Second Opinion

KKR Turns Vulture Investor: LBO Kings are turning to bankruptcy courts to make acquisitions. (Bloomberg) Flunkin' Donuts: "Dunkin' runs on lawsuits." The pastry chain owned by Bain Capital, Carlyle Group and THL Partners is treating its franchise owners badly, the New York Post reports. IPO TIME! Everyone celebrate. But wait. There is such a thing as IPOs increasing to a level that is too high, reports the Wall Street Journal. (WSJ sub. req.) Nice Guys Finish First: Finally, a whistleblower has been rewarded with a commensurate reward for his risk. Dealzone writes that it feels good to applaud the $51.5 million windfall John Kopchinski is getting for his six-year legal battle with Pfizer, the world's biggest pharmaceutical company, which resulted in a record $2.3 billion penalty for drug pushing transgressions. (Dealzone) Hiring? Why not trialing? Private Equiteer asks, if you wouldn't marry someone you only met for a few hours, why would you agree to hire someone before a trial? (Private Equiteer)

Salt In The Wound: New York State's $116 billion pension fund lost money on five of 12 of the private equity investments cited in federal and state corruption probes, the state comptroller said on Wednesday. (peHUB) Fresh Capital: China Life Insurance is considering a move into private equity investments. (Alt Assets) Hey Buyout Shops: You're at a turning point. What do you do? (Newsweek) Wow: This bank is running running a cash-for-cheese loan scheme with some Parmigianino Reggiano worth $200 million. (BBC) What's the New Normal? Can we identify any fundamental shifts in the model, changes that will last for 3-5 years, not 3-5 months? (Carried Interest)

Regrettable Statements: Robert Benmosche, the CEO of AIG, said he regrets comments he made to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in which he said Cuomo "doesn't deserve to be in government" and had acted like a "criminal." (Dealzone) Down With Private Equity, It Seems: The Reuters blogging team is on a rampage against private equity of the leveraged variety this week. Matthew Goldstein is against-leverage and writes that we should require a 50% equity contribution on all buyouts all because Clear Channel was a stupid deal. (Matthew Goldstein) Road to TV Glory: A New York Cab driver has penned a TV pilot about M&A. (NY Post) Meltdown Anniversary Watch: The Lehman anniversary is coming up on Sept. 15. Joe Nocera's idea-"Don't look over there for an understanding of the meltdown, look over here"-may survive as the most rational. (Big Money)

Charities find unlikely new champion in private equity: "The slash and burn culture of private equity seems ill-suited to the warm and well-meaning charity sector. But perhaps that is just what the latter needs." By applying private equity best practices to charities, one firm has increased the number of people they help by an average of 53p% every year over a five-year period. (Telegraph) The Bailout Bonanza: TARP's early returns are impressive. (Newsweek) Demerging markets: Private equity emerging markets are seen as being down in '09. (Reuters) OpEd: The New York Times approves of the FDIC's rules for private equity investment in failed banks. (NYT) More Positivity: More PE Groups in Europe have hinted that the worst is over for the industry. (FT) Don't Waste Time When You Travel: 10 tactics for being productive while traveling. (Lifehacker) CIC is Back: "As the effects of the credit crunch continue to ease, Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp. is aiming to capitalize on the drop in valuations to load up on investments in private equity, hedge funds investments and funds-of-funds." (Dealscape)

On The Market: Blackstone Group Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman has listed a 2.1-acre property in East Hampton, N.Y., for $7.2 million. Don't worry. He's wrapping up work on a house he's building on a 9.9-acre estate in nearby Water Mill, which he bought for $34 million in 2005. (NY Times) Rebuttals: The Private Equiteer takes issue with the Economist's "scathing" piece on the puzzle of private equity. Particularly the line which states that you are far more likely to achieve billionaire status by running an asset management business than by setting up an operating business. (Private Equiteer) Deals Deals Deals: Terra Firma purchased a wind energy business for $350 million. (Reuters) Deal Journal calls the deal "a bold move." (DJ) The Most Powerful Banker You've Never Heard of: Lewis Kaden is the ultimate behind-the-scenes power player. Lobbying the White House for Citi may be his biggest role yet. (BusinessWeek) Good News and Bad News: For the FDIC there's a long tunnel and little light. (Rolfe Winkler) But, you know, don't worry about the FDIC. (Felix Salmon)

