PE & VC veterans and alums rubbed elbows at Harvard Business School over the weekend–but each asset class sang a distinctly different tune.

PE pros aren’t terribly bullish outside the US nowadays.

The big news today is that Facebook is reportedly planning to register to go public next week. It should come as no surprise, then, that our most popular post this week was about this year’s prime IPO candidates. Other hot topics included the above-average performance of the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System’s PE portfolio, a surge in VC investing and promotions at Carlyle and TA Associates. Here are the top 10 posts peHUB’s regular readers found most compelling from Jan. 23 to Jan. 27

1. Slideshow: Bring on the 2012 IPO Candidates – by Joanna Glasner
2. Scorecard: San Francisco Builds A Winning PE Portfolio – by David Toll
3. Venture Investing Rebounds In 2011 With Early Stage Leaping To A 10 Year High: Slideshow – by Mark Boslet
4. Aydin Senkut Recalls a Game of Pool with Aaron Levie Led Him to Milo.com: PHOTOS – by Alastair Goldfisher
5. Slideshow: Smart Grid, Smart Play? – by Jonathan Marino
6. TA Associates Promotes Eight – by peHUB staff
7. Carlyle Promotes 41 Execs – by peHUB staff
8. Global PE M&A Does Well in 2011 – by Angela Sormani
9. TransDigm Group Acquires AmSafe Global – by peHUB staff
10. Battery, Bay and USVP Could See 22x Return from Guidewire IPO – by Lawrence Aragon

Here are the 10 posts that garnered the most unique pageviews from peHUB’s regular readers from Jan. 9 to 13. Coming in at No. 1 was David Toll’s top 10 funds of funds list.
1. Returns Scorecard: 10 Top Funds of Funds – by  David Toll
2. Venture-Backed IPO, M&A Markets Might Be Best Thought of as Above Average in 2011: Slideshow – by Mark Boslet
3. New York City Pensions Commit $880 Million to Four Funds – by Gregory Roth
4. Slideshow: Euro Venture Fundraising Takes a Tumble – by Angela Sormani
5. An MBA on Becoming Relevant to an Industry “That’s Doing Fine Without You” – by Connie Loizos
6. Slideshow: The Private Equity Exodus (subscribers only) – by Angela Sormani
7. New Buyout Shop In Philly? – by Bernard Vaughan
8. Carlyle Founders See Big Payday in 2011 – by Greg Roumeliotis, Reuters
9. Sixpoint’s Zoller Fundraising Tips for GPs: Talk to Your LPs and Have a Plan Before You Market – by Luisa Beltran
10. Under Romney, Bain Generated Major Gains and Some Busts, WSJ Says; Plus “When Mitt Romney Came to Town” Video – by Luisa Beltran

It’s only the first week of the New Year and already there’s been a lot of news. Stocks are rebounding, Kodak is reportedly filing for bankruptcy and Blackstone looks like it has finally finished raising its $16 billion mega fund.

Looking back at 2011, what PE story stood out the most for you? Check one of the boxes in our poll or fill in the blank.

GE Transportation, a maker of rail and transportation-related products, has acquired software provider RMI from The Carlyle Group. The acquisition will expand GE Transportation’s software and optimization solutions business to serve railroad customers worldwide. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. PRESS RELEASE GE Transportation, the world’s leading maker of rail and transportation-related products, announced [...]

Quizno’s has a new debt deal (and unexceptional sandwiches)

Carlyle’s gettin’ thirsty

More Food deals to come in ’12?

Is Cerberus going to get beat up by a bunch of nurses?

KRG Capital completes an exit

His Name is Mudd and he’ll be taking some time off from Fortress soon

Feeling Gassy: First Reserve strikes a deal

Private equity firm Carlyle Group is buying a 42 percent stake in Saudi food company Al Jammaz Group, writes Reuters. The acquisition will be Carlyle’s second in Saudi Arabia and its fifth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, reports Reuters. (Reuters) – Private equity firm Carlyle Group is buying a 42 percent [...]

French bank Société Générale is selling property loans worth more than 600 million euros ($801 million) reports Reuters. The Financial Times said it believes SocGen has invited a range of companies including private equity groups like Blackstone, Carlyle, Lone Star and Oak Tree and Italian hedge fund Chenavar to bid for the loans, writes Reuters. [...]

The Carlyle Group has sold part of its stake in Triumph Group to Morgan Stanley, acting as underwriter for the offering. Upon completion of the offering, investment funds and other entities associated with The Carlyle Group will own approximately 9.5% of the common stock of Triumph Group. PRESS RELEASE Triumph Group today announced that the [...]