NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ally Financial Inc’s mortgage unit on Monday filed for bankruptcy and the auto lender said it will sell some international operations to help it get on a path to repaying $12 billion in bailout money.

Ally’s mortgage unit, called Residential Capital, or ResCap, filed for bankruptcy protection in federal court in Manhattan under a plan that has the support of some of its creditors, although it was still expected to be a drawn-out and litigious process.

At the same time, Nationstar Mortgage Holdings (NSM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which is majority owned by Fortress Investment Group (FIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), struck a deal to buy substantially all the mortgage servicing and related assets from ResCap for about $2.4 billion, including debt. The deal will make Nationstar the opening bidder in an auction that will be held under bankruptcy court rules.

“The single-most important thing we can do for the U.S. taxpayer is to not put billions of dollars into this business on a going-forward basis,” Ally CEO Michael Carpenter said in an interview.

Ally, the former lending arm of General Motors Co (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), has been besieged in the past few years by losses at ResCap, which was once a major subprime lender and profit engine. The company has considered bankruptcy and other ways to shed ResCap since at least 2009, but has never pulled the trigger.

A bankruptcy of ResCap now will help Ally, formerly known as GMAC, focus on its main auto lending business and put together a plan to pay back U.S. taxpayers.

The U.S. Treasury Department injected $17 billion into the lender through multiple bailouts during the financial crisis and now owns nearly 74 percent of the company. Ally still owes the government about $12 billion, counting dividend payments by the lender and sale of some securities by the Treasury.

NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) – Ally Financial Inc’s Residential Capital unit is nearing a bankruptcy filing, sources familiar with the situation said on Sunday, in a move that could help the taxpayer-owned auto lender to shed its troubled mortgage business but also spur drawn-out legal fights.

The board of ResCap is scheduled to meet later on Sunday and a pre-arranged bankruptcy filing, where Ally has the support of some creditors to its plan but not all, is expected to follow soon after, the sources said.

Under the plan, Fortress Investment Group is expected to make an opening bid of more than $2 billion, including debt, to buy certain ResCap assets, while Ally would buy the rest, in a bid to turn all ResCap assets into cash, a source said.

Barclays Plc on its own is arranging a $1.45 billion debtor-in-possession financing for operations during the bankruptcy, sources have said. A big chunk of that facility is expected to be sold to investors by the time it is announced, a source said.

Ally spokeswoman Gina Proia and Fortress spokesman Gordon Runte declined to comment. Barclays was not immediately available for a comment on Sunday, but had earlier declined to comment on the DIP loan.

Ally, the former lending arm of General Motors Corp, has been besieged in the past few years by losses in its Residential Capital mortgage unit, which was once a major subprime lender and profit engine.

A bankruptcy of ResCap would clear the path for Ally, formerly known as GMAC, to focus on its main auto lending business and to put together a plan to pay back U.S. taxpayers. The U.S Treasury injected $17 billion into the lender during the financial crisis and now owns nearly 74 percent of the company. Ally owes the government about $12 billion, counting dividend payments by the lender and sale of some securities by the Treasury.

NEW YORK/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Guggenheim Partners’ talks to buy a full range of asset management businesses from Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for 1.4 billion euros ($1.81 billion) have fallen apart after the German lender withdrew an offer to guarantee the unit’s revenue, a source familiar with the situation said.

Deutsche Bank initially declined to comment on the reasons for the breakdown in talks, but later on Friday denied that the guarantee or price were the reasons.

Deutsche and Guggenheim had been in exclusive talks since February on the sale of a clutch of asset management businesses, which the German lender is selling in light of new regulation, rising costs and growing competition that is expected to weigh on future earnings.

Germany’s biggest lender said negotiations would now focus solely on the possible sale of RREEF, Deutsche’s global alternative asset management business. Deutsche said it would also continue to evaluate these businesses and was committed to maintaining the stability of its investment teams and client service in the meantime.

But new details of negotiations with Guggenheim show that the lender has had a hard time selling the businesses. The guarantees that we re being offered to Guggenheim al so show that the German lender is keen to sell the business, which could make it harder to obtain the price it wants.

