BEST OF peHUB

A round-up of notable commentary recently posted on sister site peHUB.com. All opinions expressed are those of the authors.

The EU limbo is on. Half of the continent has slipped into a recession, and despite European Central Bank Chief Mario Draghi’s pledge to buy unlimited bond purchases to stave off economic disaster, the markets seem to indicate investors aren’t buying it, literally.

The endgame here—well at least, the current endgame, until the really messy one plays out—has been a 2012 fraught with little European M&A—and that includes private equity. In fact, the anemic results posted so far this quarter are the lowest third quarter results for M&A in a decade: Thomson Reuters data show that announced deals during the quarter about to conclude have only reached $455 billion as of mid-September, compared to second quarter figures of $620 billion.

One source suggested to peHUB that a growing number of large-cap LBO shops are seeking out capital for European funds, but have held off on fundraising because of lingering uncertainty there.

“There may not be much deal activity in Europe right now, but PE firms want to get their pipelines ready for once it is time to buy,” the source suggested. PeHUB and Thomson Reuters data show that LBO shops have been raising funds and striking deals selectively.

AXA Private Equity put together a $1.3 billion fund for European infrastructure plays and KKR reportedly doubled down on European rescue debt funding. Swedish LBO shop EQT also loaded up for infrastructure plays during the quarter.

Despite the damper, some consumer plays have earned private investors. Yemeksepeti, the Turkish online food ordering service, secured capital from General Atlantic, HIG Europe has made a number of plays and AXA has also been active.

Carlyle Group again put some of its existing European fund capital to use when it deployed that fund to in part provide equity for its acquisition of the car paints unit of DuPont. And the LBO shop—which has been the most active of 2012 in terms of buys—wasn’t done with Europe spending there; the firm also snapped up a minority stake in Turkish lingerie and swimwear maker Penti, which attracted interest of other LBO shops including CVC.

TOP PE TWEETS

Rich Lawson @Rich_Lawson

Interesting times in #privateequity land RT @reutersdeals: Providence Equity sells management firm stake to investors http://reut.rs/VAvIAO

The Economist @TheEconomist

The demonized private equity industry decided to fight back with a public relations campaign http://econ.st/Q2Y1Hw

Dan McLaughlin, @baseballcrank

Romney could have made another $750 million if he’d stayed out of politics http://is.gd/6KvW4X tell me again how he’s just out for a buck.

Kelly Thompson @MMkDoyenne

Thanks to Tank, Savers and Camp, cov-lite term loan pricing has dropped 125 bps over the last week.

The PE Reader @PE_Feeds

BIG NEWS: From @GregRoumeliotis, The #privateequity tax probe just got more interesting, the $150B pension’s involved. http://reut.rs/SuNXsw

The New Yorker @NewYorker

Mormonism, private equity, & the making of a candidate: Nicholas Lemann examines Romney’s unique upbringing (sub req): http://nyr.kr/QsG6XJ

Heidi N. Moore @moorehn

The PE Growth Council has a map showing how much your state pension funds have in private equity. http://bit.ly/S3rf9v