Resort Finance America has acquired a controlling interest in PH Towers Westgate from Westgate Resorts. RFA is owned by Centerbridge Capital Partners and management. The business will provide asset management services for this project through its Lantern Asset Management affiliate. RFA has appointed Hilton Grand Vacations to rebrand the property. PRESS RELEASE Resort Finance America, [...]

The New Jersey State Investment Council, which faces a significant unfunded liability gap for the pension funds it manages, appears to be looking to alternative investments as one way to meet its obligations. Earlier this year, according to peHUB sister magazine Buyouts, the state raised its allocation cap on alternative investments — including private equity, [...]

Berkshire Hathaway has joined the group bidding for Citigroup’s consumer lending unit OneMain, formerly known as CitiFinancial, Reuters wrote Wednesday, citing a report in the Wall Street Journal. Buffett’s company joins a consortium consisting of private-equity firm Centerbridge Capital Partners and Leucadia National Corp. OneMain is expected to fetch more than $8 billion, Reuters reported.

Centerbridge Capital Partners and Leucadia National Corp. have launched a joint bid for Citigroup’s consumer lending unit, Reuters reported, citing a Bloomberg report. The size of the bid is not known. Citigroup has been selling assets as part of a move to simplify the company’s business. With their bid, Centerbridge and Leucadia join three other bids for the unit, which is known as OneMain, Reuters said.

Now, for a bit of crowing.

Centerbridge Capital Partners LP, a New York buyout shop, announced yesterday that it had acquired Rock Bottom Restaurants and Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Group. The companies will operate as subsidiaries of CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries, the holding company formed by Centerbridge. There are no plans to to rebrand or close any units, according to a statement.

Financial terms weren’t announced. Rock Bottom was owned by founder Frank Day and his investment goup while Gordon Biersch Brewery was majority owned by Hancock Park Associates. Both are selling. Day will serve as chairman of Craftworks. Allen Corey, an original investor of Gordon Biersch and the company’s CEO, will become president and CEO of Craftworks.

I reported in October that Centerbridge was in talks to acquire Rock Bottom, which operates 102 casual dining restaurants, including 38 Brewery restaurants and 64 Old Chicago restaurants.

The New York-based private equity firm Centerbridge Capital Partners is forming a holding company to operate two recently acquired companies: Rock Bottom Restaurants and Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Groups. The new outfit, CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries, will focus on beer-focused, casual dining restaurants, of which it now already controls nearly 200 across the U.S. PRESS RELEASE: Chattanooga, [...]

In 2008 and 2009, distressed debt was the most in-demand private equity strategy for institutional investors. And it doesn’t seem to have cooled off this year, despite a recovering economy and general sluggishness within the private equity fundraising market.

Oaktree Capital Management, Centerbridge Partners, Lone Star and MHR Fund Management are just a few large distressed debt firms currently raising new funds.

There are a number of reasons these players are likely to find success. For starters, they are riding the coattails of last year’s blockbuster year for distressed debt (i.e., strong strack records). Admittedly, debt is trading around par this year — and much of the upside for distressed debt plays is behind us — but timing concerns rarely dampen LP enthusiasm.

“Aside from the limits of the market opportunity, most investors are still looking to deploy capital in that space,” said Jérémie Le Febvre, a partner with fund placement agent Triago. One reason, he explained, is that many investors remain overallocated

As usual, we have a week’s worth of ratings actions on the debt of LBO-backed companies. This week we finally say goodbye to Chrysler once and for all, as the company emerges from bankruptcy and Cerberus officially loses its investment. Meanwhile, auto parts maker Dana Corp., backed by Centerbridge Capital, was downgraded and, in a curious twist, Harrah’s was upgraded. Despite the excitement around Harrahs’ successful debt offering, I’m not rushing to remove it from the “Top Ten Worst Deals of 2008” list yet.

Company: Dana Holding Corporation
Sponsor: Centerbridge Capital Partners LP
Downgrade: Moody’s lowered the company’s corporate family rating to Caa2 and its probability of default rating to Caa1.
Highlights: “On May 8, 2009, Dana commenced a tender offer for a portion of its outstanding senior secured term loan at a deep discount to par value. The company’s PDR and the rating on the term loan were adjusted to Ca at that time to reflect the potential for loss to investors. With the passage of time since the May 12 target date for concluding the tender, Moody’s has now repositioned the PDR at Caa1.”