November 2006 Issue

Nicholas Lockley, editor of PrivateEquityOnline.com, looks through his virtual window on the industry.

In October, Merchant Equity Partners, a new private equity firm launched by former Deutsche Bank executive Henry Jackson to invest in struggling European businesses, completed its first transaction with the PTP of the loss-making retail unit of MFI Furniture Group in the UK. The firm acquired the unit for a nominal £1, with up to £73 million of follow-up investment by 2008. The terms of the deal also included an entitlement for the company, rebranded as Galiform, to a minimum of five percent of any sale proceeds in excess of £300 million over the next five years. Here, Jackson talks about the deal and how it fits into Merchant Equity Partners' investment strategy.

Head office1-2-1 EdoboriTel: +81 6 6447 6111Nishi-kuFax: +81 6 6459 1142Osakawww.daido-life.co.jp550-0002JapanASSETS / FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT$3.4 billionINITIAL PRIVATE EQUITY INVESTMENT1999ALLOCATION TO PRIVATE EQUITY¥185 billion (€1.235 billion; $1.57 billion)APPROX. CAPITAL COMMITTED TO PRIVATE EQUITY FUNDS¥55 billion (€367 million; $466 million)ALLOCATION TO ALTERNATIVES6 percent to 7 percentPRIVATE EQUITY INVESTMENT APPETITE Europe North America Asia/Pacific Generalist No No No […]

Championed by a growing band of private equity professionals, venture philanthropy is in the ascendant across Europe. Philip Borel reports.

Former Microsoft research guru Nathan Myhrvold, the founder and CEO of Intellectual Ventures, has a vision to transform IP into a new asset class. So why is he being called a patent troll, asks David Rapp.

In 2003, former investment banker Claudio Aguirre set out to provide Spanish investors with access to international private equity. Three years on, support for the strategy appears robust. By Andy Thomson.

Contrary to what you might deduce from the headlines, Spanish private equity is not all about large deals. Outside the LBO glare, sources of transactions are expanding and opportunities proliferating. Andy Thomson reports.

Amid a flourishing IPO market globally, there is one glaring discrepancy: a lack of new issues in the US. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is being fingered as a possible culprit. John Fuller reports.

Despite being targeted at stock markets with apparently voracious investor appetite, some recent European private equity-backed new issues have been forced into sharply lowering their price expectations. Andy Thomson looks at what's sparking investor resistance.

How do you steer an LP super tanker through the sometimes choppy waters of global private equity? In October,Wim Borgdorff, head of fund investment at AlpInvest Partners, spoke to Philip Borel about the challenges facing Europe's largest limited partner.

Thanks in part to government initiatives, the number of registered angel investors in the UK is on the rise. But although there may be more angels, the amount of investment has declined, and small companies still face an equity gap in early funding. Dave Keating reports.

Could Latin America be in line for not just recovery, but prosperity?

A new report says overheating in the Chinese private equity market is a problem for foreigners flocking to the coasts – not for the country as a whole.

Don Wolf, the former CEO of Westport Resources, now has a $1.2 billion fund to deploy.

Apollo and Texas Pacific face excruciating regulatory approvals in their $15.5bn buyout bid for Harrah's.

Sevin Rosen – again – releases LPs from their commitments.

A reported Justice Department probe bolsters the key marketing pitch of big private equity, which is there isn't as much competition up there.

Two of Europe's wealthiest entrepreneurs are going shopping together.

Coalmining may be unfashionable, but it can also be highly profitable – as a London-based investor has discovered.

Hicks Muse spin-out Lion Capital is set to double its firepower, raising a €2 billion second fund just 16 months after closing the first.

Veteran general partners pondering the challenging future of the asset class may be asking themselves: is it time to quit while you're ahead?

FIRST ROUND 2006-11-01 Staff Writer Here's a tip for the GP who needs to close a deal in a timely manner – be pregnant. This pressure tactic worked brilliantly for Raquel Vargas Palmer, a principal at New York-based distressed investor KPS Special Situations Fund. Palmer, who led the firm in its turnaround a

Editor's letter Staff 2006-11-01 Writer Fading celebrities may well empathise with the old adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity. The stars of the private equity world – perhaps because their status is still that of rising rather than fading celebrity – may beg to differ: negative c