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Torys LLP has released a new report that takes an in-depth look at current Canadian private equity deal-making trends. In Private Equity Markets in Canada: 2013 Breakdown, 2014 Outlook, Michael Akkawi, Guy Berman and Sophia Tolias discuss how Canadian PE market trends of last year have provided key stage-setting dynamics for stronger market activity in 2014. Based on the evidence, Torys sees a promising deal environment in Canada in 2014, with a continuing investor focus on sell-side deals, but with greater emphasis given to PE-led acquisitions.

KKR & Co LP disclosed on Monday it would liquidate two funds targeting individual investors, in a blow to the private equity firm's efforts to widen its appeal beyond institutional investors such as pension funds and insurance firms.

The global secondary market has seen unprecedented growth in recent years, and has steadily diversified its coverage of PE and other alternative assets. It has also attracted countless buyers and sellers, particularly in the institutional community. But the market's true size remains a bit of a mystery. Canadian advisory firm Setter Capital, which reported global activity in 2013 as totaling US$36 billion, is making a difference in this regard – and in a deal-making sense as well, completing US$12 billion in client transactions over the past seven years.

In the coming weeks, we'll see the wrap-up of Louisiana-Pacific’s buy of Ainsworth Lumber (TSX: ANS), a Vancouver-based manufacturer of homebuilding products. Announced in Sept. 2013, the US$1.1 billion acquisition will once closed be the largest private equity exit from a Canadian-based company in nearly a year. That’ll be a feather in the cap for the PE team at Toronto-based alternative asset manager Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM) (TSX: BAM.A) (Euronext: BAMA), as Brookfield Capital Partners II is Ainsworth's majority owner. As it turns out, the deal was only one of a number of headline-grabbing events that characterized Brookfield’s market activity in 2013.

J.C. Flowers & Co., the once powerful financial services-focused PE firm, has lost another executive.

Canadian law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP this week published its 2014 Capital Markets Report. It paints a picture of mixed activity in Canadian capital markets in 2013 – a situation that has created new pockets of opportunity for PE and venture capital fund investors.

Torys LLP this week published its always much-anticipated M&A Top Trends 2014. The report contains numerous implications for private equity activity in the year upcoming. To read all about the top 10 trends that will influence M&A activity in coming months, please visit www.torystrends.com.

After 22 years with ORIX USA, including 10 as CEO, Jim Thompson has launched his own firm, Preston Hollow.

Canadian private equity firm Clairvest Group (TSX: CVG) expects to launch its fifth partnership, Clairvest Equity Partners V (CEP V) in 2014, peHUB Canada has learned. The firm did not disclose other details concerning the fund, including its anticipated target size. Clairvest's current fund, CEP IV, has been drawn down 60 percent and 70 percent allocated, the firm reported. CEP IV, which invests in North American mid-market companies in a range of industries, was closed at $467 million in Jan. 2011.

LPs are choosing to cut bigger checks to fewer managers, creating an environment where certain funds have enjoyed amazingly strong and fast marketing periods. Here is a list of the hot funds of 2013.