May 2011 Issue

    Transparency beats performance

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

    Appetite for disruption

    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

    A well-kept secret

    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

    Stealing the show

    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.

    Western promises

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

    Excess energy

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

    The refinancing race

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

    Feeling the heat

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

    Why LPs may be changing their tune on venture

    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

    Passing the baton

    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.

    The battle is lost, but the war may yet be won

    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.

    Why didn’t you invest?

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

    Letter from … Dubai

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

    The PEI 300: 2011

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