Neil Banta has left Greenhill & Co.’s private capital advisory group, confirms Jeff Taufield, a firm spokesman. It’s unclear whether Banta has joined another firm.

In 2010, Neuberger Berman, the big money manager spun out from the now-bankrupt Lehman Brothers, took a big gamble when it launched a new type of fund that would blur the lines between private equity and hedge funds by purchasing minority stakes in high performing hedge fund managers. More than two years later, the verdict is in…

Equity Residential has teamed up with AvalonBay Communities to acquire a portfolio of US apartment properties owned by Archstone. Equity Residential and AvalonBay are acquiring the portfolio from the Lehman Brothers estate for approximately $16 billion.

The $100 billion Teacher Retirement System of Texas is to buy a stake in Formula One racing from the estate of collapsed investment bank Lehman Brothers, writes Reuters. The pension fund will buy a three percent stake in the motor racing business from the Lehman Brothers’ estate in a deal worth about $200 million, writes Reuters. This follows a string of powerful investors that have bought into Formula 1 as owner CVC gradually reduces its stake.

Japan’s Unison Capital cut the size of one of the largest private equity funds in Japan by around a quarter to 107 billion yen ($1.4 billion) in October due to limited opportunities for new deals, wrote Reuters. Some private equity firms have scaled back their operations in Japan in the aftermath of the financial crisis [...]

The boundaries keep getting blurred between private equity funds and hedge funds, as one of the world’s largest money managers, Neuberger Berman, has raised most of its $1 billion target for its new Dyal Capital Partners private equity fund, which plans to take minority stakes in prominent hedge fund firms.

According to a person familiar with the fund, Dyal so far has raised more than $600 million toward its goal. Dyal began raising money in July 2010, and there is a good possibility that the fund will be able to close by the end of 2011, the person said.

Providence Equity Partners’ chief operating officer is no longer with the LBO shop, less than three years into his new role, peHUB has learned. UPDATE: “We appreciate Gary’s contributions to the firm over the last three years, and we wish him well in his future endeavors,” the firm said in a statement e-mailed to peHUB. [...]

Thinking: ahead, Groupon could IPO by this time next year. Got that, Zuckerberg?

Suing: Dick Fuld are his former employees

Funding: SolFocus closes its Series D round

Wishing: for a less crowded VC scene is Peter Boni

(Reuters) – Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEHMQ.PK) and a group of unsecured creditors on Wednesday sued JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) for more than $5 billion, accusing the bank of siphoning billions of dollars of critically-needed assets, and hastening its bankruptcy. In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan bankruptcy court, the plaintiffs accused JPMorgan of extracting [...]

The Universities Superannuation Scheme has acquired a $135 million stake in the $1.77 billion Neuberger Berman Secondary Opportunities Fund II. This makes USS the fund’s largest limited partner. The seller was the Lehman Brothers Estate, which retains a $50 million position in the fund.