Each business day HedgeCo.Net keeps you informed with the top hedge fund industry news, opinion and insight from around the globe. From the latest hedge fund launches, to the impact of regulation, competition, and investor activism - we track the topics and people that make a difference to you.
The Ledger – Lehman Brothers, the troubled investment bank, is considering the sale of all or part of its prized money management division to private equity firms to raise billions of dollars of capital and ease the pressure caused by losses related to real estate.
The move would be the latest by a Wall Street firm forced to sell off high-end assets, following the recent sale by Merrill Lynch of its stake in Bloomberg L.P. and the sale by Citigroup last month of its large German consumer banking franchise.
Lehman sent letters last week to a number of financial companies, including private equity firms like Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts, J. C. Flowers, the Blackstone Group, the Carlyle Group and Apollo Management, to test interest in its money management division, according to several people briefed on its contents.
The letter, a so-called memorandum of understanding, did not put a value on the division. It said that interested parties could bid for all or some of the pieces but encouraged bidders to make an offer for the whole business.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Noci Pictures Entertainment has launched a one-stop global film finance and production service consulting division. The fund is aimed at hedge funds, ultra high net worth investors, tax credit buyers, purchaser representatives, family offices, and private equity firms.
According to Noci, "Many established filmmakers and agencies involved in independent film finance and packaging face the same dilemma of throwing multiple film projects against the wall and hoping one will stick with a limited number of studios and private equity."
With a plethora of incentives ranging from United States state and federal tax incentives that in some instances can be monetized upfront to cover a portion of a budget and offset risk to private equity investors, to overseas co-production incentives that can be maximized to finance quality films, Noci Pictures Entertainment’s stratrgy is to be a one stop resource, including arranging debt finance, foreign sales agency representation, talent packaging, and more.
Countries such as Canada, UK, Ireland, South Africa, Germany, Australia, And New Zealand have film finance incentives that can be accessed to finance any number of film projects, according to the company.
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Reuters- Lone Star’s deal to buy bad loans from Merrill Lynch & Co signals a growing power shift as private equity firms mop up after the year-long credit crisis.
Merrill Lynch said on Monday it will take a $5.7 billion (2.9 billion pound) third-quarter write-down as it unloads large holdings of risky debt. More than $400 billion of write-downs and losses at major banks since last year characterized the first phase of the financial crisis.
"The second part of the story is the distressed funds that have been raising funds to take advantage of motivated sellers," said Frank Morgan, president of the UK-based Coller Capital’s U.S. unit in New York, where it has $8.5 billion in assets under management.
TheChronicleHerald.ca- Two U.S. private equity firms are offering about $7.8 billion — or $39 a share in cash — for Alberta-based utility TransAlta Corp., which had been under pressure by a major investor to boost its stock price.
LS Power Equity Partners and Global Infrastructure Partners presented TransAlta with a "non-binding approach" on Monday.
TransAlta said its board will "carefully consider the letter and will respond in due course."
LS Power Equity Partners is linked to Luminus Management LLC, the New York-based hedge fund that fought earlier this year to persuade TransAlta to shed assets and to load up on debt as a means to buy back shares.
LS Power president James Bartlett said in a telephone interview that the suitors are seeking a "consensual, negotiated transaction."
The Business Sheet- After spending nine months trying to close a $450-million film financing deal to offset the cost of 30 upcoming movies, Paramount has been forced to give up the chase.
The studio was working with Deutsche Bank to try to arrange what would be its third slate film-financing arrangement, but after the bank was unable to syndicate the senior debt part of the funding, the deal has come to a screeching halt ,and Deutsche Bank has decided to shutter its pioneering film-financing operation, according to the Financial Times.
Over the past four years more than $13 billion has poured into Hollywood from once-rich hedge funds, private-equity firms and investment banks in the form of co-financing deals with practically every major Hollywood studio. In fact, both Deutsche Bank and Paramount were early participants in such deals, with Paramount completing the first of these slate deals with Merrill Lynch in 2004 and Deutsche Bank following soon thereafter with a $600 million deal between Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal and Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media.
