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Charges are stacking up against Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon hedge fund group who is accused of making at least USD36m in profits through deals that depended upon inside information.
US prosecutors appear to be expanding the scope of the investigation and looking to find more participants in insider trading willing to cut deals that involve naming names in exchange for immunity or more lenient sentences.
Some commentators are not hesitating to compare the Rajaratnam scandal with that in the late 1980s, immortalised in the film Wall Street, which ensnared arbitrage trader Ivan Boesky and junk bond king
Private equity fundraising has had its worst year since 2004, with only USD246bn raised by 482 funds worldwide in 2009, according to research by Preqin.
This is 61 per cent down on the USD636bn raised in 2008 and 62 per cent down on the record USD646bn raised in 2007.
Q4 2009 represents a low point for the year, with only USD35bn raised by 75 funds – the lowest quarterly total since Q3 2003.
Of the USD246bn raised in 2009, buyout funds raised the most capital, with USD102bn raised by 84 funds. A total of 170 venture funds raised USD27bn, while
Private equity firm The Carlyle Group has acquired Brazilian tour operator CVC Brasil Operadora e Agência de Viagens from founder and chairman Guilherme Paulus.
Paulus will remain chairman of CVC and will retain a significant minority equity stake in the company.
CVC is headquartered in Santo André, Brazil and is the largest tour operator in Latin America.
The transaction closed in late December 2009 and included the tour operator and the cruise ship businesses of CVC. The other companies controlled by Paulus – the airline WebJet, the hotel management company GJP and the advertising agency GP7 – were not included.
Resilience Capital Partners, an Ohio-based private equity firm, has publicly released its online Resilience Benchmark software.
The benchmarking process identifies the best practices in industry niches in relation to a company’s products and processes, both within an industry and outside it, with the object of using this as a guide and reference point for improving the practices of one’s own organisation.
Steven Rosen, co-chief executive of Resilience Capital, says: "The Resilience Benchmark is an internal tool we have used since we founded the firm to assist us in identifying areas for operational performance improvement and the direct immediate opportunities available
The US private equity industry saw 331 funds raise USD95.8bn in 2009, down 68.1 per cent from the USD299.9bn raised by 508 funds in 2008, according to figures from Dow Jones LP Source.
With the lone exception of secondary funds, every sector experienced sharp slowdowns. This is the first year since 2003 that private equity firms raised less than USD100bn.
There were a few stars that stood out amidst the fundraising gloom. The brightest was Hellman & Friedman, which took in USD8.8bn – all in 2009 – for Hellman & Friedman Capital Partners VII. In venture, Charles River Ventures and
M&A in the global asset management industry in 2009 was dominated by mega-deals, with a record nine transactions announced involving firms with more than USD100bn in assets under management.
Yet several deals in the fourth quarter signal a new phase driven by a greater number of transactions primarily involving independent firms, according to the financial institutions group of Jefferies.
While 60 per cent of Q4 2009 asset management M&A represented divestitures – the defining theme in the past year – significant strategic deals involving independent firms such as Advisory Research’s sale to Piper Jaffray and Metropolitan West Asset Management’s purchase
Imperial Capital has closed of the sale of Protect America, a provider of self-installed monitored alarm systems, to an investor group led by Rockbridge Growth Equity.
Imperial Capital acted as exclusive financial adviser to Protect America and helped arrange the senior financing.
Rockbridge Growth Equity was lead equity sponsor along with Falcon Investments and Protect America founder Thad Paschall.
CapitalSource Bank led the senior financing syndicate which included Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs.
Protect America was established in 1992 and is one of the fastest growing alarm companies in the US. Headquartered near Austin, Texas, Protect America
Nabarro & Hinge has opened an office in Luxembourg after entering into partnership with Alexandrine Armstrong-Cerfontaine.
The firm has also bolstered its Paris team with the arrival of Benjamin Dahan.
Jonathan Nabarro, a lawyer in private equity and structured finance in France, went into partnership with Jennifer Hinge to establish Nabarro Associés. Joining them is Armstrong-Cerfontaine and Dahan, both of whom formerly served at law firms in Paris.
Together they become Nabarro & Hinge, a law firm dedicated to financing, corporate growth and financial restructurings.
Nabarro & Hinge’s team of multi-disciplinary lawyers offers legal services to investment funds, mezzanine funds,
A&J Venture Capital Group has appointed Zhongwen Chen and Roger Zolg as directors.
Chen will become director and vice-president of the company.
Chen has a strong background and will be responsible for operations in China including the office in Hong Kong, selecting potential companies and expanding the firm’s existing network.
Previously Chen was executive director of HeySpace International, a SNS plus WebGame provider in China.
Chen says: "I am excited to join A&J Venture Capital and will bring in my experience and contacts in China. I’ve taken over negotiations which started prior my involvement with the company and we expect
Hodes Weill, an advisory and investment business focused on the real estate private equity and private funds industry, has appointed Susan Swanezy as a partner.
Swanezy was previously a managing director and head of distribution for Credit Suisse’s real estate investments group.
“The perspective and expertise Susan has gained from her 25 years in the real estate industry will be a vital addition to our business as we continue to work with managers, investors and lenders to navigate the issues presented by the current market dislocation,” says Doug Weill, co-founder and managing partner of Hodes Weill. “In addition to her
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