Firms and Funds

LGT Capital Partners has raised $373 million for its Crown Asia-Pacific Private Equity fund-of-funds.

Drum Capital Management this month expects to hold a $150 million first close for its third distressed debt and turnaround fund-of-funds, according to Buyouts Magazine. The firm began fund-raising last quarter with a $500 million target. www.drumcapital.com

Onex Corp. announced that it has secured US$3 billion in third-party capital commitments for its third fund, with a target of $3.5 billion. The firm also announced, however, that it will temporarily reducing its own commitment to the fund from $1 billion to $500 million.

Prosperity Capital, a $3 billion international fund manager that invests in Russia and the CIS, is warning of another Yukos-type situation occurring because of a major dispute it has with two controversial “billionaire” oligarchs, Mikhail Prokhorov and Leonid Lebedev. Prokhorov hit the headlines in 2007 when he was arrested in the ski resort of Courchevel, […]

Ireland’s Government has taken the ultimate route and nationalised one of its three major lenders. Anglo Irish Bank was taken into state hands on Thursday night after fears that is might collapse in the wake of the continuing economic crisis. The Irish finance minister Brian Lenihan said in a statement: “Anglo Irish Bank is a […]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc (C.N) has earmarked its Japanese retail brokerage operation, Nikko Cordial Securities, for sale, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday. Citigroup, which revealed an $8.3 billion quarterly loss on Friday, said Nikko Cordial Securities, Japan’s No. 3 brokerage in assets, will be categorized as a […]

SEOUL (Reuters) – Private equity firm Blackstone Group (BX.N) will launch a unit in South Korea this month to buy companies and real estate assets for a combined $2 billion from cash-strapped domestic firms, a report said on Monday. The Maeil Business Newspaper cited the finance and economy ministries and the National Pension Service (NPS) […]

The $26 billion Arizona State Retirement System, a newcomer to private equity, is searching for one or more separate-account managers to commit roughly $1 billion over three years. RFPs were issued in October, and responses were due in mid-December. “We have just started evaluating proposals. I don’t expect any awards earlier than March 31, if […]

(Reuters) – General Electric Co’s GE Capital unit will cut between 7,000 and 11,000 jobs, the CNBC television channel reported on Friday, citing sources. GE had said it would reduce costs at GE Capital by about $2 billion this year, according to the report. A GE spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment. GE […]

(Reuters) – Sun Hung Kai Financial (0086.HK) on Friday said it was launching a $100 million fund that will partner with Paulson & Co and its distressed asset investment fund that focuses on financial companies. Sun Hung Kai said Paulson, run by legendary investor John Paulson who made billions of dollars betting against the U.S. […]