When Deutsche and Guggenheim entered into the exclusivity agreement, the German lender agreed to a deal structure where it would guarantee any shortfalls in revenue up to 800 million euros for five years, off a revenue baseline of 1.2 billion euros, the source said.

Guggenheim asked for the guarantee in part because it feared client attrition from some businesses in the United States, the source added.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Top executives at asset manager Trust Co of the West (TCW) are in early-stage talks with parent Societe Generale (SOGN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to buy the firm from the French bank, according to sources familiar with the situation.

There is no formal sales process, and talks for a management-led buyout is one of many options being discussed, one source said. Societe Generale said last year that an initial public offering was possible in the next two to three years.

Another source said on Friday TCW’s management was speaking to several private equity firms about backing a takeover of Los Angeles-based TCW, which oversees $131 billion in assets, including in the TCW and MetWest fund families. At the end of 2009, TCW’s assets under management stood at $101 billion.

A private equity executive, not involved in the discussions but involved in some asset manager deals, said the business could fetch more than $1 billion.

The names of the executives leading the buyout talks could not be learned.

A SocGen spokesman said Friday, “Our plans at TCW haven’t changed. TCW isn’t for sale and Societe Generale continues to believe TCW is on a trajectory for strong and sustained growth. Beyond that, we don’t comment on rumors.”

A TCW spokesman declined to comment and referred calls to SocGen.

NEW YORK/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Guggenheim Partners’ talks to buy a full range of asset management businesses from Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for 1.4 billion euros ($1.81 billion) have fallen apart after the German lender withdrew an offer to guarantee the unit’s revenue, a source familiar with the situation said.

Deutsche and Guggenheim had been in exclusive talks since February on the sale of a clutch of asset management businesses, which the German lender is selling in light of new regulation, rising costs and growing competition that is expected to weigh on future earnings.

Germany’s biggest lender said negotiations would now focus solely on the possible sale of RREEF, Deutsche’s global alternative asset management business. Deutsche said it would also continue to evaluate these businesses and was committed to maintaining the stability of its investment teams and client service in the meantime.

But new details of negotiations with Guggenheim show that the lender has had a hard time selling the businesses. The guarantees also show that the German lender is keen to sell the business, which could make it harder to obtain the price it wants.

Deutsche Bank said in a statement, “The bank and Guggenheim Partners mutually agreed to end exclusive negotiations about a potential sale of DWS Americas, the mutual fund business in the Americas; DB Advisors, the global institutional asset management business; and Deutsche Insurance Asset Management, the global insurance asset management business.”

It declined to comment further on the reasons for the breakdown in talks.

When Deutsche and Guggenheim entered into the exclusivity agreement, the German lender agreed to a deal structure where it would guarantee any shortfalls in revenue up to 800 million euros for five years, off a revenue baseline of 1.2 billion euros, the source said.

NEW YORK, May 10 (Reuters) – Warburg Pincus LLC [WP.UL] has raised more than $5 billion in just over seven months for its 11th global private equity fund, a major step on the way toward its $12 billion target, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Warburg Pincus Private Equity XI is the second-largest buyout fund globally by capital targeted that is currently tapping investors for money, behind Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII (BX.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which is targeting $13 billion.

Mega-buyout funds have struggled with a tough fundraising environment as their returns have been hit by tighter financing conditions. But Warburg markets its offering differently, focused on growth investing rather than the usual financial engineering by leveraged buyouts.

About 50 investors, both existing and new, participated in the first fundraising close, which marked the securing of the commitments and took place in early May, the sources said. They included public and corporate pension funds, endowments and sovereign wealth funds from.

The firm has identified opportunities to put some of the capital to work immediately, they added.

Warburg Pincus declined to comment.

The fundraising environment remains tough for private equity, with 23 funds raising an aggregate $18.5 billion in the first quarter of 2012 and taking an average of 20.9 months to fundraise, topping the previous average high of 20.4 months for funds closing in 2010, according to market research firm Preqin.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Warburg Pincus LLC has raised more than $5 billion in just over seven months for its 11th global private equity fund, a major step on the way toward its $12 billion target, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Warburg Pincus Private Equity XI is the second-largest buyout fund globally by capital targeted that is currently raising funds, behind Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII, which is targeting $13 billion.

