1 min read · 05 January 2009
Come this time next year, bookshelves will be stocked with tales of Wall Street woe, as publishing houses have been gobbling up proposals from Gasparino, Lowenstein, McLean, Nocera, Sorkin, etc. While we anxiously await more information on what Jimmy Cayne stuffs in his pipe, let’s take a moment to eulogize at least one book for which the economic collapse is a burden rather than a boon: “Beyond Wall Street: Inside The Rise Of Private Equity And The Future Of Investing,” by David Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group. peHUB first discovered the book on Amazon back in May 2007, at which point a HarperCollins rep told us that the release date had been pushed back from August 2007 to early 2008. So we pre-ordered one, and waited. And waited. And waited.
1 min read · 05 January 2009
What on earth is going on between Monitor Clipper Partners and Jude Rake, CEO of Monitor Clipper portfolio company Recycled Paper Greetings. To say they aren’t on the same page would be an understatement. Back in September, RPG and Rake seemed to believe they were under attack from larger rival American Greetings. Specifically, they were upset about American Greetings buying over 50% of Recycled Paper’s first-lien debt. Rake referred to the move as “predatory,” and Monitor Clipper filed suit against American Greetings, arguing that the purchase violated a confidentiality agreement between the two companies. Then last week it appeared that the chill had thawed. American Greetings announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire RPG, which would first file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to restructure its debt. In a formal statement, Rake said: “This acquisition is good news for our company on many fronts.”
2 min read · 05 January 2009
Thomas Rest has left AIG, where he had been a vice president in the private funds group, peHUB has learned. This might not normally make it to exaulted blog post status (really more of a news item), but we're really scrounging around today with everyone else on vacation... Rest joined AIG in early 2007, after having run private equity for the New York State Teachers' Retirement System. That made his hiring a fairly big deal in limited partner circles, given that NYSTRS managed $5.6 billion of private equity investments as of June 30, 2007. No word on why Rest left AIG, other than confirmation of his departure from
1 min read · 02 January 2009
* The top U.S. IPOs of 2008. Don't worry, it won't take long to read. * Making the case that zero need not be the lower bound for nominal interest rates. * Morning Call: U.S. futures mixed, European shares higher on banks and commodities, FTSE up early, Hong Kong rises 4.6 percent. * Crackpot Russian professor (and popular television pundit, natch) predicts disintigration of USA in 2010. Alaska would return to Russian rule under this scenario, which raises the obvious question: Would Sarah Palin get a Kremlin post? * For the record: The BoA/Merrill and Wells/Wachovia mergers have closed. * A chronological look at the key events and stories from the 2008 venture capital market. (sub req) * Peter Schiff vs. Peak Oil in 2008.
1 min read · 02 January 2009
Cerberus Capital Management made some non-Chrysler/GMAC news last week, when CNBC reported that the firm would limit investor withdrawals from one of its hedge funds. The announcement was made in a confidential Dec. 19 letter to limited partners of Cerberus Partners LP, and peHUB has scored a copy for your downloading pleasure. Most of the five-page letter is an ode to how lousy the market is and, by extension, how screwed investors are. It also reports that the fund's YTD performance as of Nov. 30 was -15.81%, including a loss of 12.18% in October and November alone. Follow the jump for some of the letters most quotable nuggets.
2 min read · 31 December 2008
Can you name the venture capital firms that just pumped more than $40 million into Cash4Gold, the company whose name -- and ubiquitous television commercials -- basically say it all? Think East Coast, although not so far south as Cash4Gold's Florida headquarters. You can post your guesses below, or email them to me.
1 min read · 31 December 2008
Private equity in 2008 was a shrinking slice of a shrinking M&A pie, according to preliminary data from Thomson Reuters (publisher of peHUB). Private equity firms have sponsored approximately $233 billion worth of deals so far this year, which represents nearly a 70% decrease in volume from last year's $765 billion tally. It's also the lowest annual total since 2003, when just $140 billion worth of PE-sponsored deals were transacted. For contrast, the global M&A market has "only" shrunk by a 29.8% rate between 2007 and 2008 -- meaning the private equity's piece of the action has dropped from around 18.35% to around 8 percent. It's important to note that deal volume is not necessarily indicative of a market's health or infirmity, as a goodly portion of last year's $765 billion was spent foolishly. But still, it's
1 min read · 30 December 2008
Silicon Valley Bank presses former NFL stars to pay $68.9M loan as the FoF is reportedly in talks with secondary investors to sell some of its commitments
4 min read · 22 December 2008
There comes a time each year when I realize that I have more vacation days remaining than there are calendar days. After double-checking that neither Daddy Thomson nor Stepmama Reuters permit vacation carry-over, I book some tickets to Costa Rica. It's part R&R, and part family obligation (my wife's folks live there). This is a long way of saying that I'm taking the next week off, with very limited access to email or voicemail. Erin Griffith will keep peHUB moving during the early part of next week, and I'll be back with you on Tuesday, December 30. Hopefully I'll be tanned, rested and ready. We'll talk then.
1 min read · 19 December 2008
