Home » Blogs » Kelly Holman

Private Equity Briefcase

By Kelly Holman

It's On Now

July 19, 2008 - The private equity public relations battle of the New Millennium is taking shape, pitting the Service Employees International Union, also a strident critic of Washington’s Carlyle Group, against Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, one of the pre-eminent investment groups in the buyout industry.

A More Perfect Union

July 16, 2008 - The SEIU's campaign against private equity goes on. Perhaps it's time the buyout community start to fight back.

Buyout Monsters Beware!

July 12, 2008 - The march is about to begin: the Service Employees International Union is gearing up for its 25-country demonstration effort next week against the private equity industry from the streets of New York to Paris to Tokyo.

Uncharted Territory

June 30, 2008 - When news surfaced in the Wall Street Journal that the Federal Reserve may ease investment regulations in the banking industry one could almost hear trumpets heralding the arrival of a new age in Wall Street’s lower downtown canyons.

'Flight To Quality'

June 15, 2008 - The perennially-sounded mantra has reared up again in the mid-sized transaction world in 2008, a period not unlike the difficult 2001 time frame. The emphasis on quality businesses couldn’t be more important in this year’s middle-market M&A auction pageant, especially given the credit and economic challenges hammering businesses of all sizes.

The SEIU Is At It Again

June 5, 2008 - A group of activist organizations led by the Service Employees International Union is planning to thump the protest drum against the private equity industry. The SEIU plans to contact more than 10 million people Wednesday around the world about attending demonstrations planned in 100 cities.

Flexibility Is Key To Weathering Credit Conditions

May 6, 2008 - The US transaction business is struggling like a lumbering bear in springtime looking for berries. Fortunately, some private capital investors are finding unique ways to invest in a difficult M&A environment even if it’s not in the traditional leveraged buyout.

PE Funds Still In Vogue

April 29, 2008 - Institutional investors are as bullish as ever on the alternative asset class, particularly when it concerns committing capital to established brand firms.

Bankruptcy Filings Settle In

April 1, 2008 - It’s only four months into 2008 and the nation’s largest law firms have already concluded that bankruptcy will be a big growth area in the coming year, according to a recent survey by Robert Half Legal. While that is not surprising, it should be noted that the bloodletting or restructuring of over-leveraged companies, primarily those that underwent private equity transactions in the last couple of years, has hardly begun.

There's Always Golf

March 24, 2008 - Credit Suisse expects big crowds at its conference for small and emerging private equity managers this week. What will they talk about?

Middle Market Gets The Job Done Creatively

February 26, 2008 - Private equity-fueled M&A activity showed little life in January. One month later, though, the buyout deal community seems to have awoken from a deal slumber much like zombies in the George Romero film Diary of the Dead. And true to their calling, private equity firms are taking contrarian positions through bets that aim to capitalize on the changing landscape for deals.

Putting PE To Good Use

February 19, 2008 - Blackstone bigwig hopes to fix some of what ails the world.

Best Of Luck

February 15, 2008 - If Wall Street lenders were already nervous about the state of the credit market, their anxiety level just ratcheted up another notch, particularly the bankers at Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Wachovia and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Learning The Ropes

January 23, 2008 - There's no doubt that private equity executives are grappling with how to deal with the credit crunch, but the slowdown in the debt markets doesn't mean that the industry isn't looking to bolster its ranks. At least that's the consensus of the Private Equity Institute, which is aiming to offer education courses in private equity to finance professionals that have been laid off as a result of 'job displacement' in the mortgage and credit banking area.

Marching To A New Drum

December 14, 2007 - Blackstone Group has launched a new debt fund with more than $1.3 billion in commitments. The Blackstone Credit Liquidity Partners LP fund was formed, the New York investment group said, “to capitalize on the recent dislocations in the credit markets,” or more specifically, to acquire stuck LBO loans and high yield bonds. The investment fund will not purchase distressed or defaulted debt, a buyout market source says, but will focus on “stressed” debt that simply may be trading down as little as five points.

Damn The Torpedoes -- The Private Equity Industry is Under Attack!

December 3, 2007 - There’s no question that US and European buyout investors are facing challenges on a number of fronts from union protests, potential tax hikes and terminated transactions to concerns over transparency and eyebrow-raising job cuts at portfolio companies. However, if new data from Russell Investments offers any guidance on the private equity industry’s outlook in the eyes of institutional investors despite the black eye image problem, the LBO business is still in relatively, relatively being the operating word, good shape.

Putting It To Good Use

November 29, 2007 - Private equity executives are often maligned in the media as a self-interested, greedy bunch, ala the Gordon Gekko character in the 1987 film "Wall Street." But don't forget the good stuff they do.

PE's Bout With Sovereign Wealth Funds

November 27, 2007 - If the recent investment activity by sovereign wealth funds offers any indication, US private equity funds are facing stiff competition for deals from foreign government-backed investment vehicles.

Hope on the Horizon for LBO Dealmakers?

November 12, 2007 - If the comments made by Blackstone Group chief executive Steve Schwartzman offer any indication, valuation expectations, it would appear, could be starting to line up like the stars in a constellation.

On Secondary Thought...

November 12, 2007 - The private equity crowd has waded in financial quicksand since the credit market retrenchment took hold this summer. But, even though the pace of new dealmaking has slowed, do LBO investors stop thinking about making money? The answer is, of course, no.