Christopher Witkowsky

The UK-based mid-market firm has been investing from its debut £300m distressed debt fund that closed in March 2007, but will raise a successor in spring with an estimated $1bn target.

The study dovetails with broad changes already affecting the private equity industry as GPs hire more operating partners and raise families of funds.

The New Jersey venture will provide food and other products at the New York Yankees baseball park and the Dallas Cowboys football stadium. The company will be led by Michael Rawlings, the former president of Pizza Hut.

The Los Angeles-based private equity firm has acquired nearly all the company’s debt for $200m and is funding the plan of reorganisation for Pierre, which is one of 34 private equity-backed companies that has gone bankrupt this year. Madison Dearborn bought Pierre in 2004 for about $422m.

Masonite, an Ontario-based door manufacturer acquired in 2005 for C$3.1bn, has entered a 30-day grace period to make a $42m interest payment on $769m subordinated notes.

The publicly listed private equity firm is trying to keep afloat two of its portfolio companies, Gagfah, a German real estate company, and Intrawest, a ski resort company, that are both burdened by debt, according to media reports. Gagfah said the report was not true.

The publicly listed private equity firm is trying to keep afloat two of its portfolio companies, Intrawest, a ski resort company, and Gagfah, a German real estate company, that are burdened by debt, according to the Financial Times. Gagfah said the report is not true.

The private equity firm anticipates spending $50m from the fund on three investments by the end of the year.

The auction for Lehman's Neuberger Berman and units including private equity fund of funds and secondaries, as well as infrastructure, will proceed despite objections from Carlyle over a $2.15bn bid from Bain and Hellman & Friedman.

Investments made by private equity firms are not subject to the same risks as firms with higly leveraged holdings of mortgage-backed securities and derivatives, according to a Private Equity Council study.