North America
Lone Star challenges stock manipulation charges in Korean court
Lone Star will file a petition to void stock manipulation charges leveled against it and Paul Yoo, the head of its South Korea unit, Reuters reported. The move is likely to prolong the private equity firm’s sale of a 51% stake in Korea Exchange Bank (KEB)...
HarbourVest sees net asset value hit record high
HarbourVest Global Private Equity posted a net asset value of $10.92 per share on Wednesday, its highest ever level. The increase – up 6.6% from January and up 9% since the private equity firm listed in 2007 – was driven by rising portfolio asset value...
Banks pitch to underwrite Carlyle's $1b IPO
The Carlyle Group is interviewing banks seeking the mandate to manage its expected $1 billion IPO, Reuters reported, citing a person familiar with the situation. It is thought that the private equity firm will choose the main underwriters by the end of...
Pennsylvania pension fund commits $220m to private equity
Pennsylvania Public Schools Employees’ Retirement System has committed up to $220 million to private equity investments, including $50 million for Orchid Asia V, which focuses on growth capital investments in China.
Advantage Partners completes takeover of GTA TeleGuam
Japanese buyout firm Advantage Partners (AP) finally completed its takeover of GTA TeleGuam, Guam’s leading telecom operator.The selling party is Shamrock Capital Advisors, a California-based private equity firm that obtained GTA from the Guam government...
Wall Street's clean up reaches far and wide
To say the New York federal jury, which pronounced Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam guilty of all 14 charges of securities fraud and conspiracy against him, sent shock waves through the city’s financial services community is an understatement....
Top PE firms target Asia at the expense of North America – study
The top 10 private equity firms globally have increased their focus on Asia over the past three years at the expense of North American investment, according to research by Preqin. These firms account for 18.6%, or $425.7 billion, or the $2.3 trillion...
Temasek takes stake in Canadian mining firm
Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holding has purchased approximately 11% of publicly listed Canadian mining group Inmet Mining Corporation for CAN$500 million ($511million).
Khosla Ventures gets $15 million from Wipro chairman
Silicon Valley-based VC firm Khosla Ventures (KV) has received $15 million of funding from Azim Premji, the Chairman of Indian technology company Wipro, according to India’s Economic Times.
PE and the pension system
Ontario Teachers’ reported record-high results in 2010, yet substantial liabilities overhang remains, signaling a broad-based issue likely to challenge many pension plans going forward
Richard Ong's RRJ Capital makes first deal
Hopu Fund co-founder Richard Ong has made his first investment from his $2 billion maiden fund, into US-focused oil exploratory and extraction firm Frac Tech Services - a seeming departure from his vehicle’s Asia Pacific mandate.
China's Phoenix New Media aims to raise $179m in the US
China media group Phoenix New Media has targeted a $178.7 million raise on its impending public listing on a US bourse, and is specifically looking to sell 12.8 million American depositary shares between $12 to $14 each, according to a filing with the...
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan posts 14.3% rate of return
Canada’s largest single profession pension plan, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), announced that it had earned its largest value-add dollar amount ever in 2010, claiming C$13.3 billion ($13.9 billion) in investment income by the year’s end, representing...
Saving PE on Republicans' agenda
US Congressional Republicans are drafting five bills aiming to curtail the reach of the Dodd-Frank Act in specific areas of the financial industry, further targeting a provision that regards private equity’s disclosure protocol.
Joncarlo Mark to leave CalPERS
One of private equity's most prominent investors, Joncarlo Mark, has resigned from his position as senior portfolio manager of CalPERS’s $32 billion Alternative Investment Managers program.
KKR appoints ex-Clinton staff to public affairs and comms
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. has appointed Steven R. Okun, once an administrator under former US President Bill Clinton, as Director of Public Affairs in Asia Pacific, affective on February 13, 2011.
Carlyle buys AlpInvest, becomes LP
ALPINVEST, THE NETHERLANDS-BASED fund-of-funds, has been acquired by the Carlyle Group, which simultaneously makes its foray onto the LP side of the private equity industry.
Investing without rose-tinted glasses
The CEO of global LP Adams Street Partners, sits down with AVCJ to discuss allocation strategies, the PE industry’s challenges and how his wariness of global mega funds paid off post-crisis.
ILPA polishes its private equity principles
New version incorporates more GP and LP input aimed at increasing focus, clarity and practicality on both sides of the private equity equation.
Yet2.com and JAIC make first VC investment
yet2.com, a US-based digital marketplace that both buys and sells technology online, has formed yet2Ventures. The fund aims to help Fortune 500 companies and other owners of venture capital investments drive value in their portfolio companies.
CIC's new office raises questions about sovereign interests
With the announcement that the China Investment Corporation (CIC) is opening a representative office in Toronto, Canada, the implications of the move are already being bantered about by analysts, industry onlookers and government officials. Some see the...
Silicon Valley is back as China motors on
Two years ago Silicon Valley was preoccupied with the financial crisis. From Q2 2008- 2009, there was one IPO. VCs were looking at projects in the alternative energy, cleantech and life sciences spaces. “Social networking” was a known but unappreciated...
CalPERS reports double-digit gains in 2010
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) posted 12.5% net returns on investments for the 2010 calendar year, reaching $225.7 billion in assets according to the group.
Morgan Stanley closes mezz fund
Morgan Stanley Investment Management has closed its first corporate mezzanine fund, Morgan Stanley Credit Partners, at $956 million after two years of fundraising.