private equity

There's no dominant theme I want to discuss today. But, there is a lot of news flow. So I thought it would be a good time to take stock of what's happening in the economy and financial markets, without presenting an overarching theme. Some…

A lot of people are still watching the flattening yield curve and distress in EM. And while I think both of these events are important, I am looking at a lot of other market signals, particularly US domestic credit markets. Here are some…

When I heard about what happened to the private equity company Abraaj Group, based in Dubai, I immediately thought back to Dubai World nine years ago.

There are widespread signs of credit market froth. This is a telltale sign of top of the cycle or near top of the cycle excess. Think 2005, 2006 or 2007. The key bit here is that credit markets transmit distress in a way that equity markets…

Banks appear not to have heard the old Wall Street saying, “A position is a trade that didn’t work out.” I suspect they are going to be long their REO for a more protracted period than they anticipate. Stay tuned.

By Niels Jensen The Absolute Return Letter, December 2012 “It’s one thing to have an opinion on the macro, but something very different to act as if it’s correct.” -Howard Marks, Oaktree Capital Management It can be a frustrating, and…

The financial plan is basically an asset grab. They want to load the whole economy down with debt. A consumer will come in and say, I’d like to take out a loan. They’ll say, how much do you earn? Everything over subsistence they’ll want as…

Ted Forstmann was a sterling example in a tarnished field.

After British chain WHSmith backed out of a deal with Borders, the British retailer, formerly a subsidiary of the U.S. megastore bookseller, is desperately looking to stave off bankruptcy and Chapter 7 liquidation. I love Borders and have…

Starwood Capital Group gets the assets in a consortium with TPG capital, Perry Capital and WLR LeFrak (another Wilbur Ross company – this guy is cleaning up in the FDIC private equity bonanza). Here’s the press release: The Federal…