December / January 2010 Issue

The effort to raise the carried interest tax rate died this week in the US Senate and is unlikely to be reconsidered during the next two years.

The accounting giant’s European business revenues slightly dipped this year, but were buoyed by its private equity line of business.

The buyout firm has beefed up its portfolio support team with the addition of former Inchcape executive Immo Rupf and former Bain Capital executive Ivan Kwok.

The Australian Tax Office has finally ruled on an issue which arose following a dispute with TPG over taxes payable on the returns from the IPO of Myer Group in October 2009.

Aldus Equity agreed to pay $1m in restitution and repay $5.4m in management fees received from New York’s $132bn pension fund.

The buyout giant reportedly snagged Simon Cresswell from Goldman Sachs, where he held a similar position.

Ken Spain, former National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman, will focus on public affairs and communications for the Private Equity Growth Capital Council.

The senior managing director will head to Hong Kong from New York and will take charge of the firm’s investor relations in the region.

CalPERS is considering a host of recommendations that would fundamentally change the way the pension runs its private equity programme.

Arthur Zuckerman, the former chief executive officer of consultancy company The TriCycle Group, has joined Avista as partner and chief operating officer to help support the firm’s expansion strategy and meet new compliance requirements.

The global financial conglomerate is expanding its private equity services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and has appointed in-house veteran Kamran Anwar to help lead the effort.

The Channel Islands law firm has recruited former Clifford Chance lawyer Christopher Anderson for its corporate and finance team in Guernsey.

Partners Capital, a London- and Boston-based investment office, is about to plant its first flag in Asia as a way of tapping into rising domestic fund manager talent.    

The global association of watchdog agencies is urging firms to endorse greater transparency and disclosure policies as a way of mitigating potential conflicts of interest between fund managers and investors.

Jennifer McHugh will act as the agency's lead regulator for the $39trn asset management industry following Andrew Donohue's departure earlier this month.

Henry Morris will pay $19m and accept a permanent ban from the securities industry in New York State as part of his guilty plea in New York’s pay-to-play pension fund investigation.

Former Zurich private equity head Jim Kester has joined the $600 billion Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund as chief investment officer of the fund’s private equity unit.  

The Boston-based private equity firm has begun searching for a new European general counsel, and will target London’s top law firms in the hunt.

The 25-member LP pool of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s ill-fated Asian Real Estate Opportunities Fund, rubberstamped their approval of a settlement offered by the Wall Street bank at an investor meeting in Hong Kong last week.  

Investors want GPs to focus on the operational improvement of a portfolio company, according to a recent survey by Deloitte. Past research, however, shows meeting LP concerns can be difficult.

Marc Spilker has been named Apollo’s first-ever president, in Apollo's latest 'institutionalisation' move ahead of a public listing.

Peter Nachtwey is reportedly stepping down as chief financial officer of The Carlyle Group and will be replaced in the interim by managing director Glenn Youngkin.

The jury deciding Terra Firma’s trial against Citi began deliberations late Wednesday. The day included an uncomfortable encounter between David Wormsley (pictured) and Guy Hands.

The $70bn pension negotiated carry down to 16% on Cerberus spin-out Tenex Capital Management’s debut fund. Tenex is led by Michael Green.

New York and the SEC unveiled suits against former Quadrangle chief Steven Rattner, who may face a lifetime securities ban in New York for his alleged role in pension pay-to-play.

The Indian financial services firm will pay $171.5m for a 55% stake in Landmark Partners. Religare bought a stake in fund of funds Northgate Capital earlier this year.

The realisations of eight portfolio companies in the firm's $1.8bn Fund III, which was granted a one-year fund life extension, are expected to shape plans to raise a fourth fund.

CalPERS has received numerous recommendations after a 'special review' of fees, including demanding all GP meetings take place at the pension's offices and not in 'expensive settings'.

Embattled Quadrangle is restructuring its funds to include LP-friendly terms like not taking any carry on Fund II until the firm has returned 100% of invested capital.

The fund of funds alleges Maria Boyazny stole 'commercially sensitive' data before leaving to start MB Global Partners, a charge Boyazny has denied. The lawsuit has since been withdrawn.

A majority of LPs will be looking to maintain their allocation levels to private equity, or even decrease those levels, and most will only have a limited interest in meeting new GPs, according to a survey from Probitas Partners.

Dörte Höppner, who has for four years led Germany’s private equity association, will replace Javier Echarri at the end of the year.

The development-focused organisation will return to its roots as a direct investor in emerging markets.

Emerging Capital Partners, which manages the largest pan-African private equity fund raised to date, has hired an emerging markets veteran to spearhead IR.

The $220bn US public pension system will allocate 63% of its assets to its ‘growth’ pool of public stocks and private equity holdings.

A year ago David Snow made nine predictions for a new private equity decade. One year into the 2010s, how smart is he looking?

Experts warn that a new European regulation could force opportunity and other leveraged real estate funds to post cash collateral against their interest rate hedges and potentially even lead to large cash calls upon their limited partners

Veteran fundraiser Michael Hewett plans to leave the embattled firm, whose future is contingent upon deftly deploying Fund III’s €2.4bn of remaining dry powder.

CalPERS has elected to do away with traditional allocation labels, may push for performance-based fees and prohibit private equity advisors from also managing its capital. Is this a sign of something bigger coming over the horizon? And is it a good or a bad thing?