Fund News In Brief

3i Group plc said it is making progress with cost-cutting measures as it moves to a new reporting timetable it hopes will make it more transparent and win back shareholders dissatisfied at years of poor performance. New Chief Executive Simon Borrows promised jobs and cost cuts last month to reduce annual operating costs by £45 million ($70 million) within two years as the firm seeks to beef up its earnings and return more cash to shareholders, Reuters wrote.

The Philippines’ biggest state pension fund has teamed up with the Asian Development Bank and two other institutions to create a $625 million fund to finance new infrastructure to boost growth. The Government Service Insurance System is lead investor with a $400 million contribution. The ADB said it will contribute $25 million while the rest will be put up by a unit of Macquarie Group and Dutch pension fund APG Asset ManagementReuters reported.

Deutsche Beteiligungs AG said it received commitments of €567 million euros on a new private equity fund from more than 30 investors and an additional co-investment commitment of €133 million from the firm. The firm’s new Fund VI will have assets of €700 million ($864 million) to invest in buyouts of mid-sized companies in Germany and German-speaking countries.

EnCap Flatrock Midstream has closed its second private equity fund, EnCap Flatrock Midstream Fund II LP, with $1.75 billion in commitments. The firm said that it exceeded an original target of $1.25 billion for the fund. San Antonio-based EnCap focuses on midstream energy infrastructure investments in North America.

Global Infrastructure Partners Ltd, owner of London’s Gatwick Airport and of pipelines formerly owned by Chesapeake Energy Corp., revealed it had raised about $7.5 billion for its second infrastructure fund—the largest globally to date. The disclosure, made in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, means that the fund, Global Infrastructure Partners II, is now bigger than Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s first infrastructure fund, which raised $6.5 billion in 2006.

Brazilian private equity firm GP Investments Ltd has approved a plan to buy back about 10 percent of its outstanding Class A stock, the company’s board said in a securities filing. The board said the firm may buy 12.5 million shares from investors for one year starting Aug. 16, Reuters reported. The shares will be held in the company treasury and the voting rights will not be used.

Hong Kong-based Kerogen Capital, a private equity fund led by two former JPMorgan bankers, has closed a $1 billion energy fund, according to a statement from Forbes Private Capital Group, which managed and advised on the fund, Reuters reported. Kerogen Energy Fund will provide growth and development capital to junior upstream oil and gas companies, the statement said.

LNK Partners, which has invested in Ariat and Au Bon Pain, has closed a $400 million fund that will be dedicated to investments in the consumer and retail space. LNK’s placement agent was Credit Suisse and its law firm was Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison. The firm’s first fund was raised in 2006; this will be its second.

Palladium Equity has raised $194.6 million for its fourth fund, according to a regulatory filing. Palladium has an $800 million target for Palladium Equity Partners IV LP, sources have told peHub. Seven investors have committed to the pool, the filing said.

Cleveland-based Resilience Capital Partners has closed its new fund, The Resilience Fund III LP, with $222.5 million in committed capital. The fund exceeded its $200 million target, the firm said.

Universities Superannuation Scheme, Britain’s second-largest pension fund, may double its allocation to distressed debt at the expense of cash-strapped banks that can no longer afford to hold on to troubled assets. The £32 billion ($50 billion) USS fund has around a quarter of its private equity assets, or £700 million, in distressed debt. This could rise to up to half of the fund’s £3.5 billion private equity portfolio, Michael Powell, USS head of alternatives told Reuters.

Chicago’s Water Street Healthcare Partners has closed a third fund, Water Street Healthcare Partners III, LP, with $750 million. The firm said it exceeded an original target of $650 million, and that fundraising began in early June. Water Street focuses on the health care industry.