There has been almost no movement in the European leveraged loan backlog since mid-August. Despite ongoing fundraising by alternative asset managers and banks for hung debt vehicles liquidity has yet to return to the debt markets.
HBoS, the UK bank, has restructured its acquisition finance and structured finance teams into one leveraged finance unit as it looks to expand its European operations.
Pension funds anticipate private equity returns over the next three years to be 38 percent lower than managers’ expectations. However, pension funds’ desire to invest in the asset class remains high.
Lehman Brothers is following the example of Golman Sachs, KKR and others in launching a fund that will pick up deal-related debt at a discount.
In a recent interview with sister magazine Private Equity International, Oaktree chairman Howard Marks discussed his firm’s rapid expansion and expertise in profiting from troubled times.
A $3.5 billion distressed-for-control fund was recently closed by MHR Fund Management, the New York firm led by Carl Icahn’s former chief investment advisor Mark Rachesky. It is more than three times the size of the firm’s 2002 fund.
Isis Equity Partners, the UK mid-market buyout firm, has sold secure messaging company Boldon James to trade buyer Qinetiq, after securing contracts for the company with the UK Ministry of Defence and the UK Cabinet office.
An Israeli-led consortium revealed today it has terminated an agreement to buy a package of Swiss properties in a clear example of how large property deals are failing to get done in the wake of the recent credit crunch and fears that commercial property values are falling.
Three weeks after The Carlyle Group announced its investment in Brazilian real estate developer Scopel, New Jersey-based Prudential Real Estate Investors has joined with Racional Engenharia to target investments in Brazil’s industrial property market.
The value of leveraged buyouts in Europe in quarter three fell by more than two-thirds while providing evidence that the mid-market continues to be an active source of deals.