Starting out as a management consultant at Bain & Company, Thomas Dorr went on to spend 14 years at Weyerhaeuser, the Washington State-based pulp and paper company. Having originally intended to be a general manager at the firm, Dorr was invited to join the company's innovative pension arm. According to Dorr, the pension was delivering ?dramatic outperformance? with its pure alternative assets allocation, including hedge funds, private equity and opportunistic real estate. The Weyerhaeuser team moved to Morgan Stanley in 2000 with Dorr becoming CIO for the private equity fund of funds team. With his senior team, he has since been focusing on building a private equity fund of funds operation with a global mandate investing half of its capital inside North America and half outside in small to mid cap buyouts, venture capital and special situations. Since Dorr joined, his team has raised the Morgan Stanley Private Market Fund (PMF) I ($309 million, 2000); PMF II ($500 million, 2004); PMF III ($1 billion, 2006); and the Global Distressed Opportunities Fund ($500 million, 2006).
3 min read · 12 January 2013
Many general partners' recent letters to investors have sought to reassure that, despite market turbulence, current portfolios remain healthy overall and investment capabilities credible. Several firms' founders have also offered perspectives on general economic conditions. Private Equity International here provides excerpts of five “Dear LP” letters issued during the first quarter.
5 min read · 12 January 2013
Established in 1972, and responsible for private equity's first-ever fund of funds, Adams Street Partners is not the kind of organisation to flee in fright when a market downturn looms over the horizon. Andy Thomson and Philip Borel met with Bon French and Hanneke Smits in London to find out more about the firm's history, its take on current conditions and its broad-mindedness when it comes to manager selection.
9 min read · 12 January 2013
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board moves very large sums of money in and out of private equity. Direct investment is a key component of its strategy finds Philip Borel.
5 min read · 12 January 2013
A fund targeting family businesses in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria has closed ahead of target thanks in part to the region's improving exit prospects.
5 min read · 12 January 2013
Having listed on the London Stock Exchange in May, Kuwait's Global Investment House has now opted to raise a new fund there as well.
8 min read · 12 January 2013
Investor support for private equity fund managers continues to rise, in spite of concerns that some are not sticking to the agreed script.
6 min read · 12 January 2013
Two decades of severe underinvestment have left global energy markets struggling to meet rising demand – and private equity firms with a massive opportunity.
3 min read · 12 January 2013
TPG-controlled XOJET has secured nearly $2.5bn in debt and equity as it goes head-to-head with Warren Buffet-backed NetJets.
7 min read · 12 January 2013
Just months after its Euronext-traded Carlyle Capital fund folded, the private equity firm is shutting down an affiliated hedge fund. It backed away from its previous hedge fund strategy, a fund of hedge funds, in 2003.
2 min read · 12 January 2013
