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☆ Private equity risks gorging on its secret sauce
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Investors prefer pedestrian but steady management fees over the lumpy share of fund profit that is the industry’s special sauce. Private equity firms with a public listing funnel some of the carry to employees and some to shareholders. TPG (TPG.O) last year went public with a similar strategy of paying around two-thirds of performance-related revenue to employees. Assuming the general idea is to keep overall earnings steady, then higher fee-based income for shareholders must be matched by lower cash compensation for employees. It suggests that for KKR, TPG and the rest, there is a limit to just how much of their own secret sauce employees can eat.

Persons: Steve Schwarzman, Carlyle, Blackstone’s, Schwarzman, Henry Kravis, George Roberts, EQT, Blackstone, Harvey Schwartz, Rowe Price, Thoma Bravo, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Sharon Lam, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Blackstone, KKR, Apollo Global Management, JPMorgan, Reuters Graphics, TPG, Apollo, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Alpha, Bain Capital, Thoma, Ares Management, Thomson Locations: BlackRock

☆ Former CNN boss Jeff Zucker's $1 billion venture is reportedly considering a big investment in former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter's media startup Air Mail
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Alison Brower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Zucker's firm, RedBird IMI, is reportedly one of three investors circling a majority stake in Air Mail. Jeff Zucker's media venture, RedBird IMI, is exploring a majority stake in Graydon Carter's startup Air Mail, The New York Times reported. It is one of three investors circling Air Mail, according to the Times. Carter, who spent 25 years leading Condé Nast's Vanity Fair, launched Air Mail — "a lively digital weekly for the world citizen," per its website — in 2019. In May 2021, as he was seeking investors for the series B, Carter told Insider he expected Air Mail to reach profitability in three years.

Persons: Jeff Zucker, Graydon Carter's, Zucker, Jeff Zucker's, Carter, Condé, Axios, RedBird, Zucker's, Chris Licht, David Zaslav, Licht, Donald Trump, Zaslav, Carter cohosted Organizations: CNN, IMI, Air Mail, Morning, RedBird IMI, The New York Times, RedBird Capital Partners, Abu, Media Investments, Air, Times, Standard Investments, TPG Growth, Warner Bros, Discovery, Cannes Film Locations: Abu Dhabi, Zaslav

MUMBAI/SINGAPORE, June 1 (Reuters) - KKR & Co (KKR.N) is moving a managing director from India to Singapore to lead the firm's Southeast Asia private equity business, two familiar with the matter sources told Reuters, bolstering its personnel in the region. Kumar will work with Ashish Shastry, a partner who heads Southeast Asia and co-heads the firm's Asia Pacific Private Equity business. The move also comes as KKR strengthens its presence in India and Southeast Asia. It raised $15 billion for its fourth Asia-Pacific focused private equity fund in 2021, one of the region's largest for the asset class. KKR has been investing in Southeast Asia since 2005, and opened its Singapore office in 2012.

Persons: Prashant Kumar, Kumar, Ashish Shastry, Vini, Gaurav Trehan, Trehan's, Akshay Tanna, Sriram, Kane Wu, Mark Potter Organizations: KKR, Co, Asia Pacific Private Equity, The Wharton School, Indian Institute of Technology, JB Chemicals, TPG Inc, TPG, Associations, Reuters, Healthcare, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, SINGAPORE, India, Singapore, Asia, Mumbai, Southeast Asia, Pacific, Philippines

☆ Factbox: Penalties imposed on Australian companies over the recent years
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Here are some of the major penalties imposed by the regulators:AMP LTD (AMP.AX)Troubled Australian wealth manager AMP Ltd was fined a court-mandated penalty of A$24 million in May for billing dead clients for insurance and financial advice. In October 2022, ANZ was penalised A$25 million for failing to provide certain benefits it had agreed to give customers. In October 2022, CBA's trading unit was fined A$20 million for compliance failures in delivering financial services. NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK (NAB.AX)National Australia Bank, the country's second-largest bank, was charged A$18.5 million penalty in August 2021 by a court for issuing misleading fee disclosure statements or none at all. WESTPAC BANKING CORP (WBC.AX)Australia's third-biggest lender, Westpac Banking Corp was ordered to pay A$113 million in penalties in April 2022 for multiple compliance failures across its businesses.

