LONDON (Reuters) – AXA Private Equity has raised a larger than expected $8 billion from investors, much of which it will use to take assets off the hands of banks cutting down their exposure in the face of growing pressure from regulators.

Banks, which urgently need to fortify their capital buffers, are in a rush to offload private equity assets they spent billions on in the heady days before the financial crisis, causing a flurry in so-called secondary sales.

LONDON (Reuters) – AXA Private Equity has raised $8 billion for two of its funds, the company said on Monday, most of which it will use to take assets off the hands of banks cutting down their exposure in the face of rampant regulation.

Demand for the fund-raising was from pension funds, government agencies and family offices in North America, the Middle-East and Asia, the group said.

LONDON, June 14 (Reuters) – A Cayman Court ordered Maan
Al-Sanea to pay the Algosaibi family $2.5 billion, the latest
twist in a tortuous legal battle the Saudi billionaire and his
in-laws have been waging in courts across the globe since 2009.

The judgement will allow the family to go after the money,
though it is unlikely to be the final word on the rift in the
clan, which has left some of the world’s biggest banks nursing
billions of dollars in losses.

LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) – Europe’s investment banks
launched a best-practice label for complex debt instruments that
were at the heart of the credit crisis, as the capital markets
industry fights back to kick-start a once important source of
income.

The banks, represented by two lobby groups, also hope that
revitalising the market for so-called securitised instruments
will make it easier for them to raise funds.

HONG KONG/LONDON (Reuters) – Insurer MetLife Inc (MET.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is no longer bidding for the $7 billion sale of ING’s (ING.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Asia life insurance unit, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, raising the chances that the Dutch bank may have to sell it off in chunks.

MetLife, with a market value of about $31 billion, was seen as a strong contender to buy the entire ING Asia life division but its offer was deemed too low, several sources familiar with the situation said.

LONDON (Reuters) – With investment banks facing an uncertain future, one Nomura shareholder has come up with a novel suggestion to help to boost its share price: replace all office toilets with Japanese-style squat facilities.

“All toilets within the company’s offices shall be Japanese-style toilets, thereby toughening the legs and loins and hunkering down on a daily basis, aiming at achieving four-digit stock prices,” the shareholder said on the bank’s website ahead of this month’s annual meeting on June 27.

HONG KONG/LONDON, June 1 (Reuters) – U.S. insurer MetLife
Inc is no longer bidding for the $7 billion sale of
ING’s Asia life insurance unit, a source with knowledge
of the matter told Reuters, raising the chances that the Dutch
bank may have to sell it off in chunks.

MetLife, with a market value of about $31 billion, was seen
as a strong contender to buy the entire ING Asia life division
but its offer was deemed too low, several sources familiar with
the situation said.

May 31 (Reuters) – JPMorgan will cut the private
equity-like activities from its Chief Investment Office (CIO),
the supposedly low-risk unit that caused more than $2 billion in
trading losses, a source familiar with the matter said.

Matt Zames, who is cleaning up the unit after its former
head Ina Drew stepped down this month, is carving out the
“special investments group” – which makes investments in other
companies – from the scandal-hit CIO.

LONDON (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has named Teresa Heitsenrether as the new head of its global prime brokerage business, a source familiar with the situation said.

Heitsenrether, who had been setting up the business from London in the European, Middle East and Africa region, replaces Lou Lebedin.

LONDON (Reuters) – A fund set up to support small and medium-sized businesses aims to make around 25 investments this year, its chief executive said, as it looks to fill a gap left by banks cutting funding for thousands of growth companies.

Small businesses across Europe have been struggling to attract growth capital as banks, facing higher capital requirements, rein in lending.