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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: private equity

private equity stories: 96 news summaries

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Simmons Bankruptcy: Study in Private Equity Run Amok

Buyout firms profited as mattress maker saw its debt skyrocket

Oct 5, 09 7:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - The mattress company Simmons will be filing for bankruptcy protection soon, wiping out bondholders and jeopardizing more jobs at a company that's already fired a quarter of its work force. While Simmons watched its debts balloon nearly tenfold since 1991, a string of private equity firms bought and sold the... More »

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private equity • bankruptcy • Thomas H. Lee Partners • credit market • buyout firms • mattress

ANALYSIS

Rise in Mergers 
Signals Fresh Confidence 

Chief execs becoming more bullish about recovery prospects

Sep 29, 09 3:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Mergers and acquisitions activity is still way down from pre-financial crisis levels, but a recent flurry of big deals suggests America's chief executives are regaining confidence in their own businesses. Recent mergers have involved strategic buys by big companies instead of the debt-fueled private equity buys seen a couple of... More »

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private equity • Wall Street • mergers and acquisitions • merger • US economy • Xerox • financial crisis • Affiliated Computer Services

 EBay to Unload Skype for $2B 

Private investors bring end to auction site's troubled ownership

Sep 1, 09 5:38 AM CDT
(Newser) - EBay is selling Skype, the audiovisual chat service it calamitously bought in 2005, to a group of private investors, sources tell the New York Times. Although the price is unknown, eBay recently said it wanted about $2 billion for the the company, which is expected to pull in $600 million... More »

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private equity • Google • eBay • Skype • IP telephony • technology companies • Marc Andreessen

Obama to Launch Radical Bank Reform

Changes will be the most ambitious since the Great Depression

Jun 14, 09 9:51 AM CDT
(Newser) - President Obama will unveil next week sweeping new changes to the nation’s governance of troubled financial institutions, the AP reports. Unlike Washington’s temporary ownership stake in automakers and major financial companies, the new regulatory protocol will be permanent and will present the most ambitious revision since the 1930s.... More »

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Barack Obama • private equity • Ben Bernanke • Federal Reserve • financial institutions • Great Depression • bank regulation • hedge funds • financial crisis

 Lehman Weighs 
 Spinning Off 
 $45B in Assets 

In the most sweeping bankruptcy action yet, assets will become separate unit

May 14, 09 7:52 AM CDT
(Newser) - Bankrupt Lehman Brothers is preparing to spin off a grab-bag of assets worth $45 billion in their current state but as much as $400 billion at "nondistressed" prices, the Wall Street Journal reports. The planned sale of shares in the unit—the biggest move yet to unwind the... More »

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private equity • real estate • bankruptcy • Lehman Brothers • banking • financial crisis

Private Equity Players Want In on Banking

Fed resists easing restrictions on risky, cash-rich enterprises

May 6, 09 9:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - Even in the midst of the banking crisis, numerous entities are willing to buy the big banks, the New York Times reports. Private equity groups like J.C. Flowers & Company are itching to snap up the cash-strapped behemoths, but the Fed won’t let them. It’s worried... More »

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private equity • Federal Reserve • private equity firms • JC Flowers and Co • banking • banking industry

Prince Charles' Eco-Fund Whacked by Credit Crunch

Investor abandons prince's fund for urban regeneration

Apr 20, 09 5:29 AM CDT
(Newser) - Prince Charles' dreams of eco-friendly urban regeneration have been shattered by the credit crisis, the Daily Telegraph reports. A major Middle Eastern investor has pulled out of a $1 billion property fund the prince planned to use to replicate the sustainable eco-village Poundbury, which he launched in Dorset. Supporters are... More »

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private equity • Prince Charles • Britain • urban revitalization

 Rattner, Obama's Auto Chief, 
 Caught Up in Kickbacks Probe 

Source says Rattner linked to pension fund pay-for-play deal

Apr 17, 09 5:52 AM CDT
(Newser) - Steven Rattner, the head of President Obama's auto task force, is involved in an SEC probe of a kickback scandal involving New York state's pension fund, a source tells the Wall Street Journal. Rattner is not accused of any wrongdoing, but is believed to have directed a $1.1 million... More »

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private equity • corruption • SEC • kickbacks • Steven Rattner

(Newser) - Tim Geithner today proposed a major expansion of federal regulatory powers, reports the Washington Post. In testimony before Congress, the Treasury chief called for hedge funds, derivatives markets, private equity firms, and major insurers like AIG to be brought under strict federal supervision for the first time. His plan, which... More »

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private equity • derivatives market • hedge fund • Treasury Department • financial institutions • bank regulation • Obama administration • financial crisis • Timothy Geithner

 Feds Look for 
 Privately Funded 
 $1T Bailout 

Geithner talks up private capital ahead of today's announcement

Mar 23, 09 5:37 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Treasury today unveils its three-part public-private plan to purchase $1 trillion in troubled assets, offering lucrative subsidies to private investors to encourage them to participate. The Obama administration spent the weekend wooing hesitant private investors—hedge funds, private equity firms, and sovereign wealth funds—who fear future regulation or... More »

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Barack Obama • private equity • sovereign wealth funds • hedge funds • Obama administration • financial crisis • Timothy Geithner • TALF

