Top 5 Private Business & Investment Articles to Start the Week: Reinventing the Dealmakers

Top 5 Private Business & Investment Articles of the Week is a weekly series on the Axial blog which highlights the best articles from around the web on buying, selling, and building successful private businesses. If you have a great article you’d like us to consider, send it our way: [email protected]

1. How to Choose an Exit Strategy

For a successful exit, the best plan is to choose an exit strategy early and work towards it over a period of several years.

2. Into the Valley of Debt

Authors: Christian Pilkington, Mark Glengarry, and Patrick Schumann

As the ‘wall of debt’ issued during the credit boom of 2006-2007 starts to mature in 2011, the question remains as to how companies will manage to either repay or refinance their obligations.  Meanwhile, distressed investors stand at the ready.

3. Apollo, TPG Played Hand They Were Dealt

Author: John Jannarone

The valuation of Harrah’s Entertainment has plummeted from its pre-recession high, but its private equity investors have shrewdly managed to escape the carnage and leave creditors holding the bag.

4. Princeton Endowment Cuts Private Equity Relationships

Author: Gillian Wee

In the latest sign of a continuing trend, Princeton University plans to cut in half the number of its endowment’s relationships with private equity managers.

5. Reinventing the Dealmakers

Author: David Carey

Following the announcement of KKR’s impending absorption of Goldman’s proprietary trading desk, there’s been a lot of talk about private equity firms’ diversification.

Author David Carey outlines the trend in a post this morning for TheDeal Magazine, while NYTimes DealBook notes that the evolution is occurring largely as the founders of the current group of mega-funds are nearing retirement age and more intrigued by the possibilities of going public.

For his part, Carlyle co-founder David M. Rubenstein predicts in a separate piece for the Times that all major private equity players will “develop into broader alternative asset management houses” within five years’ time.