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Week in Review: Private Equity Firms Counting Their Cash

WEEK IN VERSE Jack Welch says this number is unbelievable. “These Chicago guys will do anything.”

Buyout firms in Europe are hustling for cash. | A cellphone deal is turning up the heat on Sprint. | Campaign ads are focusing on ties to Wall Street, no matter how thin. | Andrew Ross Sorkin said the private equity world had more money than it knew what to do with.

A look back on our reporting of the past week's highs and lows in finance.

T-Mobile to Acquire MetroPCS, Increasing Pressure on Sprint | The merger “signals a renewed phase of jockeying among cellphone service providers as they race to draw in more smartphone users and upgrade to the latest high-speed data networks,” Michael J. de la Merced reported. The talks were first reported on Tuesday. DealBook '

A Merger in Mining Is Said to Be on Track | The board of the mining company Xstrata announced on Monday that it was backing a revised $9 0 billion takeover bid from the commodities trader Glencore International, Mr. de la Merced and Mark Scott reported. DealBook '

Ads Attack Wall Street Ties, No Matter How Flimsy | Candidates are trying to gain an edge by linking their opponents to bailouts and banking, no matter how flimsy the connection may be, Peter Lattman reported. DealBook '

Deal Professor: In Stock Market Rebound, a Windfall for Wall Street Executives | Steven M. Davidoff says that in the depths of the financial crisis, banks were encouraged to compensate executives through long-term options and stock incentives, which are now worth hundreds of millions of dollars. DealBook '

What did they do to deserve such a reward? It's hard to justify and it goes a long way toward explaining the persistent anger toward Wall Street. And we have the government partly to blame for it.

Equity Firms in Europe Struggling for Funds | As banks have curbed their lending in response to the European sovereign debt crisis, private equity firms have had to get creative to finance buyouts, Mr. Scott reported. DealBook '

DealBook Column: More Money Than They Know What To Do With | Andrew Ross Sorkin says that private equity funds need to spend nearly $200 billion on acquisitions in the next 12 months or it must be given back. “That means it is possible we could see a series of bad deals with even worse returns.” DealBook '

Many of the big private equity firms - Apollo Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Blackstone Group and Carlyle Group, among them - are public. And for the first time, it is possible that the interests of the public shareholders could diverge from the interests of the investor s in the buyout funds, at least in the short term.

Law Firms Mine San Francisco for Internet Start-Up Gold | In an effort to build credibility among new technology companies, Evelyn M. Rusli reports that Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and others are employing a broad set of tools, including offering free services, cozying up to incubators and writing blogs. DealBook '