News and Analysis

Apollo Global Management LLC, Guggenheim Partners LLC and other sponsors may face tighter regulations on investments in the life insurance and annuity business now that New York State’s chief financial watch dog has vowed to probe increased presence in the industry by buyout shops.

Solera Capital, one of the industry’s few women-led firms, has failed to immediately win a $50 million commitment from the Oregon Investment Council, which opted to table the prospective investment to Solera Capital Partners II LP pending further review, according to James Sinks, a council spokesman. The new fund has a $350 million target.

As the euro zone crisis eases to a dull, chronic economic ache, U.S. distress investors are beginning to look across the Atlantic for business opportunities. Lone Star Funds, the Dallas-based buyout shop with a fresh $5 billion of dry powder, has done a series of deals with banks on the Continent in an apparent bet that the worst is past and Europe’s troubled financial sector is poised to recover.

Bessemer Trust Co. has raised $161 million of its estimated $250 million goal for Old Westbury Private Equity Fund XII, its latest fund of funds, according to filings with regulators. The firm is well known for managing money for wealthy families.

Wayzata Investment Partners, a distressed debt-shop with a penchant for taking control of companies, closed on its third fund, Wayzata Opportunities Fund III LP, having raised $2.7 billion, slightly more than the initial $2.5 billion target. The firm started raising Fund III in the third quarter of 2011.

Bain Capital LLC, Thomas H. Lee Partners and J.P. Morgan Chase Partners would hold shares in healthcare company Warner Chilcott plc valued at about $453 million following the proposed $8.5 billion acquisition of the drug firm by strategic buyer Actavis Inc, suggesting an investment multiple of nearly 4x over the life of the investment.

Babson Capital Management is consolidating five of its mid-market lending unit into a single organization, paving the way for the company to build out a new suite of products for investors, such as customized accounts and commingled funds.

Legislation that would ease leverage constraints on business development companies has started a rare public controversy within the BDC community, a group that lends to sponsor-backed businesses with annual revenue of less than $500 million.