☆ Stephen Schwarzman says Blackstone has dumped office investments. Another corner of the firm kept lending billions.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Blackstone Mortgage Trust's $8.2 billion portfolio of office loans leaves it exposed to the sector. The Blackstone-managed firm issued about $3.3 billion of US office loans since the pandemic began. Even as clouds began to gather, Blackstone Mortgage Trust continued to lend to the office sector. In addition to managing the mortgage trust, Blackstone is among its largest shareholders. A Washington office complex shows how far values have fallenThere are ongoing issues, however, in Blackstone Mortgage Trust's portfolio.

The demise of the deal negotiations underscores the challenges facing private equity firms seeking to put together leveraged buyouts. New Relic has been negotiating with potential acquirers since last year, Reuters has reported, and it's possible that deal talks resume some time in the future, the sources added. New Relic and Francisco Partners did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while TPG declined to comment. San Francisco-based New Relic develops cloud-based software to help websites and application owners track the performance of their services. New Relic has previously been targeted by several activist hedge funds including Jana Partners, Engaged Capital and Eminence Capital.

☆ DirecTV reaches deal to provide NFL 'Sunday Ticket' to bars and restaurants
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

DirecTV has struck a multiyear deal to continue broadcasting the National Football League's "Sunday Ticket" package to commercial establishments, including bars and restaurants. The NFL sold the "Sunday Ticket" commercial rights to EverPass Media, a joint venture owned by private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and the NFL, earlier this year. The companies confirmed the "Sunday Ticket" deal on Thursday afternoon. Bars and restaurants, such as Buffalo Wild Wings and Hooters, rely on "Sunday Ticket" to bring in big crowds on Sundays during the NFL season. The NFL signed a seven-year deal with Google 's YouTube TV for the residential "Sunday Ticket" broadcast rights in December.

☆ Microsoft-backed identification verification startup Onfido acquires US counterpart Airside for undisclosed fee
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

British digital identity startup Onfido has made its second acquisition. The TPG Growth-backed firm has purchased US counterpart Airside for an undisclosed sum. British digital identity company Onfido has made its second acquisition to date, snapping up US counterpart Airside for an undisclosed fee. Onfido boss Tuchen said Airside solved a "critical problem" that will change how people prove their identities. "To date, digital identity has evolved by digitizing the process of identity verification in the physical world," he said.

☆ TPG, Francisco Partners in talks to buy analytics firm New Relic - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 17 (Reuters) - Private-equity giants Francisco Partners and TPG (TPG.O) are jointly planning a bid of more than $5 billion to acquire data analytics company New Relic (NEWR.N), a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. Reuters was the first to report in July that the U.S. business software company was preparing to explore a potential sale following interest from private equity firms. The San Francisco-based company had a market capitalization of roughly $5.78 billion, as of Wednesday's close. The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, while Francisco Partners and TPG declined to comment. New Relic develops cloud-based software to help websites and application owners track the performance of their services.

☆ An outsider's take on finding success on Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

At first glance, Kristofer Baxter doesn't seem like an ideal candidate for offering tips about succeeding on Wall Street. His outside perspective offers a unique look at what it takes to find success on the Street. Too often, people explaining how they found success on Wall Street, or anywhere, amounts to them bragging about how hard they worked. Read more on key lessons from a top engineer at Citadel about finding success. The famous VC firm is going to launch a fund of funds for backing other VCs focused on finding early-stage startups.

☆ The CEO of an Eyebrow Empire on Her Biggest Beauty Mistake
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Lane Florsheim | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Beauty entrepreneur Anastasia Soare used to have pencil-thin, round eyebrows—one of her biggest grooming regrets. “In pictures, I looked surprised all the time,” she said. Realizing the shape wasn’t flattering changed her life, she said, and she wanted to help enlighten other women. Ms. Soare, 65, opened the salon Anastasia Beverly Hills in 1998, using a now-trademarked ratio technique to shape the brows of clients including Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford. She is still responsible for some of the most famous brows in the world, including those of Kim Kardashian, Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey.

☆ TPG returns to credit party fashionably late
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Jonathan Guilford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The buyout firm is acquiring Angelo Gordon, an asset manager that specializes in private credit, for $2.7 billion, it said on Monday. The direct-lending portion of its $55 billion credit business emphasizes borrowers with less than $25 million of EBITDA. While it missed the last private credit bonanza, it isn’t saddled with jumbo-size and potentially shaky loans written at the top of the last cycle. As U.S. regional banks struggle, private credit firms see what Blackstone has termed a “golden moment” to muscle in on new turf. Follow @JMAGuilford on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSPrivate equity firm TPG said on May 15 that it had agreed to acquire private credit and real estate-focused investment firm Angelo Gordon for $2.7 billion, including cash and stock.

