Home Firms and Funds
Firms and Funds
Yesterday’s big news was that Sun Capital Partners laid off a little more than 10% of its 200-person staff. I first predicted PE firm layoffs months ago and have been covering them ever since, but this one really took me by surprise. If any firm should be immune from layoffs, shouldn’t it be Sun? This is a firm focused on distressed opportunities, which means that these should be its salad days. How do you cut folks when deal-flow should be at a record high? Particularly when your investment model is to eschew leverage whenever possible? It’s certainly true that Sun has been racking up portfolio company bankruptcies, but that’s just a reflection of the firm’s bad judgment during the boom times (really, how is a retailer struggling in 2006 going to be better off today?). It shouldn’t color plans going forward when the macro environment has flipped into Sun’s favor.
TA Associates is planning to raise $3.5 billion for its next buyout fund, and $750 million for its next subordinated debt fund, according to LBO Wire. The Boston-based firm is expecting to hold a first close on the buyout fund by April 30. www.ta.com
Royal Bank of Scotland is understood to be considering selling its 4.3% stake in Bank of China following chief executive Stephen Hester’s visit to Beijing this week. Hester, who replaced Fred Goodwin after the bank was rescued by the UK government last October and a former chief of British Land, reportedly met with Bank of […]
PCG Asset Management has opened an office in Singapore. It will be led by Jean-Noël Odier, formerly in charge of BNP Paribas' wealth management platform for family offices in Asia.
Tomorrow is January 8, and for many GE Capital employees, that means D-Day. peHUB reported in December that the GE Capital and its mid-market lending subsidiary, GE Antares, had suspended a planned round of planned layoffs until January 8, in order to implement a new, lower severance package plan. We haven't been able to confirm specifics, but rumors are that the severance package may be less than two weeks salary for each year of service. Perhaps the pitiful severance package isn't surprising, given the pressure on financial firms to curb executive pay. But since GE has not recieved any TARP money yet, that's hardly a valid excuse.
Monitor Clipper Partners has closed its third buyout fund with $500 million in capital commitments, according to LBO Wire. It had been targeting $800 million. www.monitorclipper.com
This is what happens when tens of thousands of laid-off bankers have a lot of time on their hands. They create YouTube videos of Bernard Madoff rapping. About Libor. And 2 & 20. If that didn't sate your novelty Madoff hunger, there's the Bernard Madoff ringtone, comprised of phrases from his famous "fraud" speech. Both via Cityfile.
Gunflint Capital has launched as a new boutique I-bank based in Edina, Minnesota. It is run by Bill Cavanagh, who previously was a principal with Counsel Funding Partners and a vice president with Bayview Capital.
Pfingsten Partners of Chicago has formed Sangamon Industries LLC, a special purpose vehicle that will make investments in underperforming or distressed manufacturing and distribution businesses. The move is concurrent to Pfingsten beginning to invest out of its $525 million fourth fund, which closed in Q2 2008.
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Top U.S. lender Bank of America (BAC.N) raised $2.83 billion from selling part of its holding in China Construction Bank (0939.HK) and Hong Kong’s richest tycoon followed by selling a $500 million stake in rival Bank of China (3988.HK). Shares in China’s big banks skidded on Wednesday after Bank of America’s […]