Private Equity News

Deal Book of NY Times reports the following:

Defaults in speculative-grade debt rose sharply in June, as this asset class lived up to its nickname of “junk” and once-mighty companies like General Motors landed in bankruptcy court. Standard and Poor’s, the credit ratings agency, said in a report Thursday that speculative-grade debt defaults in the United States hit 9.2 percent last month, up from 8.1 percent in May, in what S.& P. said was a new year-to-date high.

While on the fund-raising front:

Globally, private equity funds managed to raise $76 billion in new funds in the latest quarter, compared with $60 billion in the first quarter of 2009, according to the data company Preqin.