July / August 2010 Issue

The mid-market firm has bolstered its investor relations team to better address transparency demands from LPs.

Mats Carlston, who led Nixon Peabody’s global finance team, is joining Pillsbury along with 13 others.

A re-tooled version of the bill will likely face another vote on Friday as senators continue to negotiate.

State legislators, after considering raising the tax rate on carried interest for managers that work in New York but live outside the state, have let the idea fall by the wayside.

The state oil and gas endowment is seeking a firm to help it investigate and possibly pursue legal action in the wake of a pay-to-play scandal.

An agreement on the adoption of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers directive has been postponed until September.

Carlos Morales, a 20-year veteran of Merrill Lynch, worked with the firm’s private client, asset management and operations businesses on a variety of legal and compliance matters.

The US Congress today passed sweeping financial reform legislation, which includes the so-called Volcker Rule and required SEC registration for private equity firms

The regulatory compliance firm has acquired a controlling stake in London and Jersey-based Blueprint Compliance. The newly created cross-border regulatory compliance consultancy practice is set to address the recent influx of far-reaching financial regulations.

Alfred Villalobos, the embattled placement agent accused of bribery, said he plans to sue CalPERS for spreading 'lies' about him.

The London-based law firm promoted partner Richard Moulton to lead its private equity practice.

The pending EU legislation could have the unintended consequence of blocking certain sales or bidders for LP interests, depending on the final text's definition of 'marketing'.

A Massachusetts’s court ruling on hedge fund group Bulldog Investors could have implications for private equity GPs.

The DFSA’s latest moves are meant to make Dubai’s fund regime more attractive to fund managers.

Individuals’ homes will no longer count as part of their net worth, potentially resulting in fewer people with sufficient wealth to invest personally in private equity.

Non-US based firms will be exempt from registration if they have fewer than 15 US-based LPs and clients and less than $25m in combined US investor assets.

A debate in the House of Lords over the EU’s pending AIFM legislation yielded little progress, as key issues including third country rules and disclosure requirements have yet to be resolved.

Foreign LPs invested in USD funds are seeing a conflict of interest as parallel RMB vehicles rack up deal after deal, writes Jenny Blinch.

The $14bn oil and gas endowment has hired Day Pitney to pursue fee and investment loss recovery from private equity firms to which SIC committed capital based on reasons ‘other than great returns’.

The firm, which anticipates closing Fund VI on $13.5bn, agreed to an 80/20 transaction fee split for Oregon with a slight increase in the management fee. Blackstone is offering all Fund VI LPs the deal.

GPs who need a little more time to find deals are asking for extensions. LPs should use these requests as a chance to ‘re-underwrite’ the relationship.

The average high bid for partnership interests across all asset classes reached almost 80% of NAV in the first half of 2010, according to data from Cogent Partners.

Montagu, Graphite, BC Partners and MatlinPatterson are among the firms whose LPs have granted fund investment extensions.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission's alternatives investigation unit is ramping up its focus on private equity, including taking a closer look at side letters.

A panel at PEI’s compliance forum earlier this week talked about the tough fundraising environment, placement agents and the effects forced registration would have on marketing new funds.

In a softening of the original proposal, the SEC has decided to prohibit only unregistered placement agents from soliciting US public pensions on behalf of private equity firms.

Matthew Hudson, formerly of SJ Berwin and Coller Capital, has founded a law firm which will charge fees based on clients’ success rather than billable hours.

With poor fund performance putting pressure on carry, many GPs believe the incentive to spin out has ‘never been greater’.

The government has eliminated its previous 5%, 15% and 25% cap on pension plan investments in real estate and Canadian resource properties, with expectations the rule could result in rising allocations to the asset class.

As the US Congress prepares for a final vote this week on plans to limit banks involvement with private equity funds, industry professionals admit the regulations are unlikely to come into effect for more than a decade – but could significantly lower bank co-investment in alternative vehicles when they do.

The $94bn pension fund has started webcasting its board meetings following a growing trend among US public pensions to have live feeds of its sessions.

A new transparency initiative from Texas Teachers puts a spotlight on the US’ anachronistic ban on ‘general solicitation’, writes David Snow.

It’s ultimately in the best of interests of fund managers to accept tax increases, such as the UK's new 28% capital gains rate, and move on.

Responses from trade associations suggest alternative investment fund managers in the UK may have mixed feelings as capital gains tax is increased in today’s emergency budget from 18% to 28%.

Charles Eaton says banning unregistered placement agents from doing business with public US institutions is ‘the right decision’.

The global head of Clifford Chance’s private funds group, Jason Glover, will establish a UK practice for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Peter Jark of DLA Piper examines insolvency proceedings pertaining to distressed debt investing in Germany.