Hedges, Private Equity Funds to Invest in Bailout

TALF program could see very rich outfits get even richer

Mar 6, 09 7:11 AM CST
(Newser) - With its highly touted TALF program to spur consumer lending, the government is undertaking a $1 trillion effort that hinges on the participation of some unpopular outfits: hedge funds and private equity firms. As the Washington Post reports, the Fed and Treasury's "public-private partnership" relies on investment from the... More »

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private equity • Federal Reserve • Treasury Department • Blackstone • consumer loan markets • bailout • hedge funds • TALF


 Madoff Brother 
 Eyed for Not 
 Reporting Scam 

Fraudster may have confessed to brother  before he told his sons

Jan 10, 09 6:39 AM CST
(Newser) - Bernard Madoff's brother learned that the Madoff fund was a huge scam the evening before the fraudster confessed to his sons, but he failed to inform authorities, insiders tell the New York Times. Peter Madoff, who worked closely with his older brother for decades, has not been charged with any... More »

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private equity • SEC • brother • Ponzi scheme • securities fraud • defrauding investors • Bernard Madoff • Peter Madoff

Lehman to Spin Off $4.5B Private Equity Arm

A strategy of hold and manage, rather than sell into weakness, has emerged

Jan 9, 09 8:29 AM CST
(Newser) - Lehman Brothers, bleeding out but not quite dead, will spin out its private equity arm into an independent firm, which will take on new investment from a South African billionaire investor, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Lehman estate will retain a small interest in Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking, which... More »

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private equity • bankruptcy • Lehman Brothers • retirement fund • spin-off • financial crisis

Wreck of IndyMac Sold
for $13.9B

Soros, Dell among the players in FDIC's damaged-goods sale

Jan 3, 09 8:41 AM CST
(Newser) - A team of high-profile investors has bought the remains of failed bank IndyMac from the FDIC for $13.9 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports. The investors, including George Soros and computer tycoon Michael Dell, have agreed to share the losses from IndyMac's portfolio of troubled mortgages in a deal... More »

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private equity • J. C. Flowers • bank • Michael Dell • IndyMac • George Soros • FDIC • subprime crisis • bank failure • financial crisis

analysis

Private Equity Giants See Big Payday—If They Don't Go Bust

All the major players
have survived so far

Jan 2, 09 12:31 PM CST
(Newser) - None of the major players in the "shadow banking" world of private equity—the likes of Blackstone, Carlyle, and KKR—has yet gone bust, and the guessing game of which one will be first is well under way, reports Newser founder Michael Wolff in Vanity Fair. Don't hold your... More »

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private equity • Blackstone Group • Carlyle Group • KKR • private equity firms

Fund Warned Clients Madoff 'Could Abscond With Assets'

Kingate Global's prospectus highlighted risks associated with Madoff Securities

Dec 23, 08 8:47 AM CST
(Newser) - One of the firms hardest hit by the $50 billion Bernard Madoff fraud warned investors in its prospectus that investing with Madoff was risky, saying explicitly that the brokerage “could abscond with those assets,” the Financial Times reports. Kingate Global told investors that they would not check the... More »

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private equity • investors • defrauding investors • hedge funds • Bernard Madoff • Fairfield Greenwich Group

Vast Madoff Options Scheme Didn't Add Up

SEC unfurls $50B scam that should have been obvious

Dec 16, 08 8:59 AM CST
(Newser) - For every detail that emerges from the 17th-floor office of Bernard Madoff, two more inconsistencies arise. A federal judge ordered the liquidation of Madoff’s eponymous investment firm and a federal agency has begun to try to compensate clients. Meanwhile, scrutiny of clients'  financial statements shows Madoff's stated strategy of... More »

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private equity • trading • stock options • defrauding investors • hedge funds • Bernard Madoff

Madoff Fraud Will Hit Hedge Funds Hard

$50B Ponzi scheme will stagger funds, send investors to exits

Dec 12, 08 10:20 AM CST
(Newser) - Even as hedge funds face their worst yearly returns ever, they may take another collective $10 billion hit on money invested in Bernard Madoff’s namesake firm, which was revealed to be a giant Ponzi scheme yesterday, Bloomberg reports. Madoff was arrested and charged with fraud after admitting that his... More »

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private equity • Ponzi scheme • defrauding investors • hedge funds • financial meltdown • Bernard Madoff

OPINION

Schwarzman Weighs In on Market Reforms

Private-equity billionaire says regs should be global, streamlined

Nov 4, 08 10:46 AM CST
(Newser) - With the world in “the worst financial crisis in recent memory,” private-equity billionaire Stephen Schwarzman advocates seizing the opportunity to prevent a repeat. In an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, the Blackstone CEO, who pocketed $677 million from the firm’s IPO last year, calls for... More »

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private equity • Stephen Schwarzman • Blackstone Group • central bank • mortgage backed securities • bailout • financial crisis

Credit Crisis Spells Disaster for Private Equity Firms

Debt tightens as profits fall for many acquired companies

Nov 3, 08 11:30 AM CST
(Newser) - After a nearly 3-year buyout spree, private equity firms are facing tightened credit conditions just as slumping consumer spending squeezes many of their acquisitions, the New York Times reports. The leveraged-buyout bubble that culminated in $796 billion in deals in 2007 is bursting, leading to a grim reckoning as firms... More »

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private equity • leveraged buyouts • debt • buyout • credit crisis • private equity firms • financial crisis

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