Suzanne Weinstock

Leveraged loans from buyouts are selling at a steep discount. According to reports, KKR and Permira have purchased more than €100m of portfolio company ProSiebenSat.1’s leveraged loans and banks are struggling to offload Clear Channel debt.

The Brazilian private equity firm fell slightly short of its fundraising target, but is ‘bullish’ on its ‘perfect timing’ for acquiring companies at low valuations.

The Massachusetts-based private investment firm has sold Vertex Fasteners to industrial equipment distributor DXP Enterprises three years after the initial acquisition.

The buyout firm’s president, Joshua Harris, is relocating to London from New York while former Drexel Burnham colleague Marc Rowan makes the reverse move.

The listed alternatives firm has exited it June 2006 investment in cable box company Contec to Bain Capital Partners for a reported $525m.

Private equity-backed Mrs. Fields Famous Brands plans to file for Chapter 11 as declining consumer spending takes its toll. The shopping mall-centred company's Mrs. Fields and TCBY franchise stores have suffered closures since 2004.

The head of JC Flowers has reportedly established a fund under his personal control – a possible solution to stringent US bank holding company regulations.

The private equity firms have agreed to sell Talecris Biotherapeutics, purchased for $590m in 2005, to Australian blood products company CSL.

Private equity now makes up 11 percent of the Canadian pension’s capital under management, which has grown to nearly $128bn. The CPPIB has narrowly bucked the loss-making trend among North American pension funds, recording a 1 percent total return on investments in the three months ended in June.

TPG, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Goldman Sachs have sold a minority stake in the electricity distribution arm of portfolio company Energy Future Holdings, formerly TXU. The sale is the first since the record $45bn buyout closed in October 2007.