Firms and Funds

UK mezzanine and leveraged loan investor Intermediate Capital Group states that the primary leveraged buyout market remains shut, but that there “continue to be very attractive investment opportunities in the secondary market for senior leveraged loans.” Releasing its interim management statement for the three months to 31 December 2008, ICG states that at its recent […]

TOKYO (Reuters) – Nomura Holdings Inc (8604.T), Japan’s largest brokerage, posted a record $3.8 billion quarterly loss, hit by costs related to buying Lehman Brothers’ operations, soured trades and exposure to Iceland and accused swindler Bernard Madoff. Nomura said it would cut some executive bonuses and salaries, not pay a dividend for the current quarter […]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Renaissance Acquisition Corp (RAK.A), a special purpose acquisition company, said on Monday it would liquidate after running out of time before it could purchase another company, as required by its charter. A special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, is a shell organization that uses money raised in an initial public offering […]

Preston-headquartered firm more than trebles investment

CMS Mezzanine, a new mezzanine fund managed out of Wynnewood, Penn., has raised $40 million toward its latest fund, a source familiar with the situation said. The firm held a first close for the $40 million in December and hopes to hold a final close on $50 million in the coming months. CMS Mezzanine in managed […]

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) next month will consider a recommendation that it increase its target private equity allocation from 9% to 12 percent. It also will discuss an increase of its real estate allocation from 12% to 15 percent. Read the recommendations here.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Apollo Management LP founder Leon Black said on Friday the private equity firm had finished raising its latest fund in December, with the final sum raised $14.8 billion — just shy of a $15 billion target. The fund, Fund VII, took about 16 months to raise and about 20-25 percent of it […]

Starting at noon, I'll be live-blogging a keynote speech given by Leon Black. I have three questions for the guy--we'll see if I'll actually get to ask them. (1) Will Apollo give money back to its investors? It does not need the $15 billion fund it just closed. (2) How much does Apollo expect to write down from fund four? (3) Has Apollo's sixth, or even seventh, fund bumped up against its 2% maximum for secondary sales? UPDATE: The liveblog is over, and for those uninterested in scrolling through comments from Dan, myself and others, follow the jump for a summary of the highlights.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Private equity firm Thomas H. Lee wrote down $524 million of its investments in Univision, Nielsen and Hawkeye in its latest fund, reflecting a decline in the value of the investments, according to a letter obtained by Reuters. The figures, for the three months to Sept. 30, were in a recent […]

Yesterday I wrote about the AICPA’s recent draft issues paper, which tackles ways for LPs to implement FASB 157. The story highlighted the opinions of a few unnamed LPs, who expressed frustrations with the paper’s guidelines, and several others left lengthy comments. (View that, along with the actual paper, here.) But that’s just one side of the coin. There are others who think these dissenters are just unhappy with mark-to-market in general, and that the ultimate outcome of the paper’s “considerations” would be a positive. In a few quarters, LPs will have more accurate holding values for LP portfolios, they say. One advisor I talked to said that LPs are angry because it means more work for them.