Fundraising

The global alternative investment firm has sealed its first deal in Greece. It acquired a majority stake in Neochimiki from the public markets, in the latest of Carlyle’s investments in the chemicals sector.

The California pension has also reported commitments to Advent, Audax and Huntsman Gay.

The real estate management arm of Italy’s famous tire manufacturer targets €1 billion ($1.5 billion) for deployment in Europe.

The energy-focussed private equity firm has nearly doubled the size of its previous fund in a three month period that involved ‘very little proactive marketing’.

The energy-focussed private equity firm has nearly doubled the size of its previous fund in a three month period that involved ‘very little proactive marketing’.

It would appear that a consensus is emerging among private equity real estate professionals over when the best opportunities are to be had this year.

Veronica John, president of IDFC Global Alternatives in Singapore and a long-standing investor in emerging and frontier markets, offers her take on the opportunities that exist for the private equity industry in Pakistan today.

Robert Thompson is a senior managing director and head of AIG Investments' worldwide alternative investments business. He joined the firm in 2005, before which he was a co-founder of healthcare-focussed private equity firm Ferrer Freeman Thompson & Co. David Yeung is a managing director of AIG Investments in New York and president and chief executive officer of AIG Capital Partners, heading up infrastructure investments in emerging markets including Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America. He previously spent more than 10 years on AIG Investments' Asia private equity team. It seems that every investor is turning attention to the emerging markets these days, and AIG Investments is no exception: over the last 12 months the firm earned double-digit returns from its exits across Asia, closed a €523 million Central and Eastern European fund, and agreed multiple deals in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Africa. But unlike the throngs of newcomers, AIG Investments has the benefit of having been on the ground in most of these markets for the past 10 to 15 years.

NEA expands in India * Norwest Ventures hires Motorola man * Partners Group opens in Australia * Liang joins Peacock Equity Fund * Squadron adds three * Wallace back to banking * Ex-Coca Cola man to lead $1bn India infrastructure effort * Mobius considers Iraq investments * Blackstone appoints adviser in Turkey * CDC posts record results as CEO urges caution

DIC looks to the east * Darby invests in Coffee Day * Propel books 2.5x cash from exit * HSBC to acquire apparel maker * Goldman, Whitesun team up again * Henderson backs agrochemical company * Q1 investments hit $3.3bn in India * Aureos backs Chinese wind energy firm * 2.3x cash from Indonesian mining deal * IDFC backs carbon credit advisory firm