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Industrial/Manufacturing

Apollo Is On The Hook For Huntsman Buy

October 6, 2008 - Hexion Specialty Chemicals, a Columbus, Ohio-based portfolio company of Apollo Global Management, was ordered to complete its $10.6 billion acquisition of chemicals company Huntsman.

GSEs Still A Good Thing, Ranieri Says

October 6, 2008 - Like it or not, US housing agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are a key to bringing back to life US housing finance, according to Lewis Ranieri, one of the earliest pioneers of mortgage securitization.

Specter Of Fraud Concerns PE Execs

September 29, 2008 - Long before news surfaced this past week that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating embattled financial institutions American International Group, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman Brothers, the specter of fraud was a concern when doing business on Wall Street. It's been an equally insidious part of private equity dealmaking, too, if a survey by BDO Consulting offers any indication.

Unraveling Indian Conglomerates

September 29, 2008 - Domestic dealmakers may still occasionally garble the pronunciation of Tata Group, but the Indian conglomerate has nevertheless made a name for itself in US M&A circles. Other Indian multinationals are doing the same, as Mahindra, UB Group, Wipro Technologies, Essar Group and Reliance Group, among others, are fast becoming familiar names in state-side auctions. The difficulty for sellers, however, is that it can be impossible to precisely pinpoint the motivations of these buyers.

Special Generalists

September 29, 2008 - Private equity investors are typically split between the generalist and the specialist camps. One side is marked by opportunistic funds that will back a company in nearly any sector or field, while the other is niche-driven, relying on industry contacts and sector familiarity to source transactions and spot market dislocations. Increasingly, however, there is a category of investor that might fit somewhere in between, as a number of so-called generalists have worked to build up their qualifications in various industries.

Wall Street's New Geography

September 29, 2008 - Last Monday, just as Barclays began its integration of Lehman Brothers employees, the geography of Wall Street was once again changed dramatically. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last independent US bulge-bracket banking firms left standing after a year of credit tumult, were given Federal Reserve approval to form bank holding companies. A day later, Warren Buffett announced a multi-billion dollar investment in Goldman Sachs. And amid all of this, the Fed changed its policy on equity investments, allowing hedge funds and private equity firms to increase their stakes in banks.

Lehman's Shafir Joins Citi

September 22, 2008 - Mark Shafir, most recently chairman and co-head of M&A at Lehman Brothers, has left the bankrupt firm for Citigroup, where he will become head of global M&A.

Houlihan Builds Out Real Estate Team

September 22, 2008 - Anticipating more demand for advice on real estate assets, Houlihan Lokey hired a team of investment bankers from JPMorgan's real estate advisory practice.

Advent Raises Japan Fund

September 15, 2008 - Advent International, a Boston private equity firm, said last Wednesday that it has closed on ¥60 billion ($550 million) for its first Japan-focused private equity fund.

BNP Joins 'Distress' Party

September 15, 2008 - The entrance of BNP Paribas into distressed finance is yet another sign that the sector is ripe with opportunities.

Remaking A Bank

September 8, 2008 - Outside of Barclays Capital's fourth-floor boardroom in Midtown Manhattan hang two flags, one US and the other British. It is a nod both to the more-than-three-century-old bank's UK roots and its plans for a dramatic global expansion, plans that include Wall Street. The man behind Barclays' global push, Robert Diamond, almost took another career route: academia, following in the footsteps of his mother and father. He revealed that and more during a recent interview with IDD.

Apollo, Lazard Team Up For European PE Buys

August 18, 2008 - Apollo Management and Lazard announced late last Tuesday that they have teamed up to pursue private equity investments in Europe.

SPACs Re-Emerge

August 18, 2008 - One big surprise in the initial public offering market over the last year revolved around the re-emergence of special purpose acquisition companies, also known as SPACs, or blank check companies.

PE Firms Wrestle With Change

August 18, 2008 - When Kohlberg Kravis Roberts announced that it was going public earlier this month via a deal with its Euronext Amsterdam-listed affiliate, almost a year after last summer's credit crunch took hold and the firm initially registered to go public, the move represented more than its next growth step. Its new plan to go public punctuates a larger point: the private equity business is changing.

Private Equity Gets Heated In India

August 11, 2008 - When news surfaced this past week that Indian business mogul Anil Ambani's Reliance Capital was planning to raise $1 billion for a new India-focused private equity fund and Tata Capital had appointed banking veteran Shailendra Bhandari to run its private equity operations, the developments reinforced how much interest India's corporations have in investment prospects in their own backyard.