Remember when PE firms backed out of signed deals in droves? They looked like jerks at the time, but in retrospect, they were probably smart to avoid the overpriced, highly leveraged deals they had aggressively pursued for the past three years. Taking into account the Dow’s record breaking drops l...

The secondary market may be stalled until year-end numbers are out, but that hasn’t dampened interest in the asset class. Aside from firms starting new secondary intermediary practices left and right, many of the largest legacy buyers are in the market with new funds. Notably, one (Landmark) is ra...

Jay Jordan, the head of mid-market firm The Jordan Company, appeared on CNBC this morning to discuss the dealmaking climate. In the segment (after the jump), we learn that Jordan is disgusted with the amount of pork barrel money in the stimulus package, and he proposes two of his own economic cures....

Massive write-downs and horrific stock prices de damned. Today's earnings calls for BDCs like Allied Capital and American Capital echoed what we heard on Blackstone Group's recent call: "We're not going private anytime soon, and we're not paying any dividends for a while." American Capital announced...

It's only been six months since Warren Buffet called private equity firms “porn shop operators,� but The Oracle of Omaha can't stay away from one of his favorite punching bags for long. In his annual letter to investors, Buffet called out private equity firms for being too opaque, and abusing po...

Just Don't Try Selling It In New York: Place this in the "why didn't I think of this?" file. Or perhaps under "totally dumb ideas." A guy is bottling and selling tap water from New York City. It's Called Tap'd NY. (LA Times) $24 Billion: That's the total tax increase your industry is going to get ov...

Well Is It? In the vein of "Is it iced coffee weather?" we have "Is This The Bottom?" (Via Market Movers) Fallin: Recovery Rates for leveraged loans have been less than 25%. (WSJ) Same Dif: "As hedge funds come under increasing regulations, analysts believe the next industry to face tighter and stri...

FdG Associates has bought a company that stands to benefit from the new economic stimulus package, but according to managing director Doug Dossey, there’s plenty of growth beyond that spending. “The stimulus package, we view, as icing on the cake,� he says. Yet it’s hard to argue that the fi...

Bank CEO Q&A: Andrew Ross Sorkin has a list of questions to ask bailed-out bank CEOs, and Felix Salmon attempts to answer them. (Market Movers) Jettison: Carlyle is unloading one of its private jets. Oh, it's the one clad in "gaudy gold plating," Cityfile reports. Jerks: Stephen Fowler, a GP at ...

Scumbag Billionaire: Image to the left via Naked Capitalism. Bailed-Out Companies: They might not be able to take their corporate jets, but they can take out massive ads in newspapers in an attempt to win back some love from the American public. (Dealzone) Layoffs: Harvard is cutting 20% of its inve...