Cezary Podkul

As the US insurance giant struggles to raise capital, the fate of the firm’s substantial private equity business remains uncertain. AIG Investments has not been placed for sale as part of its parent’s capital raising measures.

The addition of former Skanska Infrastructure Development chief Simon Hipperson comes as the firm continues to build its team ahead of a reported $5bn fundraising effort

Babcock & Brown may in future look a lot less like its Australian counterpart and a lot more like one of its American rivals, writes Cezary Podkul.

The £132.5m sale comes as the UK’s Competition Commission is threatening to force the Spanish infrastructure investor to sell three airports owned by the British Airport Authority, which it acquired in 2006.

The pre-emptive offer has been made following three previous attempts to initiate takeover negotiations of Teranet, a publicly listed e-service company with a monopoly on the Ontario Electronic Land Registration System.

A study conducted by a London-based private equity investment club found that more than two years after the UK government cleared the way to let self-invested personal pension schemes invest in private equity, 21 percent of scheme providers still restrict their investors from participating in the asset class.

The US private equity firm has completed its first exit from its debut fund wit the sale of FirstLight for a reported value of $1.9bn. Energy Capital paid $1.34bn for FirstLight’s predecessor company in November 2006.

The fund will give the healthcare-focused private equity firm an estimated $2bn of purchasing power for middle market and divestiture deals, the first of which will be the acquisition of a controlling stake in a portfolio company of Gentiva Health Services for $147m.

The beleaguered Australian infrastructure specialist is reviewing Babcock & Brown Capital, a move that follows its purchase of another satellite fund’s management rights and highlights the difficulties the satellite fund model has faced in the wake of the global credit crisis.

The software giant has bettered by $2 per share an earlier offer by the media and communications buyout firm during Greenfield Online's go-shop period.