Mega-buyout funds have struggled with a tough fund-raising environment as their returns have been hit by tighter financing conditions. But Warburg markets its offering differently, focused on growth investing rather than the usual financial engineering by leveraged buyouts.

About 50 investors, both existing and new, participated in the closing, which took place in early May, the sources said. They included public and corporate pension funds, endowments and sovereign wealth funds from.

The firm has identified opportunities to put some of the capital to work immediately, they added.

Warburg Pincus declined to comment.

Warburg is offering investors a headline management fee of 1.4 percent and carried interest — the share of fund profits that go to the firm — of 20 percent, the sources said. Big investors may be charged a 1.3 percent management fee.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – SunTrust Banks Inc (STI.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is in talks to sell RidgeWorth Investments, just two years after an auction of its multi-boutique asset management failed, according to three sources familiar with the situation.

The Atlanta-based regional bank is early in the process and is in talks with private equity firms with the possibility of a management buyout in the works, said two of the sources. All three sources did not want to be identified because they were told the informational confidentially.

A SunTrust spokesman declined to comment.

RidgeWorth has $48.6 billion in assets under management, according to the firm’s Web site.

SunTrust, which suffered large losses due to the financial crisis, was one of the few large U.S. banks whose capital plans, including raising dividends and initiating stock buybacks, was rejected by the Federal Reserve Board earlier this year as part of its stress-test reviews.

The bank is trying again to sell the asset management business to raise cash and because it does not see it core to its business, one of the sources said.

A SunTrust spokesman declined to comment.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc (AMLN.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which spurned a $3.5 billion takeover bid from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (BMY.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and is fending off activist investor Carl Icahn, is exploring a sale, sources familiar with the situation said on Sunday.

Amylin has hired Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) as its financial advisers and Skadden Arps as its legal adviser, the sources said.

The company, which makes the diabetes drugs Byetta and Bydureon, started reaching out to potential buyers last week, according to the sources.

Amylin and its advisers declined to comment.

The move comes amid broader consolidation in the healthcare sector. Big pharmaceutical companies have been making aggressive bids for promising biotech firms and other targets as they look to find new products and replenish their pipelines. Moreover, these big firms are flush with cash and have easy access to debt to do deals.

Amylin has been considered a possible takeover target for some time. The diabetes market is one of the fastest-growing due to rising rates of obesity. The disease affects more than 300 million people worldwide, including nearly 26 million Americans. Diabetics run a high risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and limb loss.

Analysts have said several drug companies could be potential buyers for Amylin, including AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Merck & Co (MRK.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (4502.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bain Capital LLC is considering raising $6 billion to $8 billion for a new global buyout fund and offering investors up to three options on fees it charges to manage the money, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Bain’s last global fund, Fund X, launched in 2007, raised $10.7 billion and is about 70 percent invested. Aiming for a smaller fund now reflects the post-financial crisis reality for private equity firms, which have seen both the universe of investors in buyout funds shrink and the existing investors cut back on their allocations to private equity.

In a bid to attract more investors in such an environment, Bain, which was once headed by Republican U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney, is toying with the structure of fees it charges limited partners – pension funds, endowments, sovereign wealth funds and other investors in buyout funds, the sources said.

The firm is considering lowering the fee it charges to manage investor money while taking a bigger chunk of the profits from investments, also known as carried interest, betting that some investors would see that as better alignment of interests – Bain makes money when they make money.

Private equity firms have historically used the 2/20 fee structure, charging a 2 percent fee to manage the assets and 20 percent carried interest. The carried interest kicks in once the profits reach a certain rate of return, called the hurdle rate.

Seeking feedback from investors, Bain has discussed charging as little as 0.5 percent in management fees and applying a hurdle return rate as low as zero for its 11th buyout fund, Fund XI, the sources said. Bain may still ask for a 30 percent carried interest rate as it targets investors willing to pay more for incentive compensation in exchange for lower management fees.

The move to toy with the structure of fees, however, could create fresh headaches for Bain’s publicly traded rivals such as Blackstone Group LP (BX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and KKR & Co LP (KKR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which increasingly depend on management fees to pay dividends to shareholders.