Firms and Funds

LONDON (Reuters) – British bank Barclays Plc (BARC.L) is raising 7.3 billion pounds ($12.1 billion) from investors from Qatar, Abu Dhabi and elsewhere to allow it to avoid taking UK government rescue cash, it said on Friday. The fundraising is being made through a range of complex capital instruments, which could see Middle East investors […]

LONDON (Reuters) – Investors in private equity funds see returns falling from recent heady levels but remain confident they will stay within the 15 to 20 percent range, research and consultancy group Preqin said. Private equity investors have enjoyed exceptional returns in recent years as readily available debt allowed them to exit investments at high […]

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) on Thursday said it had signed a preliminary agreement with private equity firm Blackstone Group (BX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to invest $2 billion each in the north Asian country. “Blackstone plans to invest in alternative asset categories such as infrastructure and real estate as […]

HarbourVest Partners has backed out of a signed agreement to acquire a large LP stake on the secondary market, peHUB has learned. The Boston-based firm is using a material adverse change (MAC) clause as one of its causes of action, having originally agreed to the transaction prior to the past month’s market volatility. Sources say […]

First Reserve Corp. is expecting to hold a $2 billion close on its twelfth fund this Friday, bringing its capital commitments up to $8 billion, according to LBO Wire. The firm is holding a series of rolling closes as its targets $12 billion. www.firstreserve.com

Private equity firm Bridgepoint has closed its fourth European buyout fund after exceeding its fund-raising target by more than 20%. Active mid-market private equity fund raisings have increased sharply to about 1,600 from 1,300 in January, according to research from consultancy Preqin. The growth has come as the credit crunch stymies larger players which have […]

UK-headquartered independent merchant bank Close Brothers has opened a new office in Zurich, Switzerland and appointed Jürg Glesti as head of its Swiss operations. Close Brothers believes demand for independent financial advice is growing and is building up its international business. It recently acquired the remaing stakes in its French and Spanish operations. The firm […]

Tenaska Capital Management has closed its second fund with $2.4 billion in capital commitments. The Omaha, Neb.-based firm focuses on private equity opportunities in the u.S. energy industry. Greenhill & Co. served as fund placement agent.

Not likely. I am in the same boat as most LPs out there: Regarding fund size, let’s not let our eyes get bigger than our stomachs. I’m talking to you, mega-buyouts. What is the point of a giant fund to follow a strategy that is no longer plausible?  In recent months, plenty of LPs have […]

Water and Wine were once two forms of liquidity that PE firms don’t deal directly in. Not anymore. Last week PE world’s first wine-focused firm, Bacchus Capital Management, made its first investment. Today Aramid Capital Partners, a movie fund that backed the Oliver Stone film W., entered the market with a new fund. If you […]