Lehman Brothers has more than doubled its fund of funds programme with the close of a $1.5 billion vehicle. It is Lehman’s second fund of funds raised since 2003, when the firm acquired Dallas-based fund of funds manager The Crossroads Group.
The UK government is reportedly planning a sale or flotation of CDC, the emerging markets fund of funds that recently revealed bumper profits.
Avista Capital – the firm founded by former DLJ head Thompson Dean along with other senior executives from CSFB’s private equity arm – has closed its first fund on $2 billion.
EMAlternatives has secured its first investment, with a $100 million commitment from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. The private equity fund investment specialist attempts to offer global investors exposure to markets they have not invested in before.
Clothing company Jones Apparel Group is in talks to sell luxury department store Barneys New York to Istithmar for $950 million (€714 million). The Dubai-based firm has been active in the New York real estate market lately.
Blackstone’s public float will net Steve Schwarzman and Pete Peterson more than $2.3 billion. Last year, according to a regulatory filing, the pair took home more than $600 million.
Actis has taken a minority stake in Nigeria-based Diamond Bank, shortly after the country’s scandal-dogged elections. But despite the governance concerns, buyout firms are optimistic about the country’s economic and political future.
A consortium led by Edmund Truell has sold the operating businesses of UK retailers Threshers and BrightHouse to secondaries specialist Vision Capital, just two weeks after buying them. The £265 million sale will leave the consortium in control of the companies’ pension fund assets.
KKR and TPG have reportedly offered to pay $30 million toward air quality improvement programmes in central Texas, in the group’s latest move to quell criticism of the $45 billion proposed buyout of Dallas, Texas-based utility company TXU.
US buyout firm Summit Partners has taken a minority stake in private internet sale company Vente-Privee.com, as European internet companies show signs of recovery following European venture capitalist Index Ventures’ successful sale of Last.fm to US television network CBS.
The Houston, Texas-based company has closed its eleventh private equity fund on $1 billion.
PCG International has closed its first investment vehicle, a $400 million fund of funds backed solely by CalPERS.
AXA Private Equity has become the latest buyout firm to invest in electronic payments, through the acquisition of Welcome Real-time.
A director in the People’s Bank of China has called the country’s current rules ‘insufficient’ for investment needs.
As private equity in the MENA region shows spectacular signs of health, could the rest of the continent also experience a private equity boom? Toby Lewis reports.