May 2011 Issue

An illuminating survey reveals that LPs rank six other GP qualities above track record, writes David Snow

Edi Truell turned his back on the world of conventional private equity when in 2007 he sold out of the firm he founded, Duke Street Capital. To some extent his two current ventures cast him as both LP and GP, but his prognosis for today’s industry is bleak. Toby Mitchenall reports

It took a decade for Russia to wake up to the potential of private equity, but then the financial crisis hit Russia’s fragile economy hard. Will government reforms and a new, transparent approach to business see Russian private equity deliver on its potential? Lyndon Driver reports

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’ China Growth Fund hit the $1bn mark in March, but the firm’s existing Asia portfolio was the main attraction at its first-ever investor day.

TPG is the latest fund manager to sell a stake in itself to Asian sovereign funds.

Shortly after spinning out of TCW, EIG Global Energy Partners surged past its $3.5bn hard-cap

Can the debt markets handle the $800bn of outstanding LBO loans?

A combination of regulatory pressures and macro-economic factors have been putting pressure on British private equity firms.

Limited partners have been slowly opening up to new VC relationships now that the industry has shrunk and top managers are back to courting investors

A perfect storm of a pressing need to deploy capital and an equally urgent need to return it has kept secondary buyouts booming, but LPs remain wary.

China has declined to throw open the doors of its private equity market to foreign institutional investment – but to despair at this outcome is an over-reaction.

When the financial meltdown was at its nadir, private equity firms should have been busy putting capital to work. Many were not.

The shake-out occurring in the MENA private equity market has been welcomed by local and international players alike.

Welcome to our fifth annual ranking of the world’s largest private equity firms - click here to download a PDF version.