The ratings agency has downgraded £100m of mezzanine loans for Focus, a do-it-yourself retailer owned by Duke Street Capital and Apax Partners, over the increased possibility of a default.
2 min read · 12 January 2013
Higher levels of debt in private equity buyouts in Europe has increased risks for financial institutions warns a report from De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch central bank.
2 min read · 12 January 2013
Blenheim Advisors’ latest research advises clients to ensure they get the most leverage for the best terms, before default rates cause the European debt markets to tighten. By Nicholas Lockley.
2 min read · 12 January 2013
The University of Michigan’s Wolverine Venture Fund is incubating the next generation of venture capitalists, and it has ‘about the same rate of return as most professional funds’. By David Rapp.
4 min read · 12 January 2013
The partnership between NRDC and Apollo has also hired Christina Johnson, the former chief executive of Saks Fifth Avenue, in the latest example of top retail talent making the jump to private equity.
2 min read · 12 January 2013
The European affiliate of buyout and mezzanine firm American Capital Strategies has increased its revolving credit facility to €900m, giving the company approximately €1.65bn in firepower.
1 min read · 12 January 2013
Harry Clark, a veteran lobbyist and communications counselor to industry and government officials, is helping America’s biggest buyout firms establish an advocacy group for the private equity industry.
2 min read · 12 January 2013
A multitude of government institutions and formally established family offices make the Gulf Region a rich source of capital for the world's leading GPs. The most significant local player is ADIA, the giant investment authority in Abu Dhabi.
5 min read · 12 January 2013
Ian Cash, a former member of the proprietary trading division at Citigroup and co-founder of the global special situations group at Mizuho International, joined London-based private equity firm Alchemy Partners in May this year to head up the firm's new £250 million distressed debt vehicle, Alchemy Special Opportunities Fund. He explains the fund's focus and ponders the future of distressed debt in Europe.
3 min read · 12 January 2013
Taking full advantage of ultra-liquid debt markets, buyout funds are handing big sums of cash back to investors. As holding periods shorten, are limited partners in danger of getting too comfortable with private equity's new short-termism, asks Philip Borel.
7 min read · 12 January 2013