Law Firms Not Hiring: This fall, law students are competing for half as many openings at big firms as they were last year in what is shaping up to be the most wrenching job search season in over 50 years. (NY Times) But Hedge Funds Are: "As returns have improved and redemptions slowed, some funds have grown confident enough about attractive investment opportunities to take on staff, particularly marketing executives to help lure back assets, operations staff and fund managers in popular strategies." (Reuters) Q&A: AIG's stock shot up today on the Reuters story that the firm's new CEO has reached out to former CEO Hank Greenberg. The three-hour interview with Benmosche is posted: (Reuters) Via Abnormal Returns: Blackstone Group (BX) has become the leading manager of hedge fund of funds. (NY Post)

The big PE news today was obviously the FDIC and private equity's investments in failed banks. You can find our coverage of that here. Fortune's Take on it: Regulators cleaning up after bank failures showed Wednesday how far they're willing to reach out for help. (Fortune) How to Give a Lousy Presentation: Fifteen ways to make a bad impression. Some of these are totally obvious, but number 11 or 9 always seem to get overlooked. (BusinessWeek) Big Questions: What good does private equity do? (My answer: They create value, duh.) (Economist) Results: NB Private Equity earnings rose this quarter. (WSJ) PE Interview: "The era of highly leveraged, high-priced private equity deals is being replaced in Germany by smaller acquisitions focused on long-term growth," according to Lewin Berner. (WSJ)

Leverage is Back! Is Warner Chilcott's highly leveraged deal for P&G's pharma business a good thing? (Felix Salmon, Research Recap) More New Lenders: The former head of Carlyle's leveraged finance division is hanging his own shingle. (Bloomberg) IPO Fever Cont... More private companies are going public-and the new companies are outperforming blue chips. (Businessweek) Extra! Extra! The Wall Street Journal is trying too hard to break a big story. (Business Insider) In Defense of the MBA: A University of Washington professor argues that the degree isn't the problem, it's the solution-to poorly run companies, unethical managers, and a crippled economy (BW)

Welcome to the inadvertently longest Second Opinion links list of all time. The Private Equity Model Needs To Be Overhauled: "They are used to striding into offices, slashing costs and throwing out dead wood." (Telegraph) On the Other Hand: Wipeouts likely won't kill private equity (Breakingviews) But you already knew that. Advent's Purchase of Charlotte Russe: Is a big PR failure and probably a good first-deal lesson on the part of new buyout firm KarpReilly, founded by alumni of Apax Partners. (peHUB) You may remember the firm took a minority stake in the company and then made an unsolicited take-private offer last year (for around half of what Advent is paying, to boot). That offer happened to mentioned that the firm could make an even lower bid. It was rebuffed, and the shareholders later rejected the firm's attempt to get board seats as well. The firm eventually withdrew its bid. Read the history of that mess here. Postcards from the Hamptons: How is that vacation spot for the rich holding up? According to Dealbook, One restaurant manager said: "I think we're probably not seeing as much money being spent on really, really expensive wine," she said, "but people are still buying wine." (DB) Imagining a Profitable YouTube: "Google executives say that day is coming, but they've been vague about when." (SFGate) Lloyd Blankfein Goes Into Panic Mode: The Goldman Sachs bad press machine continues today with a hit piece on the firm's "trader huddles" in this mornings Wall Street Journal. Today CNBC talking head Charlie Gasparino wrote on the Daily Beast that "Wall Street CEO who considers himself a friend of the Goldman CEO" said Blankfein "looks like shit," these days. Tactful. Read about more of Blankfein's travails at Cityfile.

Is the Sears cupboard bare? Lampert's Strategy Is Hobbling Sears. (WSJ) Cerberus Walkaway: Clients of Cerberus Capital Management's core hedge funds have opted to withdraw the majority of money from the funds, marking a sharp rebuke to the weakened firm and its boss Stephen Feinberg. (WSJ) Simply Nursery? Some Twitterspam is too priceless not to share. It seems this adorable toddler is interested in mergers & acquisitions. (Twitter) KKR In Japan: Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts and Permira are vying to acquire Citigroup-owned BellSystem24, Japan's largest telemarketer, in a deal that would be one of the largest private equity investments in Japan this year. (FT) CLO Technique to Fund Private Equity Deals: Private equity firm Kidd & Co. has devised a novel securitization strategy that would finance investments in distressed-company debt. (Asset-Backed Alert)