☆ Once valued at nearly $6 billion, Vice files for bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Claire Atkinson | Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Vice filed for bankruptcy, wiping out equity holders who poured in hundreds of millions, including TPG and James Murdoch. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday in New York's Southern District Court. The company's filing listed assets and liabilities in the range of $500 million to $1 billion. Vice had run multiple sales processes with a range of different banks but never received an offer palatable to its owners. The bankruptcy filing reveals just how many companies and investors pinned their hopes on Smith's hype about the potential growth trajectory of the TV and online venture.

☆ Australia's InvoCare gets higher $1.3 bln offer from TPG, shares jump
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 15 (Reuters) - Australia's InvoCare Ltd (IVC.AX) said on Monday it had received a higher A$1.86 billion ($1.26 billion) offer from TPG Global, weeks after the private equity firm revoked its A$1.81 billion pursuit for the funeral services provider. Shares of InvoCare rose 11.5% to A$12.36 by 0050 GMT, while the broader market (.AXJO) was up 1.4%. Last month, TPG withdrew its buyout bid after it was not granted access to the New South Wales-based company's books following its A$12.65 per-share indicative offer — a 41.3% premium at the time. InvoCare said on Monday it had agreed to provide TPG a chance to undertake a five-week due diligence on an exclusive basis to deliver a binding offer. The company intends to recommend shareholders vote in favour of TPG's latest offer if it becomes a binding deal, InvoCare added.

☆ Alex Roepers has nearly doubled the S&P 500's returns over 30 years by holding only a few stocks at a time. He told us how he nails the right picks — and detailed 4 bets he's making now.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( James Faris | Akin Oyedele | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Hedge fund manager Alex Roepers has scored a 3,500% return in the last 30 years. Here are four stocks that the top hedge fund manager is bullish on right now. Investors who think the S&P 500's 1,900% return over the past three decades is impressive must not be familiar with the work of hedge fund manager Alex Roepers. Those tenets set a high bar for what companies can qualify for inclusion in Roepers' fund. The hedge fund manager said he looks to enter investments when they're trading at 5x-6x EV/EBITDA or 7x-8x EV/EBIT, before exiting them at 8x-9x EV/EBITDA or 11x-13x EV/EBIT.

☆ Australia's TechnologyOne halts trading after being hit by cyber attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 10 (Reuters) - Australia's TechnologyOne Ltd (TNE.AX) said on Wednesday it had detected an unauthorised third-party access to its back-office systems, becoming the latest target in a series of cyber attacks that has bogged companies in the country since last year. "TechnologyOne's customer-facing SaaS platform is not connected to the Microsoft 365 system, and therefore, has not been impacted," the enterprise software maker reassured its customers in an exchange filing. The software maker immediately went on a trading halt after the announcement, and said it has isolated the affected systems and will contact the impacted customers after an investigation is conducted. Major firms such as top grocer Woolworths Ltd (WOW.AX), and telecoms Telstra (TLS.AX) and TPG Telecom (TPG.AX) have reported data breaches and unauthorised access, bringing to light corporate vulnerability to cyber attacks. Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini GanguliOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India's RR Kable files for IPO to raise up to $27.5 million -draft prospectus
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, May 7 (Reuters) - Indian wire and cable maker RR Kabel Ltd., backed by private equity firm TPG, filed for an initial public offering on Sunday, seeking to raise up to $27.53 million, according to its draft prospectus filed to India's market regulator and seen by Reuters. RR Kabel, India's fifth largest branded wires and cable manufacturer, plans to use funds raised through the IPO to repay or prepay borrowings, in part or in full, from banks and financial institutions, according to the prospectus. TPG Asia VII SF Pte Ltd, a U.S.-based private equity firm, holds a 20.99% stake in RR Kabel and will sell some of its stake in the IPO, the prospectus shows. RR Kabel's business is primarily business-to-consumer sales of wires and cables products. ($1 = 81.7200 Indian rupees)Reporting by M. Sriram and Shivangi Acharya; Editing by Susan FentonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Vice Media Nears Deal for $400 Million Sale Out of Bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Alexander Saeedy | Jodi Xu Klein | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Vice Media is nearing a deal for senior lenders including Fortress Investment Group and Soros Fund Management to acquire the troubled media company out of bankruptcy at a valuation of around $400 million, according to people familiar with the matter. Nearly every Vice stockholder—including backers such as private-equity firm TPG Group, Sixth Street Partners and media mogul James Murdoch—would be wiped out under the proposed reorganization, the people familiar with the matter said. Outstanding debts held by TPG and Sixth Street would also be impaired as part of the plan, the people said. The Murdoch family is a major shareholder in Journal parent News Corp .

