Christopher Witkowsky

The firm was targeting €400m to €700m for capital infusions in portfolio companies of KKR’s €4.5bn second European fund.

Fund of funds pros Daniel Allen and Jacques Youssefmir, and Laurie Coggan, Wilshire’s COO, have left the advisory firm for unexplained reasons.

A group of private equity firms that have engaged in bank investing believe changes need to be made to the FDIC’s proposed rules for private equity ownership of failed banks.

Dave Blechman has left to join upstart firm Tower Three. Sun’s Steve Liff will continue to lead the New York office.

Placement agents have formed a loose coalition in the US, as the SEC considers barring state pensions from interacting with them.

The US regulator wants to prevent private equity firms from using placement agents when dealing with US public pensions. The agency also wants to eliminate political contributions from the interaction between investment firms and public pension officials, SEC chairwoman Mary Schapiro told Congress.

The distressed debt specialist has plans to buy various Nortel assets out of bankruptcy and run them as a reorganised company. A separate Nortel division is currently being pursued by Avaya, which is owned by Silver Lake and TPG.

The two powerful California pensions have announced huge write-downs in private equity and real estate over the fiscal year ending in March. Both pensions have implemented measures to counter the losses, including moving allocations and negotiating for lower fees.

The US lobbying group for a dozen or so mega-firms is keen to support new regulations in the States, but warns the bulk of the US private equity industry - thousands of lower mid-market firms - may be adversely affected by proposed registration requirements.

The Salt Lake City, Utah-based private equity firm has hired Gary Crittenden - former chairmen of Citi Holdings - as a managing director. The firm has collected $1.2bn for its debut fund.