Second Opinion

Ouch: WSJ Columnist David Weidner agrees with Josh Kosman's book, the Buyout of America, calling you all ‘Barbarians by Any Other Name." Check out this column and video on the topic: (WSJ) Private Equity Goes A-Vulturing: PE firms have spent over $4 billion acquiring bankrupt companies in 2009. (Pitchbook) The Relentless Rise of Power Jeans: The Wall Street Journal explains how Obama and hedge funders are making jeans acceptable in positions of power...Thus, POWER JEANS! Not *Quite* as awesome as Tina Fey's Mom Jeans or Michael Scott's Fun Jeans. (WSJ) If You Want to IPO a Portfolio Company: You need to have skin in the game. (Reuters) New York Venture Capital: Startups Rise from the Wreckage of New York's Financial System (Wired)

GMAC = Insanity: Mean Street believes that the three-time bailout of GMAC is plain insanity. (Deal Journal) The Three Habits:...of highly irritating management gurus (Economist) How To Do Better Due Diligence: "Most PE firms have no idea if the company they are about to acquire knows how to execute." (Dealscape) Big Deals in Europe: KKR, Cinven, TPG and Blackstone are circling discount retailer Matalan. (FT) FYI: Bloomberg will no longer provide your daily ego boost. (Dealbreaker)

Excited about Exits? Reformed Broker said its "Too soon, guys." Then he adds a second "too soon" after that in case you didn't catch the tone of slight condescension. (Seems he would prefer you exit your "weak, debt-laden offerings" companies during the next bubble.) (Reformed Broker) Creative Deal Structures 101: In case you're just discovering the "How do I do deals in a credit crunch?" conundrum, here is a guide to creative earn-outs and other financing techniques. (NetNewsDesk) From the Campaign Trail with Steve Pagliuca: "Or ‘Pags,' as no one except his campaign literature calls him." (Boston.com) See! Look! Positive News! Boy private equity is taking a drubbing in the press lately. With all this buyout bashing, Dealscape writes that the fickle mainstream media is ignoring private equity's great successes, like Toys ‘R' Us. (I'd prefer to call Toys ‘R' Us a success once it's been exited.) I'm not sure private equity firms need media love, but if they wanted it, they could start by giving us more data to work with. Besides, they have the PEC to toot their horns, and also, aren't they rich white men with tons of cash? They don't need journalists do stick up for them.

Tech Targets: Technology stocks are hot again. Here are 10 technology companies that Barron's views as takeover candidates. (Barron's, sub. req.) If you don't subscribe, this Dealscape post covers most of the story. Looking for Work in Private Equity? Here are some "resume eye catchers" from FINS.com, a job hunting site for financial pros. (Fins) Not Positive Evidence: One-third of the return from private equity transactions stems from the use of leverage, according to possibly the largest ever analysis of the European market. (FT) RIP Geocities: Today, Yahoo buried a painful chapter in its history. It shut down GeoCities, a social-networking site that it paid $4.7 billion for in 1999, one year after GeoCities went public and before it had even turned a profit. (Deal Journal) If you're a fan of internet geek comic, XKCD, check out its redesigned homepage tribute to DIY websites of yore, little "Under Construction" man and all. [Update: It was a one-day only tribute, so if you're just seeing this now, ya missed it.] Big Bloggy Debates: What if insider trading isn't such a bad thing? Clusterstock has argued as such, and thanks to the vehement commenter response, the site has opened the floor for compelling counterarguments. Best one gets its own post, apparently. (Clusterstock)

Catchy: The return of the Why-P.O. (The Reformed Broker via Abnormal Returns) Analysis: Amend & Extend, as told to Bloomberg. peHUB also covered this portfolio company saving move here and here. Ever Heard of Activist Mezzanine Investors? Neither had I. Here's one example. (Neal Unmack) Columbia Business School Admissions Tips: Mary Miller fields questions from potential applicants about getting into the elite MBA program, located in the business capital of the world (BusinessWeek)

