Firms and Funds

Tom Lee made his legacy doing LBOs. Based on today’s news of his massive losses on bad hedge fund plays, he may not want to stray from the buyout world again. Lucky for him, he’s nearing a close on a new pool of capital dedicated to just that. Lee Equity, the buyout fund Tom Lee launched in 2006, has raised more than $1 billion in commitments, a source familiar with the situation told peHUB. The fund plans to close with at least $1.5 billion in the coming months. According to a regulatory filing, limited partners include Teachers Retirements System of Texas. Bluff View Capital, Credit Suisse Securities, DAV/Weatherly Financial and Cambridge Financial Services provided advisory services. Beyond its namesake, Lee Equity is entirely separate from Tom Lee’s

(Reuters) – Private equity investor Thomas H. Lee may shrink or shut down two funds that had $1.5 billion in assets after suffering losses of about 40 percent this year, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation. Hard-hit hedge funds run by Lee farmed out investor money to about 110 other […]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – General Electric’s (GE.N) finance arm on Thursday launched a $5.5 billion debt sale backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, IFR reported. GE Capital is planning to offer $1 billion in 2-year floating-rate notes, expected to price at a spread of 63 basis points over the 3-month London interbank offered rate. […]

Huntsman Gay Capital Partners has hit the hard cap for its debut fund, but it isn't stopping there, according to a source familiar with the situation. The firm, formed by industrialist Jon Huntsman and former Bain Capital investor Bob Gay, had a $1.25 billion ceiling, according to a regulatory filing. Thanks to anchor commitments from limited partners like like CalPERS, CalSTRS, AlpInvest, C.V. Starr & Co., and GIC (Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission), the firm has hit that $1.25 figure, our source said. But instead of holding a final close, H&G has extended its fund's closing to accommodate a commitment from New York State Common Retirement Fund and possibly one

I'd like to introduce Anjan Mukherjee, a managing director at Blackstone Group (full bio below). He's also a member of Barack Obama's economic transition team, as co-lead of its Commodity Future Trading Commission Review process. The other co-lead is James Johnson, a white-collar criminal defense litigator with Debevoise & Plimpton. Mukherjee is on leave from Blackstone while he helps vet potential CFTC chief nominees. Any private equity FOB (Friend of Barack) can only be good news for the industry, although the CFTC regulates futures, which don't have much to do to with private equity. Unless, of course, you're a publicly traded, like Blackstone. And Blackstone isn't just a public investment firm. Similar to Fortress Investment Group, it's a public partnership rather than a corporation. That means it gets to be a publicly traded company but retain its private equity tax treatment on carried interest, unlike corporations.

We’ve been hearing rumors – or rumours — about layoffs at Apax Partners, but a firm spokesman says that we’ve been misinformed. Sort of. Apax is not making any cuts due to current market conditions, as are firms like 3i and The Carlyle Group. Instead, it is going through an annual employee assessment program that […]

ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss bank Credit Suisse said on Thursday it was cutting 11 percent of its workforce, or 5,300 jobs, as it revealed it made a net loss of about 3 billion Swiss francs ($2.5 billion) in October and November. The bank said the loss, primarily in investment banking, where most of the job […]

Pequot Capital has closed its third special opportunities fund with $453 million in capital commitments, according to LBO Wire. The firm’s second special opportunities fund had closed four years ago with $200 million. www.pequotcap.com

Ares Management has postponed the final closing of its third corporate opportunities fund into 2009, according to LBO Wire. The Los Angeles-based firm already has secured more than $3 billion for the fund, which has a $4 billion target. www.aresmgmt.com

(Reuters) – Investment firms D.E. Shaw & Co and Farallon Capital Management LLC have limited client withdrawals from certain of their funds, Bloomberg said on Thursday. The two join more than 80 hedge fund managers which have imposed restrictions in the past two months, the news agency said. New York-based D.E. Shaw, which oversees $36 […]