September 2004 Issue

A new survey from Swiss gatekeeper Strategic Capital Management has sought its own niche by focusing on how funds are exiting their investments. One finding is that the rise of the secondary buyout as an accepted feature of the exit landscape should not be seen as a coincidence. Another is the absence of venture firms selling to each other

Leveraged loans in Europe are being repaid earlier than ever at the moment. This is causing problems for managers of collateralised loan obligation funds. Deal Mechanic explains why

Pantheon Ventures is looking to replace Eric Chan as it prepares for a fourth fund

Nikko antfactory hits the international fundraising trail with a mid-market message

Japanese private equity is helping to fuel China's rampant economy in innovative ways

A band of Boston-area professionals involved in private equity communications meets regularly to compare notes

The Swiss bank is making a serious play in the private equity advice arena

Leonard Green halts its buyout of Hollywood Entertainment as the US movie rental market sours

Here's a winning strategy from the venture capitalist playbook – when a fund isn't performing optimally, reboot and start anew

A labour union uses a curious negotiating tactic against KKR

The anticipation of fundraising success is fuelling European private equity's biggest recruitment drive since the dotcom boom, say experts

Private equity firms are betting on rich Europeans buying bigger boats

Dr. Paul Kedrosky has built an academic career around the study of entrepreneurs. Kedrosky, who hails from Canada, is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement at the San Diego campus of the University of California. (He is also a venture partner with Canadian venture firm Ventures West.) Many of his students are aspiring engineers seeking to understand the business aspects of innovation and technology, including the way that venture capital works. In his research, Kedrosky tries to answer questions about venture capital investing that most industry players have never bothered (or dared) to quantify. What is the value of personal networks? What is the optimal fund size? How fast should you fire a CEO? We spent time with the professor

Investors in Partners Group's brand-new secondary fund will be released from their commitments should deal flow dry up

Placement agents are finding themselves in the middle of a price war

The resignation of a founding partner and significant alteration of the company's compensation structure are two of the major developments that Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst has dealt with this year. We profile the transatlantic buyout shop

Who says US private equity people are all Republicans? The John Kerry campaign recently released a list of “business leaders” who are supporting the Kerry-Edwards ticket for the White House. The list includes quite a few private equity honchos, including Texas Pacific Group's David Bonderman, who was quoted in the Wall Street Journal saying of […]

Iceland may have a total population of less than 300,000 and be noted more for its hot springs and geysers than its corporate finance industry, but Reykjavik-based Islandsbanki – one of the country's three largest banks with a market capitalisation of just under €1 billion – is seeking to change perceptions. Islandsbanki's corporate finance arm, […]

The heroics of British rowers Pinsent, Cracknell, Coode and Williams winning Olympic gold in the coxless fours in Athens in dramatic fashion will have drawn the attention of many observers last month – including the rowing enthusiasts in private equity. One man who will have shown more than a passing interest in events on Athenian […]

The degrees of separation between Robert Redford, the Hollywood screen legend, and Tim Collins, a nowlegendary investor and head of international private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings: the two are linked through a chain of relationships that begins at the actor's base of operations in Utah. ▪Robert Redford is well known to film fans for his […]

Editor's letter Staff 2004-09-02 Writer The global private equity secondary market shows the asset class at its most confidential. As a result, it is nigh on impossible to quantify exactly how much capital is flowing in and out of it. Few transactions ever make it into the news, mainly because

Stephen Frey's day job may be as a managing director at ([A-z]+)-based private equity firm Winston Partners, but in his spare time he earns money in another way: penning financial suspense novels. His latest book, Shadow Account, follows the adventures of investment banker Conner Ashby who, after accidentally receiving an e-mail containing details of major […]

Real estate investment once seemed pretty remote from private equity – in fact its counter-cyclical nature made it an important diversifying asset class distinct from private equity. But now a growing number of investors are pumping capital into the products that bridge these two alternatives: the real estate opportunity funds. Andy Thomson finds out why

The veteran secondary firm looks confidently to the future sans its influential founder. David Snow checks in with Landmark's new chairman, Francisco Borges

New entrants to the secondary market are slow to emerge – here's why

With a new transatlantic mezzanine and equity fund in the making, his firm continuing to push into Central Europe plus a raft of extracurricular activities, life is anything but dull for Mezzanine Management's Rory Brooks. Philip Borel reports

Following a spate of initiatives in many US states to spur high-tech investing within their borders, Illinois last month launched its own programme aimed at investing $50 million of state money in venture capital funds. The Technology Development Fund, as the programme is dubbed, was spearheaded by former governor George Ryan more than four years […]

The case against Napster will determine if private equity firms can be held accountable for portfolio company misdeeds