Fund Management

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.

US regional airline Midwest has turned down discount airline AirTran’s buyout offer in favour of a higher, $400m bid by TPG Capital and Northwest Airlines. A formal agreement is expected in days.

Tony James, the US company’s president and chief operating officer, outlined its strategy to capitalise on tougher debt markets, including smaller deals and distressed debt investing, and warned that the credit environment may have a short-term negative impact on fees.

Alchemy Partners is backing an £80 million buyout bid for UK-listed recruitment group Imprint. The company’s shares jumped 20 percent on the news.

The thinning of spreads on the European market for credit default swaps, the iTraxx crossover index, points to increased optimism in the debt markets.

Duke Street Capital’s sixth fund has broken the €1 billion mark, providing some welcome news to the buyout firm after a summer where it has had to endure some negative coverage.

Boutique investment bank Augusta & Co believes the credit markets are in a much healthier state than recent coverage might suggest, arguing that the current jitters are due to temporary factors, rather than underlying weakness.

As ratings agency Standard & Poor’s criticises covenant loose loans for being covenant-lite by the backdoor, a senior banker tells Toby Lewis cov-lite loans will become extinct.

In an unprecedented step Blackstone has revealed its partners’ tax liability in a rebuttal of a US newspaper report.

The underwriting banks syndicating the Alliance Boots debt package have pulled the second lien tranche of the debt package, just a week after they were forced to postpone syndication of the senior debt for the deal.