Justify Yourselves Once Again: Ah, yes, the age-old question. Does private equity create value? Here's one brand new post on the topic via the Harvard Law Blog, and here's a teaser for a brand new book on the topic (which argues decidedly against private equity) called the Buyout of America by Josh Kosman. Icahn't: Carl Icahn is so over blogging. (Hedge Hub) To LPs: You have an advocate. And he says you deserve more information. (James Bachman) How NOT To Get A Job on Wall Street: A tale of Jeffrey Chiang, a guy who saw several hiring processes going very, very sideways. Probably around the time he manufactured a competing offer email and spelled the firm's name (Bank of America) wrong. Yikes. The Pay Czar May Like This Data: More compensation does not make people more motivated and better at their jobs after a certain level, according to a new study. (Adam Pasick)

Things That Make You Go Hmm: The Journal is reporting that a firm called Iogi Energy has offered to buy $1 billion of CIT debt. Setting aside the headline confusion over the firm's misspelled name, there's something suspect about this offer. Reuters said the offer raises questions, as its from an obscure hedge fund which would not reveal its source of financing. If it is legit, it won't be the first unsolicited offer CIT has received for its assets. Earlier this month Wilbur Ross told Reuters (and peHUB) he has approached the troubled lender with interest in certain assets if it were to sell them. Diamond in the Nasty Rough? 3 Reasons to buy American Capital stock, as of last week. (Motley Fool) PIPE Me Up: Deal activity in the PIPE market returned to historical levels in the third quarter, albeit at lower levels of capital investment. Private Raise via Private Equity Beat Party's Over: Analysts expect brewer Anheuser-Busch Inbev to bring its asset disposal programme to an end, which has generated three of the 10 largest private equity deals this year. (Financial News, Sub. required)

Who's Powerful in New York? Not buyout pros! At least according to New York Mag's "power dozen" list, which includes private equity reformer Andrew Cuomo, and Mike Fishman, a chapter president of another private equity enemy, the SEIU. (NY Mag) What, No Thanks? The Wall Street giants that received a financial lifeline from Washington may have no compunction about paying big bonuses to their dealmakers and traders. (Dealbook) Lehman's Collapse Unveiled: Recently unsealed court documents show some interesting email exchanges in the hours before the Lehman/Barclays deal. The Wall Street Journal's Bankruptcy Beat has the best line from an email from Alex Kirk, Lehman's key negotiator: "Rich Ricci [of Barclays] just told me he won't blow up this trade by being a pig."

Resilient Wreckers: Despite being accused of "fashioning the wrecking balls and training many of the demolition crews that have wreaked such havoc in the economy over the past two years," business schools have been pretty resilient. (Economist) Legal Troubles: Solaia Capital isn't going to let Patriot National Bank slip off the hook he'd baited with $50 million. (News Times) Have You Read Carl Icahn's Letter to CIT Yet? He called CIT's new restructuring plan "a bad-faith attempt to buy votes," saying it was "reminiscent of the old Tammany political machine's vote-getting tactics." Say what you will, the man writes a good letter. (Reuters) Why Birthdays Are Important in the New Facebook Redesign: "The "gifts" feature is also currently the center of the fledgling e-commerce plans that Facebook has been bouncing around for quite some time now." (CNET)

Larry Summers is turning Populist: Big Finance vs. The Middle Class (Real Times Economics) In Defense of Smart Bankers: Yesterday I linked to Calvin Trillin's NYT op-ed that proclaimed the financial collapse was caused by smart people. Here is one rebuttal from Dealscape, and one defense from Felix Salmon. Private Equity Mad Libs: Here is just about any given headline about a private equity deal, fill in the blanks. "_______(deal) signifies private equity is ______(choose one: back, still dead)." Here are two from today: Brewing deal marks dawning of new PE era A Private-Equity Rebirth Is Premature Watch out: Goldman Sachs has pissed off a group of nuns. From what I can remember of Catholic school, that is the last thing you ever want to do. (Business Insider)