[1/2] The Thomson Reuters logo is seen on the company building in Times Square, New York, U.S., January 30, 2018. Total revenue rose 4% in the quarter to $1.738 billion, beating expectations, according to estimates from Refinitiv. Thomson Reuters plans to spend $100 million on an annual run rate basis to invest in artificial intelligence, Hasker said. AI features will be incorporated in most major business divisions -- legal, tax and accounting, and in the news business. As of April 30, it owned 47.4 million shares of LSEG, worth $5 billion.

[1/2] The Thomson Reuters logo is seen on the company building in Times Square, New York, U.S., January 30, 2018. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File PhotoMay 2 (Reuters) - Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI.TO), on Tuesday reported higher sales and operating profit in the first quarter, helped by divestitures and high customer retention rates. As of April 30, Thomson Reuters owned 47.4 million shares of LSEG, worth $5 billion. Thomson Reuters shares are trading at an all-time high. Reporting by Helen Coster and Kenneth Li in New York, Editing by Nick ZieminskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Subway comes up with $5 billion debt plan to clinch $10 billion-plus sale, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

This is weighing on how much the private equity firms are offering to buy companies. So far, bids for Subway have ranged between $8.5 billion and $10 billion, one of the sources said. Barclays, a major player in the market for WBS financing, is one of the banks in discussions about long-term financing, the sources said. JPMorgan's financing package also offers the option of a preferred equity component with a roughly 15% interest rate, the sources said. This is a more expensive route that private equity firms may not opt for, three of the sources added.

☆ Vice Is Said to Be Headed for Bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Lauren Hirsch | Benjamin Mullin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Vice, the brash digital-media disrupter that charmed giants like Disney and Fox into investing before a stunning crash-landing, is preparing to file for bankruptcy, according to two people with knowledge of its operations. The filing could come in the coming weeks, according to three people familiar with the matter who weren’t authorized to discuss the potential bankruptcy on the record. More than five companies have expressed interest in acquiring Vice, according to a person briefed on the discussions. The chances of that, however, are growing increasingly slim, said one of the people with knowledge of the potential bankruptcy. A bankruptcy filing would be a bleak coda to the tumultuous story of Vice, a new-media interloper that sought to supplant the media establishment before persuading it to invest hundreds of millions of dollars.

This is weighing on how much the private equity firms are offering to buy companies. So far, bids for Subway have ranged between $8.5 billion and $10 billion, one of the sources said. This is a more expensive route that private equity firms may not opt for, three of the sources added. To be sure, Subway is allowing bidders to use any financing route they want, as long as they can show they can secure committed financing. TPG and Bain were part of a group that owned Burger King when John Chidsey, who is now Subway's CEO, headed that burger fast-food restaurant chain.

☆ Credit Suisse’s corpse drags on Nomura
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Like peers, it is feeling the pain of the Silicon Valley Bank crisis and Credit Suisse’s (CSGN.S) collapse. And Nomura (8604.T), as with Goldman Sachs (GS.N), is ill-positioned to benefit from rising lending rates as much as commercial banks are; both investment-banking firms posted a 5% decline in net revenue in the most recent quarter. Wholesale revenue, dragged down by a 20% decline in investment banking, contracted for the quarter but remained up 10% for the year. Retail and investment management contracted compared to the prior quarter; that could be more than just seasonal if the global economy stays rickety. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ News anchor carnage is a post-Trump reality
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Rupert Murdoch’s Fox (FOXA.O) announced the abrupt departure of star host Tucker Carlson, while Don Lemon, an anchor at rival CNN, said he had been fired. After the easy news cycle served up by former President Donald Trump’s administration, the networks are going through an identity crisis. Network chief Chris Licht is trying to reposition the organization toward straight-down-the-middle journalism, but is struggling to get the lineup to click. Even MSNBC is trying to recapture the magic after leading host Rachel Maddow left her five-day-a-week spot last year. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

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