I guess that whole "infuriated" speech about ethics didn't apply to everything. Steve Schwarzman and crew have been served a lawsuit from the Financial Times for sharing the username for one online subscription for the entire firm, Cityfile reports. We know that Steve isn't cheap, so what does this say? Are times really that tough? From the report: Officials at the FT became a bit suspicious when they realized a very industrious Blackstone employee was accessing thousands of articles a day; a subsequent investigation turned up evidence Blackstone had been engaged in the fraud since as far back as 2002. The FT is now suing Blackstone for copyright infringement and violation of the computer fraud and abuse act. It's even worse when you find out that subscriptions cost all of, oh, $179 a year. View the entire document, via Cityfile, below:
1 min read · 30 January 2009
2 min read · 30 January 2009
It's only natural to compare and contrast the dotcom bubble of the late ‘90s and the PE bubble of recent years, especially since the latter has more than officially burst. So, with some input help from Dan, I've broken down a few of the similarities. It's anecdotal, it's unscientific, it's subjective, and it's full of sweeping generalizations, but something tells me it's not too far off the mark.
4 min read · 30 January 2009
Half! Half of all SPACs lose value instantly. (SSRN via Abnormal Returns) Zombies Ahead: Brilliant use of technology. (Fox News) Finger Pointing: Why the world's economic leaders blame the catastrophe on the system instead of themselves. (Monkeybox) Down: The Stock market is taking private equity there right along with it. Just at a slower pace I suspect... (Bloomberg)
1 min read · 30 January 2009
2 min read · 29 January 2009
Speculation is futile, this we know. But that won’t stop us from trying. Here’s a taste of predictions for 2009 fundraising numbers, from panelists at yesterday’s PEA Outlook Conference. First I’ll give you last year’s total: $266 billion. Now I’ll give you my prediction: $186 billion. I made this on January 1, and perhaps I was feeling hopeful for the new year, since the Dow was up. I’m now realizing that I probably need to make some revisions. And now, I’ll give you the expert predictions, and they don’t look pretty:
2 min read · 29 January 2009
SBA: Obama's pick for head of SBA, Karen Gordon Mills, apparently had some unstellar results at Solera Capital. (Pro Publica) It's The Economy, Girlfriend: There is a support group for the girlfriends of bankers. They're suffering from the recession, too! Their blog, says the NY Times, bills itself as "free from the scrutiny of feminists," and invites women to join "if your monthly Bergdorf's allowance has been halved and bottle service has all but disappeared from your life." I don't even know what to say about this, except, ugh. (NY Times) H/T BB. Schwarzman at Davos: "The audacity of Stephen A. Schwarzman was not enough," writes Dealbook. He apparently jumped from his seat, grabbed a mic, and issued a call for "MORE LEVERAGE!" What? (Dealbook) The SEC Should Hire Journalists: Because we work for a pittance, basically. Thanks, Randy Shain! (Dealbook)
1 min read · 28 January 2009
I want to share the lovely press release my colleague got today from PA SERS, the pension system for Pennsylvania State Employees. This is apparently what we reporters get to work with when nothing happens at a meeting. From: Gentzel, Robert Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 4:46 PM To: 'Reporters covering PA SERS' Subject: no news release I don't have anything to announce out of today's meeting of the PA SERS Board, so I won't be issuing a news release. That's it. A "No News Release." Now, I'm unsure of the reason behind the dearth of activity at the meeting, (was everyone hungover from an office karaoke party?), but will speculate that the lack of new commitments at the meeting is further proof of a tough fundraising market. Joked my colleague: "Everything is so bad, I bet no one bothered to even go to the meeting."
1 min read · 28 January 2009
When a corporation makes mistakes, the CEO resigns. When a PE firm makes mistakes, it cans portfolio company management. With all this talk of a PE firm shakeout, will the heads of firms resign? It doesn't seem likely. In fact, I am not sure that has ever happened in the history of private equity. The keyman provision and ten-year tie-up period make PE heads accountable in different ways than managers of public companies. When a firm messes up royally, the top dogs stick around. Yet today we saw the head of one of the largest PE firms in the world resign. Philip Yea, CEO of 3i, stepped down after news that the company's investments plunged 21%. The difference here, of course, is that 3i is a public company.
2 min read · 28 January 2009
Looking Back: The top 50 private equity firms of 1999, as compiled by The Deal's David Carey. Interesting to see who made the top five... (Dealscape) Good News: The Private Equity Council has released a study that says: "Large private equity-backed companies substantially outperformed their industry peers in capital spending, sales and productivity in the years following their acquisition by private equity investors." Read the details here. Read a blog post by Reuters' Megan Davies here Davos Diary: Dealbook tracks the number of no-shows at the Davos Economic Forum. (Dealbook) Meanwhile: BusinessWeek says there are not enough women contributing to the Davos conversation. And Lastly: Kedrosky compares statements of Davos' speakers this year, to their words last year. (Infectious Greed)
1 min read · 27 January 2009
