Category Archives: private equity

Adventures in Lawyering, MAC Edition

Posted on October 17, 2007 by Felix

Will Christopher Flowers succeed in his attempt to change his mind about buying Sallie Mae? Or will he have to pay the $900 million breakup fee? Many lawyers have weighed in on this subject, most of them on Sallie’s side, … Continue reading →

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Citi-KKR: The Ouroboros is Go

Posted on October 17, 2007 by Felix

Yes, folks, it’s on: it’s not just fantasy, but moving towards reality. Citigroup has a bunch of loans to KKR that it can’t get off its books. So KKR is going to buy those loans, using $8 billion borrowed from … Continue reading →

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Northern Rock: Takeunder Candidate

Posted on October 8, 2007 by Felix

Lex says that Christopher Flowers doesn’t seem to have sustained much reputational damage in the UK from the fact that he’s desperately trying to unbuy Sallie Mae. Certainly there don’t seem to be too many obstacles in his way should … Continue reading →

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Default Rates Set to Rise?

Posted on August 28, 2007 by Felix

Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism submits: The Financial Times’ Lex column today (subscription required) takes issue with those who take comfort in the oft-quoted statistic that default rates are at a 25 year low. The article shows a long-term, unrelenting … Continue reading →

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Private Equity: The Bankruptcies Begin

Posted on August 15, 2007 by Felix

Just how smart is Stephen Feinberg, the principal of Cerberus
Capital? Portfolio’s Daniel Roth tells
us:
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Nice Work If You Can Get It

Posted on August 13, 2007 by Felix

Half a mil a year to answer phone calls.
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Nardelli, Act 3

Posted on August 6, 2007 by Felix

It’s both surprising and unsurprising that Nardelli has now popped up as
the
new CEO of Chrysler.
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Adding Up Blackstone’s EOP Divestitures

Posted on July 26, 2007 by Felix

I’m a little confused by Jennifer Forsyth’s WSJ
article today explaining how Blackstone’s Jonathan Gray
has sold a large chunk of Sam Zell’s EOP property portfolio
for $27 billion.
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Why Raising Taxes on Private Equity Won’t Increase Tax Revenues

Posted on July 13, 2007 by Felix

The net revenue to the US from implementing this policy would be tiny: what you gain in taxes on general partners, you lose in taxes on limited partners.
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Private Equity: Why Higher Taxes Mean Higher Returns

Posted on July 11, 2007 by Felix

The Epicurean Dealmaker has a
great argument today for abolishing the favorable tax treatement given to
private-equity principals.
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The Value of the Hilton Brand

Posted on July 10, 2007 by Felix

Last week was one of the best weeks in Hilton family history: it showed that Barron Hilton, just like his father Conrad, deserves to be remembered as an excellent creator of value in the hospitality industry.
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Crazy Leverage in the Hilton Deal

Posted on July 6, 2007 by Felix

Russ Winter notes that Blackstone’s acquisition of Hilton
hotels doesn’t make
a lot of sense from a cashflow perspective.
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Posted in bonds and loans, private equity | 1 Comment

How Citi Reached the Top of the M&A League Tables

Posted on July 5, 2007 by Felix

Maybe it’s not so surprising that Citi is now atop the M&A league tables: the league tables simply aren’t measuring advisory services any more.
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Blackstone vs KKR: Schwarzman Wins

Posted on July 4, 2007 by Felix

Now that both Blackstone and KKR have lifted their kimonos for the investing
public, it’s pretty obvious that Blackstone has won the face-off.
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Propping Up the Blackstone Share Price

Posted on June 27, 2007 by Felix

It turns out
that those 20 million extra Blackstone shares that the lead managers sold
on Monday didn’t necessarily make $234 million for Steve Schwarzman personally
after all. The point of a greenshoe, it seems, is to help support the price
of the stock if it falls below the offering price – as BX, of course,
did
on Tuesday.
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Carlyle MD: The Blackstone IPO was “Highly Successful”

Posted on June 27, 2007 by Felix

With Blackstone stock languishing below its offering price, few people would
count the private equity firm’s IPO as a smashing success. But among
them, it would seem, is Carlyle Group managing director Jason Lee:
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Blackstone Deserted By Its Own Bankers

Posted on June 26, 2007 by Felix

If you have seventeen different underwriters on a deal, and they all say that a certain stock is worth (say) $31 per share, there’s bound to be a pretty strong bid at that level. Right?
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The Populist Case Against Private Equity

Posted on June 22, 2007 by Felix

Marc Andreessen posted a cute blog entry yesterday listing
14 questions any prospective investor in a private-equity fund should ask
of its managers.
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Why Blackstone Won’t Skyrocket Today

Posted on June 22, 2007 by Felix

The main reason that the offering is oversubscribed is, well, that it’s oversubscribed.
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Blackstone: The First of Many Private Equity IPOs

Posted on June 21, 2007 by Felix

Take $170 million from taking Blackstone public, another $200 million or so from KKR, and a few hundred million more from Apollo and TPG and Carlyle and everybody else who’s looking to IPO – and soon you’re talking real money.
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Signs of Caution in Private Equity?

Posted on June 19, 2007 by Felix

The fact that some private-equity companies dropped out of the bidding for HD Supply should not be taken as a sign of weakness.
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Anecdote Inflation

Posted on June 19, 2007 by Felix

What’s $10 million between friends anecdotes?
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Steve Schwarzman Basks in the Limelight

Posted on June 19, 2007 by Felix

Steve Schwarzman manages to find time in his schedule for being feted by the rich and famous.
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Closing Private-Equity Tax Loopholes

Posted on June 15, 2007 by Felix

There’s really no reason why hedge fund managers and private-equity billionaires deserve the kind of tax treatment that they’re basking in at the moment.
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Should Banks be Worried About Equity Bridges?

Posted on June 14, 2007 by Felix

Equity bridges are certainly a sign of the frothiness of the market. But I don’t think they’re particularly risky in and of themselves.
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