Private Equity

The Coming Private Equity Default Crisis

There’s a book out called “The Buyout of America: How Private Equity Will Cause the Next Great Credit Crisis” and before you derisively sneer at what at first sounds like hysterical hyperbole in the subtitle, consider this bit of logic from Josh Kosman writing in today’s New York Post: “You better sit down,” the secretary…

Dear Private Equity People: Too Soon Guys, Too Soon

I wrote about 2 IPOs recently that I felt were hideous in their capital structure and pointless for investors based on their use of proceeds. One of those deals, The Dole Food Company (DOLE), had its debut yesterday and for pretty much the reasons I outlined, The Street’s reception was similar to what Michael Richards…

Hot Links: The Egg Monster

Stuff I’m Reading this Morning… BIG STORY: JPMorgan crushes their earnings by 31 cents.  Look out!  (Bloomberg) A philosophical take on whether or not banks are good for society.  (NakedCapitalism) Vanguard did a study on how much bond funds could drop when interest rates get raised, the losses could be gigantic.  (SeekingAlpha) Which Wall Street…

Guy Hands Comes Clean on Private Equity

I found this take on the private equity industry from one of its more well-known insiders to be refreshing in its honesty. Guy Hands is a “name brand” PE executive from London who made a very bad deal at the peak of the market.  In his discussion with Andrew Ross Sorkin, he comes clean about…

Hedge Funds and the Gloved One

That Michael Jackson‘s finances were a mess was always very well known.  What many don’t know is that some of our favorite financial runaway trains were active participants in Jackson’s monetary fantasy world. The Fortress Investment Group (FIG), which went public in one of the most spectacularly horrible IPOs of all time, was at one…

Private Equity, Public Embarrasment

Apollo Management sure has made some awful deals recently… From Bloomberg: Apollo founder Leon Black, 57, is trying to salvage some of the $60 billion worth of companies he has acquired since 2006. Retailer Linens ‘n Things Inc. filed for bankruptcy last year. Casino operator Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. is restructuring debt to stave off default….

Sucks to be Cerberus

Oopsies! Steven Feinberg:  Oh my gosh, honey, are you awake? Mrs. Feinberg:  Yes, what is it, Dear?  You sounded like you were having a nightmare… Steven Feinberg:  Yeah, it was weird…I dreamt that my private equity firm owned both GMAC and Chrysler!  It was horrible! Mrs. Feinberg:  Well…umm…ok, go back to sleep, hon.  Everything will…

Top 10 ETFs They Haven't Created Yet

With over 400 Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s) on the market right now and new ones being issued each week, it would seem that we could be reaching the point of ETF overload. That said, it would be tough to say that we have too many ETF’s until we get to the point that we start seeing products like the ones listed below…