Firms and Funds

PE firms entering China face a lot of headwinds. There's the idea that, aside from a few homeruns, most investments in the region are underwater. Or that LBOs have no liquid exit opportunities. Or that leverage isn't readily available. And of course there's the country's country's notoriously opaque and shifting legal system. "Investors must also file dozens of forms to local tax offices to complete legal registration of a deal or joint venture company. Different bureaucracies within the country make different demands," a recent Reuters story laments. Adding to the problems, sellers in the country like to "take advantage of (a U.S. dealmaker's) need to close a deal quickly," according Andrew Marino, a principal with The Carlyle Group. Speaking last night on a China-focused panel discussion sponsored by Ernst & Young and Columbia

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Harvest Capital Partners, a property investment firm backed by state conglomerate China Resources Group, aims to raise a new fund next year as its two existing property funds totalling US$1bn are fully invested. The firm, headquartered in Hong Kong and mainly funded by investors from the United States, the United Kingdom […]

AnaCap Financial Partners, a mid-market private equity firm focused on the European financial services sector, plans to close its second fund with €600 million in early 2009, according to LBO Wire. www.anacapfp.com

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – SAIF Partners, backed by Japan’s Softbank (9984.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), has completed raising 1.6 billion yuan for its first yuan-denominated private equity fund, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday. Major investors of the fund include Chinese private enterprises and some top-end domestic individual investors, said […]

Wayzata Investment Partners has closed its second distressed fund with $3.4 billion in committed capital, according to LBO Wire. www.wayzatainvestmentpartners.com

TORONTO (Reuters) – The Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, one of Canada’s largest institutional money managers, said on Monday that its president and chief executive would be away on medical leave longer than planned.   The Caisse has extended Richard Guay’s leave until Jan. 5, the pension fund manager said in a brief […]

Today the New York Times ran a story on Apollo not unlike the one I wrote last week. The main difference (aside from this ridiculous photo illustration) is the fact that Leon Black actually spoke with the Times. In the story, he offers a few vague answers to accusations made by both the peHUB article and the Times reporter. Linens N Things wasn’t that big of an investment. Dividend recaps “are what’s best for our investors.” The firm “underestimated” the housing market downturn. Et cetera. No mention of the firm’s IPO. No mention of the performance of Apollo’s debt investments. However, Black does offer the sound byte, “Private equity is dead,” perhaps to explain away his firm’s return-killing performance of late. The best line in the 3000 word story is Apollo’s response to this stated death of private equity: “We’ve totally turned into a bond house,” he declares. Reminds me of what Josh Harris said at

NEW YORK, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Rodman & Renshaw Capital Group Inc., a small U.S. investment bank, on Monday made an unsolicited offer to acquire rival Cowen Group Inc. for $7 a share, 17 percent above the New York firm’s Friday closing price. Cowen, a venerable Wall Street name that has struggled in the past […]

Ripplewood Holdings has suspended fund-raising for its third vehicle, according to LBO Wire. The firm had been targeting $2.5 billion for more than a year, but had not yet held a first close.

NEW YORK, Dec 7 (Reuters) – New York buyout firm Apollo’s co-founder Leon Black has predicted that traditional private equity is dead, and will remain so for a couple of years, the New York Times quoted him saying on Sunday. The financial crisis brought to an end lending for the leveraged buyout deals that private […]