Firms and Funds

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo warned American International Group Inc (AIG.N) on Tuesday of “significant legal ramifications” over executive bonuses as part of his drive to force rescued firms to drop year-end payments. “Please inform my office as soon as possible what AIG plans to do with respect to executive […]

Vanterra Capital

Former Citizens Financial chief Steve Steinour is in talks to raise a private equity fund in partnership with The Blackstone Group, with a focus on distressed banks and other financial services companies. Sources say the partnership is still in its early stages, and that both sides recognize the difficulty of raising a “multi-billion dollar” fund in the current environment. Steinour originally joined Citizens in 1992, and a decade later was put in charge of the firm’s expansion south of New England (including Pennsylvania retail banking ops bought from Mellon for $2 billion). Next came a vice chairmanship, and the CEO role in 2005, when Larry Fish kicked himself upstairs. Steinour officially left Citizens this past spring, to join Boston-based alternative asset manager CrossHarbor Capital Partners. His goal was to help the real estate-focused firm launch a private equity program, and the Blackstone talks began sometime later. It is unclear how the new fund is being branded, but a source says that Steinour himself “will remain under the CrossHarbor umbrella,” with Blackstone

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Macquarie Group, Australia’s biggest investment bank, posted a sharp decline in first-half profit and wrote off $750 million from assets, but its shares leapt after it doused fears it needed to raise capital. The bank, which is heading for its first fall in annual profit in 17 years, had been hammered by […]

BOSTON (Reuters) – U.S. asset manager BlackRock Inc (BLK.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) warned its employees on Monday of impending job cuts to be made this week, saying it was looking for ways to reduce expenses in the challenging market and economic conditions. The largest publicly traded U.S. asset manager joins a growing list […]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc revealed plans to cut 52,000 jobs by early next year in Chief Executive Vikram Pandit’s most dramatic move yet to restore profitability and bolster a sagging share price. The cuts, announced Monday, will affect 15 percent of Citigroup’s workforce and come on top of 23,000 jobs eliminated between January […]

EQT Partners has raised its first fund for the infrastructure space. The Northern European-focused private equity firm has raised a €1.2bn (US$1.5bn) infrastructure fund to invest in existing infrastructure in Northern and Eastern Europe. Potential investment targets are basic infrastructure, concession-based infrastructure, social infrastructure, and infrastructure-related services. Investments will typically be between €100m and €1bn […]

HONG KONG (Reuters) – London-based alternative investment manager Climate Change Capital plans to invest 5 billion yuan ($732 million) in environmental projects in China including industrial waste management and clean technology over the next two to three years. The firm, which has not yet put its capital to work in China, is also looking to […]

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Blackstone Group LP (BX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will not slow its investment in China despite the global financial crisis, as high economic growth and low valuations promise good returns, the private-equity firm’s greater China chairman Antony Leung said on Monday. “With the financial crisis, the valuations in China will be […]

MerchantBridge and UBS AG have formed a 50/50 joint venture to make private equity investments in the Middle East. Each firm has committed an initial $40 million, and hope to raise a total of $500 million.