Christopher Witkowsky

The mega-firm has hired a lobbyist to advocate against a proposed California law that would end payments to placement agents for successful fundraisings.

The new firm, Hermes GPE, will look to acquire in-house private equity programmes from asset managers getting out of the business, said CEO Alan MacKay.

Several institutions have carved out - or considered creating - space for private equity for the first time, countering a retreat by struggling LPs with more experience in the asset class.

Colombia’s second-largest pension and the UK’s Pension Protection Fund are two recent institutions to carve out portions of their funds to invest in alternatives.

The Paris and London-based private equity firm has added several new investors to its roster, including France-based fund of funds Access Capital Partners.

The university’s endowment lost $5.6bn in 2009, a loss driven in part by heavy write downs in its private equity and real asset classes. Yale said over the past 10 years, real assets had delivered 13.5 percent annualised returns.

After a year-long search, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System has found its new head of private equity internally, choosing interim co-director of the programme Margot Wirth.

The NYSE-bound firm’s recent SEC filing reveals its fee income growth is driven primarily by more deal fees, while KKR continues to ‘confront’ investors on increased sharing of such fees.

The firm has moved a private equity executive over to a newly formed unit that will focus on turnarounds, distressed debt, bankruptcy loans and rescue financing.

The country’s central bank, Norges Bank, which runs the country’s $409bn oil and gas fund, is assessing opportunities in environmentally focused private equity.