Christopher Witkowsky

LPs in Lehman's private equity funds have retained Kirkland & Ellis and private equity advisor StepStone to guide them through the auction of Lehman's venture and private equity funds. The bank hopes to close deals in the first quarter of 2009.

The New York-based mega-buyout shop will cut back on 5% of its roughly 1,400-member workforce. The news comes after the publicly listed firm reported steep losses in the third quarter.

The joint venture to provide growth capital to Chinese companies was created in 2006 with commitments of $90m each from Lehman Brothers and International Business Machines.

Harvard’s endowment has lost 22% of its $40bn portfolio value since June. It is bracing for up to a 30% drop in value for the year, once its receives fully updated private equity and real estate valuations.

A management group from Lehman Brothers beat out a $2.15bn bid from Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman for the bank's investment management division, which includes infrastructure and some private equity businesses.

The global buyout firm will eliminate 100 out of 1,000 employees as the firm tries to adjust to the contractions in global financial markets. It will also shut its Menlo Park office.

The global buyout firm had objected to the $2.15bn bid submitted by Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman and said the bankruptcy auction process was driving away alternative bidders.

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund cited current market conditions as the reason for delaying the sale of the power generating company PowerSeraya.

David Emerson also served as president and chief executive of the Vancouver International Airport Authority from 1992 to 1997. At CAI, he will advise the buyout and restructuring-focused private equity firm’s portfolio companies.

While stressing it continues to honour capital calls, CalPERS has said it is not atypical for it to ask GPs to delay requests for funds. The pension has confirmed it sold more than $2bn in private equity holdings on the secondary market last year, including interests in Carlyle and Landmark funds.