div align=”left”emOligarchy: A form of government in which all power is vested in a small but dominant class or clique distinguished by financial and/or political power./em/divdiv align=”left”em/em/divdiv align=”left”US observers often comment disparagingly on the nature of the incestuous relationships between political power and the most powerful businessmen in Russia, known collectively as the Oligarchs. Most owe their wealth to their manipulation and indeed corruption of the bureaucracy and political class, which has allowed them to capture and shift tens of billions in resource revenues offshore. Ironically, the relationship between the State and the Oligarchs has moved decisively in favour of the Russian government in the current crisis, which is now seeking growing strategic control over key assets lost in the Yeltsin years, while in the US the financial elite remain unbowed. In fact, this capture of central government by a private sector elite in common in developing nations across Asia …

The once booming business of private equity faces an uncertain future. What’s not uncertain, however, is that many private equity deals are imploding from the weight of leveraged debt and greed. Inevitable bankruptcies will result in higher unemployment and a deeper recession.

Private equity is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded.  The name “private equity”is the rechristened, kinder and more gentile label for what used to be known as leveraged buyouts, or LBOs. But make no mistake about it, while leverage may not be part of the name any more, it remains a big part of every private equity deal.

LBO firms, or “franchises”, as Henry Kravis, co-founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), likes to call his shop, acquire publicly traded operating companies. Then they streamline management and operations to increase profitability and hope to cash out

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Cerberus CapitalCerberus Capital Management LP | NotesThe following piece on Cerberus Capital Managment, LP is being published as part of our daily effort to track hedge funds in the industry. To review other hedge fund research notes please see our Hedge Fund Tracker Tool.

Resource #1: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which has taken more writedowns than any Canadian lender during the financial crisis, said Cerberus Capital Management LP will invest $1.05 billion in its U.S. real estate portfolio, helping the bank reduce risk. The U.S. buyout fund will pay cash for senior notes linked to the residential real estate assets, the Toronto-based bank said today in a statement. Cerberus will receive cash flow from the notes, while CIBC will retain ownership

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For anyone who still doubted the growing global influence of such emerging powerhouses as China, consider this: The U.S. government’s decision to take control of foundering mortgage giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) was driven not by worries about the fading U.S. housing market, but by concerns that foreign central banks in China, Japan, Europe, the Middle East and Russia might stop buying our bonds. As the bailout announced Sunday is currently structured, more than $1.3 trillion worth of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt currently held by the central banks and other investors in those regions will be guaranteed by the U.S. government - even if one or both of the two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) were to fail. That means that U.S. taxpayers - government parlance for you and me - will ultimately foot a ...