Firms and Funds

It’s been seven months since Bear Stearns went broke, but Bear Stearns Merchant Banking has doggedly stuck to its moniker. Well, it actually asked everyone to call it BSMB (and even put out a press release reaffirming its independence), but we all knew what the BS stood for. Now, however, it seems that even BSMB […]

Yaletown Venture Partners has held an initial $65 million close toward Yaletown Ventures II LP, a clean-tech and IT venture firm based in Western Cananda. Press release: Yaletown Venture Partners Launches $100 Million Second Fund with $65 Million Initial Closing Vancouver-based Yaletown Will Continue Investing in Early-Stage Clean-tech & IT Companies in Western Canada and […]

Carl Thoma has been in the private equity industry for 27 years, weathering the Drexel Burnham blow-up of the late 1980s and the tech and telecom meltdown of the early 2000s. As reported last week, Thoma Bravo's new fund is nearing its final close after lowering its initial target by nearly half. The $800 million pool of capital will be Carl Thoma's ninth buyout vehicle since getting his start under the name Golder Thoma in 1980. After the jump, a Q&A with him on everything from lending terms to Lent, from evaluations to "ego and greed."

Thoma Bravo is nearing the final stages of raising its first fund since the departure of partner Bryan Cressey. The firm — formerly known as Thoma Cressey Bravo (and before that, Golder Thoma) — split with Cressey last year, when he decided to launch a firm devoted exclusively to the healthcare sector. The new fund, managing director Carl Thoma’s ninth, had […]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Greenhill & Co (GHL.N), a merger advisory company viewed as having limited exposure to the credit crisis, reported a third-quarter loss on Friday, driven by the falling value of its merchant bank investments. Compared with the big financial supermarkets on Wall Street that engaged in corporate lending and mortgages, boutiques like […]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – PNC Financial Services Group Inc agreed to buy Ohio’s National City Corp in a $5.6 billion transaction that would save the ailing Cleveland-based bank. PNC said the transaction values National City at $2.23 per share — a value roughly 19 percent below the Thursday closing price of $2.75. Each National City […]

Arx Equity Partners has held an €83 million first close on its third fund, which will focus on mid-market opportunities in Central and Eastern Europe.   PRESS RELEASE Arx Equity Partners (“Arx”) held the first close of its third dedicated Central and Eastern Europe focused lower mid-market fund at € 83 million. Arx is targeting […]

The Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System has approved a $25 million commitment to the Yucaipa American Alliance Fund II.

LONDON (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc plans to cut about 3,260 jobs, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday. That represents about 10 percent of the total staff of the New York-based bank, the source said. The bank has so far suffered the least damage in its peer group in the global […]

(Reuters) – Former Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Sanford Weill is in talks to launch a private equity fund that would invest in beaten-down financial companies and assets, the Wall Street Journal reported. Weill has in recent weeks reached out to potential investors, including sovereign-wealth funds, outlining his strategy and […]