Secondaries: Not just for private equity. There's a secondary hedge fund market, and its called Hedgebay. (Clusterstock) Just to note, there is a *sort of* similar equivalent to that for PE funds. They are private bulletin board systems called “qualified matching systems.” (You can revisit our post on that here.) ‘Bout Time: KKR has hired its first female managing director. (Deal Journal) Speaking of: The Glass Hammer has an interesting piece on the "Kid Ceiling" for mothers in the business world. (Glass Hammer) Rebuttals: Georges van Hoegarden of The Venture Company responds to Dan's article, Radically Reinventing Venture Capital, with his own ideas on the topic. (The Venture Company) It's Your Fault: The American Consumer is one of 25 people Time blames for the Financial Crisis. Seems kinda like Time's whole "You" as its person of the year. (Time)
1 min read · 12 February 2009
2 min read · 12 February 2009
Paul Capital has met the $455 million target for its fourth private equity fund-of-funds, according to an SEC filing. The vehicle, called Paul Capital Top Tier investments IV LP, was formed in April of 2007. Its prior fund-of-funds is a 2005 vintage with $626 in commitments. That $455 million comes from 19 investors, including Coal Pension Trustees Services, Florida Retirement System Trust Fund and Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. The filing describes the business as “Venture capital investment partnership,” although the firm’s website states that that includes small cap buyout funds as well. The fund also makes co-investments.
1 min read · 12 February 2009
That's what a recent Forbes article suggests. The story, titled "It's a Good Time To Go To A B-Level B-School," reports that students at top tier B-schools aren't getting Wall Street job offers. Not surprising. I could feel that tension at the Wharton Conference last month, where the ratio of MBA students to PE pros was about 10 to one, and every student's eyes were darting from nametag to nametag in a desperate frenzy for a potential employer to stalk. What surprised me from the article, though, is the fact that job acceptances at regional business schools like Northeastern and University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business are actually up over last year's rates. With Wall Street jobs evaporating, students at less prestigious schools than Wharton, Harvard, or Stanford, are the ones finding jobs.
2 min read · 12 February 2009
Valentine's Day: It's comin' up. Make your own powedery-heart-candy messages with the Acme heart generator, or read some of Business Pundit's Bailout Hearts. Sadness: The Deal Toy industry is getting hurt by the dearth of M&A. (WSJ) Be On MTV: The cable channel is recruiting laid-off Wall Streeters for a reality show that's supposed to be The Real World meets Wall Street. (Seven analysts picked to live in a house... yeesh.) Anyways, Maria Woehr of The Deal has the details of MTV's ads. (Dealscape) Updates: Yesterday we discussed Stephen Fowler, a VC that's gained internet fame for his horrifically rude performance on the reality TV show Wife Swap. Well, it doesn't end there. Now his wife has apologized for him and tried to retract it... but the Internet doesn't forget. Also, can I add that Stephen Fowler is now the number one search query on Google? (Valleywag) Grill Out: Heidi Moore offers up an excellent marathon liveblog of the House Financial Services Committee questioning today. (Deal Journal)
2 min read · 11 February 2009
1 min read · 11 February 2009
Could the acquirers become the acquirees? I've heard rumblings of private equity consolidation for a few weeks now, stemming from research done by law firm Simmons & Simmons. The study found that 79% of 700 surveyed PE pros expect increased consolidation in 2009. I dismissed this as unlikely, but the topic continues to surface in conversations. There even are some trader rumors that Blackstone and KKR could acquire 3i. Would struggling buyout firms really merge with each other? At the very least, the image of PE pros nervously biting their nails in fear of a hostile takeover is ironic, since they're usually the ones inflicting such fear on public company employees. Either way, there are several issues with this idea, which I've laid out in a nice little list.
4 min read · 11 February 2009
Bank CEO Q&A: Andrew Ross Sorkin has a list of questions to ask bailed-out bank CEOs, and Felix Salmon attempts to answer them. (Market Movers) Jettison: Carlyle is unloading one of its private jets. Oh, it's the one clad in "gaudy gold plating," Cityfile reports. Jerks: Stephen Fowler, a GP at Fulcrum Fund, a VC firm, appeared on Wife Swap last week, "confirming every stereotype one might have about (San Francisco's) precious, spoiled environmentalists," says Valleywag. He was so horrific he had to issue a public apology (after suing a web site that published his home address and finding a site named stephenfowlersucks.com). (Valleywag) Everybody Loves Lists: 15 Companies that might not survive 2009. PE-backed companies on the list include Claire's Stores (Apollo), Chrysler (Cerberus), Realogy (Apollo), Station Casinos, (Colony Capital), Loehmann's (Crescent Capital Investments) and Sbarro, (MidOcean Partners). (US News & World Report)
2 min read · 10 February 2009
2 min read · 10 February 2009
Yesterday I talked to a few PE pros about the big news: Private equity is finally getting its chance to help assuage the economic crisis, after months of complaining that it has "massive pools of capital that could be put to good use." Setting aside any conversation on logistics, or any debate over whether it's smart for private equity firms to gobble up toxic mortgage-backed securities willy-nilly, or whether LPs want them to, or whether they even want to... let's look, for a minute, at the potential positive effect this decision could have on perceptions of the private equity community. Those I spoke with were both interested and delighted at the inclusion of private equity in the plan for bailing out our banks. Said one PE pro: "The government is finally acknowledging that private equity firms are an important source of capital for companies."
2 min read · 10 February 2009
