Firms & Funds

Oaktree Capital Management has set plans to raise its fourth mezzanine fund in a robust environment for the asset class as the Los Angeles distressed asset investor moves toward the end of the investment period for its fund series predecessor, Mezzanine Fund III.

Caesars Entertainment Operating Co will raise much-needed cash in the $2.2 billion sale of casinos to its majority-owned affiliate Caesars Growth Partners. But Moody’s said it may downgrade the company’s sizable debt load on the loss of EBITDA from the four properties included in the transaction.

A late February article by Bloomberg News said that regulators were considering an exemption for private equity shops from a requirement that they would have to register as broker-dealers to the extent they collected deal fees from portfolio companies. The story quoted a “person with knowledge of the matter” without naming the source.

Direct investments by two of the world’s largest pension funds have generated strong returns, suggesting that a recent Harvard Business School paper showing that directs do no better than fund investments won’t end debate on the question.

Alvarez & Marsal Capital Partners, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based buyout shop closely aligned with restructuring shop Alvarez & Marsal, has beaten the $500 million target on its debut fund with a $600 million fundraise.

Direct investments by two of the world’s largest pension funds have generated strong returns, suggesting that a recent Harvard Business School paper showing that directs do no better than fund investments won’t end debate on the question. Over the last 10 years, direct investments in private equity deals, including solo investments and co-investments alongside sponsors, […]

If your idea of a reasonable price for a technology company these days is 10x to 12x EBITDA, you may be in for some sticker shock. At first blush, Vista Equity Partners’s deal to buy Active Network last year for $1.05 billion appeared to be more than twice that level, although one could argue the price was far less.

Leon Black, chairman and CEO of mega-firm Apollo Global Management, was widely quoted last April saying at the Milken Institute Global Conference that the firm was “selling everything that’s not nailed down.” But that doesn’t mean the executive hasn’t seen opportunities to invest in energy, corporate carveouts, non-performing loans in Europe and overleveraged companies in India.