News and Analysis

The auction of JPMorgan Chase’s private equity business, One Equity Partners, in the market since at least November, has hit an impasse, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.

Steve Gelsi, senior editor at Buyouts, appeared on Reuters Trading at Noon on March 7 to discuss the deal by Cerberus Capital Management to take Safeway Inc private in a deal valued at about $9.4 billion.

The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund OK’d $250 million in fresh commitments to new private equity funds from Vista Equity Partners, ABRY Partners, Valor EquityPartners and other GPs as the $32 billion retirement system moves to meet its target allocation for alternatives.

Varsity Healthcare Partners has raised at least $200 million from large family offices and is nearing its first acquisition since the firm was founded in late 2012 by veterans of Aurora Capital Group and Fenway Partners, according to two sources familiar with the firm.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co closed its KKR Energy Income and Growth Fund I with $2 billion in commitments, the latest in a string of fundraising successes for the New York-based buyout titan.

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.