September 2010 Issue

With core fundraising sources decreasing their allocations to Australian private equity, domestic fund managers are in for Darwinian changes.

Following in the footsteps of a long line of mega-firms, TPG is dipping a toe into real estate. But is it motivated more by opportunity or the need to deploy capital?

As the primary private equity markets in emerging economies continue to develop, secondaries markets have started to sprout.

A recent situation in California clearly illustrates the decision faced by LPs when managers ask for new money to prop up old portfolios.

In terms of private equity deal activity in the BeNeLux region, this year has been a case of ‘all talk and no action’. Ahmed Arafa gauges the market sentiment.

Luis Miranda recently announced he would be stepping down as president and chief executive of IDFC Private Equity in November.

Founded by a trio of German grandees, BLM Partners has sprung up out of the crisis and has the private equity industry in its sights. Toby Mitchenall talks to co-founder and chief executive officer Florian Lahnstein and partner Jason Carley

Non-traditional buyers – the ‘tourists’ – are withdrawing from the market, but appetite for secondaries programmes remains strong.

Edinburgh-based SL Capital Partners is one of European private equity’s best-established institutional investors. In July, Toby Mitchenall met chief executive David Currie to ask what comes next for the industry and the firm.

Successful cleantech investing means looking beyond ‘inspirational rhetoric’ and the ‘bubble mentality’ to later stage investment, argues Frog Capital’s Iyad Omari.

Expectation is running high that a slew of incoming regulation – the Volcker Rule, Basel III, Solvency II will lead to a global secondaries bonanza, as banks and insurers get out of the asset class. Nicholas Donato and Toby Mitchenall ask whether the hype is justified.

What the departure of a hedge fund legend teaches us about succession in private equity

The environment for fundraising has improved slightly from its 2009 trough, but several recent target ‘rethinks’ suggest that mega-funds are still not top of LPs wish-lists.

Limited partners have received more GP requests for investment period extensions in the past year than ever before. The trend could keep building steam in the uncertain economy.

Boutique platforms and trading desks are providing a different approach to brokering secondary sales of LP interests.

Recent studies into whether private equity funds produce alpha could push limited partners to construct new performance-based fee models.

Offshore LPs invested with China-based private equity managers are growing concerned at the conflict of interest between USD-denominated vehicles and their RMB-denominated counterparts.

A trip through a blisteringly hot Iberia fi nds banks in the region – even after passing Europe’s bank stress tests – grim in their outlook.

The drama surrounding the relationship between CalPERS, Apollo and controversial placement agent Alfred Villalobos continues. Investment staff at the $206bn pension allegedly questioned the relationship as long ago as 2006.

The fates of two European aluminium businesses raise questions about the combination of private and sovereign capital.

After a lacklustre 2009, the secondaries market is marking a return to (booming) business as usual, finds Amanda Janis.

Advisor to family offices Hall Capital Partners has cut back its overall private equity allocation, but still sees value in emerging markets and distressed investments.