The giant Texas Teachers’ Retirement System committed more than $1.1 billion to private equity across seven investments in the fourth quarter, with some pledges going to long-time partners and some to new relationships…

This week there’s an opportunity to apply for an associate position with one of the global fund managing big boys, Blackstone.

Nine Entertainment‘s creditors have approved a $3.6 billion recapitalisation scheme that will see US hedge funds take control of the business, paving the way for a possible listing in 2014, writes Reuters. US hedge funds Oaktree Capital and Apollo Global Management will swap debt to take a 95.5 percent stake in the company. The breakdown between the two funds has not been disclosed.

European powerhouse CVC Capital Partners takes the crown in this week’s battle of the U.S. and European mega-buyout houses, securing first place in our list of top 10 funds based on private equity performance figures from California State Teachers’ Retirement System. U.S. and European firms both account for five of the top-10 spots with The Blackstone Group coming in a close second place.

Last week, we discovered which private equity firm was the biggest dealmaker. Now it’s time for the largest PE deals of the year. Global PE-backed M&A totaled $267 billion so far in 2012, a 12% drop from 2011, according to preliminary data from Thomson Reuters. Private equity-backed mergers targeting the U.S. reached roughly $137 billion year-to-date, a 7% decline from 2011.

It’s that time of year again. There’s only a few weeks left in 2012 and it’s time to find out which PE firm was the most active, and biggest, dealmaker this year. And the winner is…

In a surprise, the U.S. M&A market seems quite steady. There were 101 U.S. announced deals this week (Nov. 25 to Nov. 30), valued at $32.9 billion, according to data from Thomson Reuters. This compares to last year, when there were 82 U.S. announced mergers from Nov. 20 to Nov. 26 (the last full week of November), totaling about $24.5 billion.

The $83 billion State of Wisconsin Investment Board logged five private equity commitments totaling $340 million in the third quarter, according the system’s latest investment committee report. Three of the five commitments, about two-thirds of the total, were to funds with a European or Asian focus…

Apollo Global Management expects to commence fundraising efforts for Fund VIII soon, writes Reuters. Just under $1 billion has been raised so far for a natural resources fund, adds Reuters.

Apollo Global Management LLC, the alternative asset manager headed by billionaire Leon Black, reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings as the value of its assets soared and it sold stakes in some companies. Apollo said total economic net income (ENI) – a measure of profitability that takes into account the market value of its assets – was $434 million for the third quarter, compared with a $1.16 billion loss for the same period in 2011. This translated into ENI of 98 cents per share after taxes. The consensus view was for 73 cents, according to a poll of analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.