Firms and Funds

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – SAIF Partners, backed by Japan’s Softbank (9984.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), has completed raising 1.6 billion yuan for its first yuan-denominated private equity fund, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday. Major investors of the fund include Chinese private enterprises and some top-end domestic individual investors, said […]

Wayzata Investment Partners has closed its second distressed fund with $3.4 billion in committed capital, according to LBO Wire. www.wayzatainvestmentpartners.com

TORONTO (Reuters) – The Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, one of Canada’s largest institutional money managers, said on Monday that its president and chief executive would be away on medical leave longer than planned.   The Caisse has extended Richard Guay’s leave until Jan. 5, the pension fund manager said in a brief […]

Today the New York Times ran a story on Apollo not unlike the one I wrote last week. The main difference (aside from this ridiculous photo illustration) is the fact that Leon Black actually spoke with the Times. In the story, he offers a few vague answers to accusations made by both the peHUB article and the Times reporter. Linens N Things wasn’t that big of an investment. Dividend recaps “are what’s best for our investors.” The firm “underestimated” the housing market downturn. Et cetera. No mention of the firm’s IPO. No mention of the performance of Apollo’s debt investments. However, Black does offer the sound byte, “Private equity is dead,” perhaps to explain away his firm’s return-killing performance of late. The best line in the 3000 word story is Apollo’s response to this stated death of private equity: “We’ve totally turned into a bond house,” he declares. Reminds me of what Josh Harris said at

NEW YORK, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Rodman & Renshaw Capital Group Inc., a small U.S. investment bank, on Monday made an unsolicited offer to acquire rival Cowen Group Inc. for $7 a share, 17 percent above the New York firm’s Friday closing price. Cowen, a venerable Wall Street name that has struggled in the past […]

Ripplewood Holdings has suspended fund-raising for its third vehicle, according to LBO Wire. The firm had been targeting $2.5 billion for more than a year, but had not yet held a first close.

NEW YORK, Dec 7 (Reuters) – New York buyout firm Apollo’s co-founder Leon Black has predicted that traditional private equity is dead, and will remain so for a couple of years, the New York Times quoted him saying on Sunday. The financial crisis brought to an end lending for the leveraged buyout deals that private […]

HONG KONG (Reuters) – U.S. hedge fund giant Citadel Investment Group LLC, which has racked up hefty losses this year, is closing its Tokyo office and its Asia principal investment operations by the end of this year, media reports said on Monday. As a result of the cutbacks, 25 people will be laid off in […]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Some buy-out groups are coming under pressure from cash-strapped investors to reduce their commitments after Permira’s PERM.UL unprecedented offer to let its backers off the hook for 1.5 billion euros ($1.91 billion), the Financial Times said. The buy-out groups include Terra Firma, which is struggling to turn round the EMI music […]

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Private equity firm CCMP Capital Asia said on Monday it raised $1.2 billion for its third buyout fund, pulling the money together at a time when lending is tight, volatility high and valuations falling. Major investors of Asia Opportunity Fund III L.P., the latest buyout fund that CCMP Capital Asia has […]