“In the waning days of summer, it is tempting for some to think mergers and acquisitions have melted away with the heat.
Despite a strong showing in July, with a strategic-driven $179.1 billion of announced transactions, overall deal volume is down close to 30% from the year-earlier period, according to research firm Dealogic. And private equity [...]

Total Boosted by $430M Mega-Deal; Information Services, Media & Content Remain Hot; VCs Doing More, Bigger Later-Stage Deals 19 August 2008 – Beijing and Shanghai The second quarter of 2008 saw venture investment in Mainland China surge to its highest level in five years as venture capitalists put nearly $1.37 billion into 71 deals, more [...]

By Miles Weiss
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is paring stock holdings and investing as much as $2.3 billion in distressed-debt funds run by Leon Black as corporate-default rates are forecast to double within a year.
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The CPP Fund ended the first quarter of fiscal 2009 on June 30, 2008 at $127.7 billion compared to $122.7 billion at fiscal 2008 year end. The $5.0 billion increase in assets after operating expenses this quarter consisted primarily of $1.3 billion in investment income, reflecting a 1 per cent investment rate of return for [...]

The subprime woes that have hit bank balance sheets with massive write-downs are helping to forge some unusual partnerships.
Private equity investors, with their well-honed talents for spotting opportunities to create value in troubled businesses, are buying big stakes in bank holding companies.
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Harvard University’s endowment fund has made a gain of 7 percent to 9 percent for the fiscal year ended June, boosted by investments in commodities, Treasuries and some strong hedge-fund performers, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday, citing people familiar with the returns.
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In the second quarter of this year, 24 new private equity funds raised a total of $3.008bn, according to the China VC/PE Market Fundraising Report Q2 2008 released by ChinaVenture.
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UK pension fund investment manager Hermes has hired Glyn Jones as its new chairman. Jones is taking over from Richard Bernays who will retire. Jones was previously chief executive of Thames River Capital and Gartmore Investment Management.
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