Firms & Funds

3i Group shares dropped more than 3 percent after the firm said that disposals made over the past five months were at around the same value as previously assumed.

Banco Bradesco of Brazil and Banco Espírito Santo of Portugal have formed 2bCapital, a new private equity fund manager that will operate in Brazil. Each bank will provide R$50 million for 2bCapital’s debt fund, which will target R$500 million (US$277 million).

CDH Investments has secured $750 million for its fourth private equity fund focused on growth-stage companies in China. The total target is $1.4 billion.

China Investment Corp., a $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, has agreed to invest around $1 billion with Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital Management, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Marcellus Taylor has acquired United Investment Managers, a Chicago-based emerging manager asset management firm with around $300 million in assets under management. No financial terms were disclosed. Taylor previously was co-founder of Erasmus Advisors, a co-investment unit of Dallas-based Aldus Equity. He left Erasmus in 2007, following Deutsche Bank’s acquisition of a stake in Aldus.

MIT said that its endowment shrank 20.7 percent in the past fiscal year (ending June 30), down to $8 billion from $10.1 billion.

Nexar Capital Group has launched as an investment management firm founded by former hedge fund executives at Société Générale. It is being sponsored by an undisclosed amount of funding from Aquiline Capital Partners.

Oak Hill Advisors has closed a new distressed debt fund with $1.125 billion in capital commitments. The fund began making investments last October.

PEI Funds, a private equity secondaries fund manager based in new York, has raised $147.7 million from 60 investors toward a $250 million target for Private Equity Investment Fund V LP, according to an SEC filing.

John Paulson is among those considering a merger of CIT Group with IndyMac Federal Bank, according to the NY Post. The plan has been floated by CIT creditors that include Paulson, but there have not been formal discussions between CIT and IndyMac.

Perseus LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm, is raising its eighth fund, sources with knowledge of the situation told Buyouts. The target is believed to be close to the $600 million that Perseus raised for its seventh fund, which closed in 2007.

The Riverside Company is raising its first Asia fund, with a focus on small-to-mid-cap buyouts in Greater China. It already has secured around $30 million of its $100 million target.