Financial Times – China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange has agreed to invest more than $2.5bn in the latest TPG fund, in what could be the largest commitment ever made to a private equity firm, people familiar with the matter say.
The investment by the Chinese entity, known as Safe, underscores the growing inclination of sovereign wealth funds to invest through private equity firms – rather than directly – to minimise the potential political backlash to their growing activity.
It also illustrates the growing importance of sovereign wealth funds to private equity firms at a time when pension funds and non-profit endowments are cutting back their exposure to leveraged buy-out investments.
Investments in private equity firms are usually not made public, but industry executives believe the largest previous investment in a private equity firm came from pension funds in the US states of Oregon and Washington. The two funds both invested about $1bn to $1.5bn in Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.
Safe declined comment.
In recent years, a growing percentage of the money for US private equity firms has come from overseas. In 2002, for example, 25 per cent of the money that Blackstone raised came from outside the US. In 2005, it increased to 40 per cent.
China Investment Corporation, another sovereign wealth fund, has been given authority to invest a small portion of China’s $1,600bn in reserves.
New York, NY – (May 29, 2008) – HedgeCo Networks and LJH Financial Marketing Strategies announced today a partnership to provide comprehensive marketing and investor relations services to the global hedge fund industry and related financial sectors.
The new partnership offers a comprehensive financial marketing platform designed to develop and manage hedge fund brands through the use of regulatory compliant collateral. HedgeCo-LJH specializes in website design and construction, corporate identity/logo design, marketing collateral, marketing research, thought leadership, and event support. Overall, the goal is to help clients raise assets and visibility.
“The HedgeCo-LJH partnership will allow clients to leverage the services of each firm to remain competitive in the alternative investment industry,” said Evan Rapoport, managing partner of HedgeCo Networks. “Hedge fund managers and operators are able to outsource their marketing needs to better focus on their core business.”
About HedgeCo Networks
HedgeCo Networks is a premier name in the hedge fund services industry, offering a vast selection of services and tools for hedge funds. Their flagship site, HedgeCo.Net, is a portal used daily by over 25,000 investors and hedge fund managers. Drawing on the experience used in creating and managing HedgeCo.Net, the HedgeCo Websites Team has designed over 150 websites for hedge funds and private equity firms of all sizes in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. Their newest tool, the Hedge Fund 2.0 Calculator, is used by hedge funds by compute statistics, graphs, and marketing materials within minutes.
About LJH Financial Marketing
LJH Financial Marketing Strategies’ exclusive focus is on the global financial services industry, with specialized knowledge of hedge funds, private equity and related financial sectors. Partnerships begin with a thorough research-driven analysis of goals and objectives, including competitive reviews and a hard look at positioning. Based on this in-depth review, a variety of cost-effective marketing strategies and tactics are implemented to help drive bottom-line results. LJH has unparalleled experience and deep-seated industry relationships that help clients raise assets and market visibility.
Reuters- Sovereign wealth funds, which control up to $3.7 trillion in assets and have been making headlines as they buy assets in the West, will ultimately have the biggest impact on private equity and hedge funds, analysts at JPMorgan Chase said in a report on Thursday.
State-run investment funds currently own up to 7.5 percent of so-called alternative assets, or about $340 billion, and this stake could grow to as high as 17 percent by the end of 2012, said David Fernandez and Bernhard Eschweiler, analysts at the bank. "The main beneficiaries of the increased allocation by SWFs to alternatives are set to be private equity firms and hedge funds. These managers offer skills, resources and expertise that would be difficult for most SWFs to develop on their own," they said in the report. Indeed, last year one of the highest profile deals among sovereign wealth funds was the China Investment Co Ltd’s purchase of a $3 billion stake in U.S. private equity firm The Blackstone Group.
