KSL Capital Partners has completed the acquisition of the historic Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa. The 512-room Grove Park Inn sits between the majestic Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains in Asheville, North Carolina. PRESS RELEASE KSL Capital Partners, LLC announced today that it has completed the previously announced acquisition of the historic Grove [...]

Private equity firm Apollo Global Management has raised its offer to acquire Great Wolf Resorts to $7.85 per share, above rival bidder KSL Capital Partners‘ most recent offer, writes Reuters. The two firms have been in a bidding war over Great Wolf since March. Reuters – Private equity firm Apollo Global Management raised its offer [...]

Great Wolf Resorts, the listed, Wisconsin-based family of indoor waterpark resorts operator, has stated that a $7.25 per-share bid from PE firm KSL Capital Partners is enough to beat financial sponsor competitor Apollo Global Management. At press time, it remained unclear whether Apollo would continue to challenge KSL’s bid. PRESS RELEASE: MADISON, Wis., Apr 19, [...]

Great Wolf Resorts has received an offer from KSL Capital Partners to buy the company for $7 per share, according to Reuters. This comes days after Great Wolf’s largest investor rejected an earlier bid made by Apollo Global. Reuters – Great Wolf Resorts said late on Sunday it received an offer from KSL Capital Partners [...]

Total fundraising figures for U.S. buyout and mezzanine funds reached $71.95 billion for the year to 1 November, according to figures from Thomson Reuters. This total combines the total for buyout and mezzanine funds only and excludes funds of funds. This figure jumped around 28% for the same period the previous year which stood at [...]

KSL Capital Partners announced Monday that it has acquired InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona. Financial terms of the deal were not released. Following the deal, the resort will operate as an independent resort and will remain affiliated with InterContinental Hotels & Resorts as an InterContinental Alliance Resort. The resort will be managed by KSL Resorts. KSL Capital Partners is a private equity firm specializing in travel and leisure investments. The firm has offices in Denver and New York.

KSL Capital Partners paid $130 million to acquire The Royal Palm Hotel, in Miami’s South Beach district. The firm bought the hotel from publicly traded of Sunstone Hotel Investors. The hotel is managed by Denihan Hospitality Group who will remain in place following the acquisition. KSL Capital has offices in Denver and New York.

Just as VC fundraising roared back to life in Q1, so did fundraising on the buyout and mezzanine side of the private equity market. Sister magazine Buyouts this week reported that U.S.-based buyout and mezzanine firms raised $18.3 billion in Q1, up 79 percent from $10.2 billion during the same period last year. Fundraising also grew sequentially, up 36 percent from the Q4. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. took in a tad over $1 billion for its latest effort in Q1, according to our calculations–but that was only good for seventh place among buyout and mezzanine shops that closed on capital last quarter. Click through for a slideshow leading you throught the top 10.

Buyout shop KSL Capital Partners has added Craig Henrich as a principal. Previously, Henrich worked as a senior managing director of CW Capital Investments, where he led its single asset group specializing in the acquisition and management of debt investments, including high-yield and mortgage-backed securities. KSL is based in Denver.

The Washington State Investment Board has edged above its target allocation to private equity, with investments accounting for 25.3 percent of its $56.3 billion portfolio as of the end of September, according to sister publication Buyouts magazine. Its target allocation is 25 percent.

The deep-pocketed state’s PE holdings, which date back to 1981, were valued at an estimated $13.8 billion at the end of March, according to data on the investment board’s Web site. The portfolio at that point consisted of interests in 245 funds to which the state state had committed an estimated $32.5 billion. Of that, PE firms had drawn down an estimated $27.6 billion and returned $24.5 billion.

Older funds that appeared, as of March, to have drawn down quite a bit more than they’ve distributed include Frazier Healthcare IV ($40 million committed in or around 2001, $37.8 million drawn down, $13.2 million distributed), OVP Venture Partners VI ($40 million committed in or around 2001, $40 million drawn down, and $5.6 million distributed), and Green Equity Investors IV ($100 million committed in or around 2003, $107.4 million drawn down and $36.1 million distributed).