Trending on peHUB this week: Sequoia Capital, Fortress, Harvard, traits of top startup CEOs, Oaktree, Bijan Sabet, Spark Capital, Affordable Care Act, KPS, Fenway Partners, Glenn Hutchins, Silver Lake and Montgomery & Co.

(Reuters) – Blackstone Group LP has ended its pursuit of Dell Inc., three people familiar with the matter said on Thursday, easing the way for founder Michael Dell and his private equity partner Silver Lake to go ahead with a $24.4 billion deal to acquire the world’s No. 3 PC maker.

Silver Lake said Thursday it closed its latest large-cap technology investment fund at $10.3 billion. The target for Silver Lake Partners IV was $7.5 billion. The firm, which is bidding for Dell, said it received $10 billion in LP capital commitments. The $10.3 billion is the largest amount ever raised for technology investment focused PE fund, Silver Lake said.

Silver Lake Co-Founder Glenn Hutchins doesn’t see the current economic recovery picking up any more steam, but he’s still bullish on the technology sector. Watch video of Hutchins’ April 4 keynote address at the Buyouts East conference.

Silver Lake, Michael Dell‘s partner in the $24.4 billion buyout bid for Dell Inc., could receive a $180 million break-up fee if a higher accepted bid comes from a rival such as Blackstone Group LP and billionaire investor Carl Icahn, Reuters reports.

(Reuters) – Foursquare has raised $41 million in debt financing from Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Spark Capital, and Union Square Ventures, Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley wrote in a blog.

The votes are in, and the majority of peHUB readers in our online poll believe that Michael Dell and Silver Lake will hold off competing offers to take Dell Inc. private.

A special committee of Dell Inc‘s board is evaluating separate takeover proposals from Blackstone Group and billionaire investor Carl Icahn to decide whether either or both are likely to trump an existing $24.4 billion take-private deal, writes Reuters. Icahn and Blackstone put in preliminary bids late last week, potentially upsetting the plans of the PC maker’s founder, Michael Dell, and private equity firm Silver Lake to take Dell private.

The potential $20 billion deal to take Dell Inc. private, which would be the largest buyout in years, should not be seen as a harbinger of more blockbuster deals, market sources said.

With a buyout of Dell Inc. apparently gathering steam, we thought it might be opportune to tap the collective wisdom our readers on the signficance of the deal. A quick recap: A group of investors led by Silver Lake appears to be nearing an agreement with company founder and CEO Michael Dell, who owns 16 [...]