The Carlyle Group has made three senior hires into its recently-formed Asia leveraged finance team. The division, which is based in Hong Kong, is headed by Eric Mason who joined the buyout group in May from JP Morgan.
The flurry of Refco litigation continues, as TH Lee has now filed suit against Grant Thornton, the independent auditor hired to perform due diligence on Refco before the 2004 merger agreement. The private equity firm alleges the auditor failed to notify it of suspicious transactions on Refco’s balance sheet.
French bank Société Générale’s failure to syndicate a £330 million loan backing Esporta pulled the plug on the property tycoon Simon Halabi’s acquisition vehicles. Halabi is considering suing Duke Street Capital, Esporta’s previous owner, and the prior management of the company.
Blackstone and Fortress are taking a beating on Wall Street today.
A real estate investment fund owned by KKR suffered a 31 percent fall in its share price yesterday, after the vehicle was forced to sell $5 billion of residential mortgage loans at a loss.
As Canada’s venture capital investments suffered a 12 percent year-over decline in the second quarter, private equity deals surged to a record C$55.6 billion, well outperforming last year’s total deal volume of C$11.6 billion.
Cerberus portfolio company Aegis Mortgage has filed for bankruptcy – it owes the private equity firm $178 million.
French bank Société Générale, having failed to syndicate a £330 million loan backing Simon Halabi’s acquisition of Esporta from Duke Street Capital, has pulled the plug on the property tycoon’s deal vehicles - although the gyms continue to trade profitably, administrators say.
The US presidential candidate still has major stakes in Bain Capital funds, although these have been placed in a blind trust, according to recent campaign disclosures.
Asia’s private equity report card for the first half of this year is out: fundraising has surpassed last year’s record levels but transaction value has fallen compared to the first six months of 2006.
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