Private Equity and Hedge Funds

Can a memory stick bring down a political order? That is the question in Greece, where a tragicomic debate over what became of a list of nearly 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts is rapidly turning into a full-blown political crisis that is imperiling Greece’s fragile coalition government at a crucial time. The New York Times reports.

As banks pull back, private equity firms are increasingly turning to high-yield bonds, mezzanine loans and other types of debt that carry higher interest rates. Some are appealing directly to institutional investors like pensions and sovereign wealth funds to finance specific deals, the New York Times reports.

The private equity world is sitting on a 13-figure sum. If they don’t spend their cash pile snapping up acquisitions soon, they may have to return it to their investors.

tAs regulators put the finishing touches on new rules for Wall Street, they remain entangled in a partisan fight over the overhaul, the New York Times reports.

In court documents that lawyers for Bain Capital sought to keep secret, the company and other leading private equity firms are depicted as unofficial partners in a bid-rigging conspiracy aimed at holding down the prices of businesses they were seeking to buy, The New York Times reports.

Wall Street banks are increasingly telling counterparties and borrowers to restructure contracts or find another bank as they prepare for the potential exit of a country from the eurozone. The FT reports.

There is a “new China” active in the currency markets, according to analysts, as Switzerland’s battle to weaken the franc inflates its stockpile of foreign currency reserves. The FT reports.

The value of assets managed by the private equity industry globally continued to rise last year, hitting a record $3 trillion despite financial market turmoil and sluggish economic conditions. The Financial Times reports.

Marc Lasry has never been afraid to go his own way. After betting on Obama in 2008, and on Ford in 2009, the hedge fund owner is now putting his money on a long-term European comeback, the New York Times reports.

As hedge funds become a dominant force in the investing universe, directorship services have grown into a big business on the Cayman Islands. And because of a quirk in the island’s tax code, these funds must appoint a board, the New York Times reports.

Private equity is not the money machine it used to be. Buyouts are more costly, sellers are less willing to negotiate, credit markets are choppy and returns are down, pushing players to take more risks, the New York Times reports.

When Greece announced on Tuesday that it had made a €436 million bond payment to the hold-out investors who rejected the country's historic debt revamping deal in March, the decision came as no surprise, the New York Times reports.

BlackRock, the giant money manager, said it would have no choice but to shift some of its business away from certain Wall Street firms if Moody’s Investors Service went ahead with its threat to downgrade some of the country’s biggest banks. The New York Times reports.

Commodity hedge funds are sitting on disappointing returns for the first quarter in spite of one of the biggest monthly rallies in crude oil in years and falling market volatility. The FT reports.