Financial Times reported. The FT, citing people familiar with the matter, said the talks had spanned two years and broke down over valuing […]

New York fund-of-funds manager Siguler Guff is nearing the end of fundraising for two vehicles, according to recent regulatory filings and sources close to the firm. Siguler Guff has accumulated $914.682 million in commitments to its second BRIC fund-of-funds. The vehicle has a $1 billion target, which is a significant increase over its first BRIC fund vehicle. That fund, raised in March 2006, had $610 million in commitments. The fund's strategy is to invest in funds which target Brazil, Russia, India and China, with an emphasis on India and China. Patricia Dinneen, the fund's manager, declined to comment. Meanwhile, Siguler Guff also has secured around $2.3 billion in commitments for its third distressed fund-of-funds, which was being targeted at just $1.5 billion. A final close

Yucaipa Companies, the investment firm run by supermarket magnate Ron Burkle, is in the market with its second “American Alliance Fund,” according to a regulatory filing. To date, the fund has collected $1.52 billion in commitments. Meanwhile, a parallel fund called “American Alliance Parallel Fund II” has collected $462.5 million. Investors include New York City Employees' Retirement System, Teachers' Retirement System of the City of New York, and California Public Employees' Retirement System. CalPERS committed $400 million.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc plans to start auctioning its Japanese brokerage as early as this month, and the country’s top three banks are expected to bid in a deal likely to be worth up to US$3.4bn, sources with the knowledge of the matter said. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the […]

(Reuters) – Swiss bank UBS AG has held preliminary talks with Wells Fargo & Co’s (WFC.N) Wachovia Securities about forging a joint venture of the pair’s North American wealth-management units, the New York Post reported. It is unclear at what stage the discussions are in, or exactly what form a joint venture might take, the […]