Fundraising for private equity buyout funds is getting tougher.
Thomson Reuters data for the first half of the year showed 59 buyout funds raised $35 billion, down from 74 funds totaling $62 billion the first half of 2008.
The immediate future looks no easier. Blackstone’s first close on its fund — which Private Equity Intelligence says has a target of $20 billion — was $7 billion, sources previously told Reuters. But it isn’t going so well, according to a Wall Street Journal report that said California State Teachers’ Retirement System, or Calstrs, intends to invest just $250 million into the fund, significantly less than the $1.7 billion it committed to the firm’s prior fund.
Blackstone has one of the biggest brand names in the business and its success in raising this fund will be closely watched for others in the market.
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[...] will be closely watched. Blackstone, after all, has one of the biggest brand names in the business, points out Reuters’s [...]
- Posted by Deal Journal - WSJ.com : Afternoon Reading: Blackstone and Public Worries About Private Equity