David Snow

Russell Investments’ annual survey has found investors plan to increase allocations to real estate over the next two years, but have the highest return expectations for private equity among alternative asset classes.

In a further sign of institutionalisation at the global private equity giant, and ahead of an expected IPO, KKR has lured David Sorkin, a lawyer from Simpson Thacher, to become general counsel, as well as named new heads of human resources and information technology.

The emerging markets-focused Chicago firm will target platforms likely to benefit from a global real estate boom, but eschew direct property investments.

People who keep secrets are evil – you've seen that movie. By extension, an asset class with no available information tends to scare people away. Not that anyone thinks private equity real estate is evil, but many potential investors have a hard time understanding how it has performed, how it should perform and how it should fit into their portfolios.

If US investors are serious about real estate returns, they'll have to leave the perceived safety of their home turf. Private equity real estate will benefit as they do.

More than 1000 people are attending the 20th anniversary Carlyle investor conference in Washington DC. The event is featuring the unveiling of a new financial services fund, commentary from political luminaries and a performance by pop star Lionel Richie.

Two powerful committee chairmen are backing a bill intended to scrap the low, 15 percent capital-gains tax treatment of GP carried interest in the US. The member behind the bill says the current tax regime on carry is unfair.

Alinda Capital, a firm led by the former head of project finance at Citigroup, has raised three times more than originally sought for a debut infrastructure fund, the ‘first in a series of infrastructure funds’.

In a startling development, a soon-to-be established state investment company of the People’s Republic of China will make a $3 billion investment in Blackstone as the alternative investment giant prepares to go public. Blackstone’s Schwarzman is calling the deal a ’paradigm shift in global capital flows’.

Billionaire real estate investor Sam Zell has been selected to back the $8.2bn privatisation of newspaper publisher Tribune Company, a transaction which involves the sale of a stake in a Chicago baseball team and an Employee Stock Ownership Plan.