At less than 3 inches long from head to tail, the dunes sagebrush lizard is in the running for meekest creature on earth. The tiny reptile lives on land in West Texas where Vista Proppants & Logistics Ltd. was looking to build a sand mine. Vista is owned by a private equity firm, First Reserve Corp., based in Greenwich, Conn., and a casual observer of last year’s stare-down between the masters of the universe and the lowly lizard might have figured the next step would be bulldozers. The sand...

Firm eyes portfolio monitoring, stress tests, macro analysis GSO’s Goodman sees growth potential in market BlackRock leads Blackstone Group LP has bigger plans for insurance companies than just managing their money. The world’s largest private equity firm is expanding into a lucrative business dominated by BlackRock Inc.: portfolio risk analytics. Bennett Goodman, co-founder of Blackstone’s GSO credit unit and chairman of its new insurance-solutions business, described the plan in a Bloomberg...

Peers including KKR, Apollo still evaluating a conversion Shares of Ares gain the most ever, reaching all-time high Ares Management LP is converting its tax status to a corporation from a partnership, becoming the first major U.S. alternative asset manager to make the switch following reforms introduced by President Donald Trump’s administration. The stock jumped the most ever. The new structure will take effect March 1, Ares said in a statement announcing fourth-quarter results Thursday. The...

Japanese tech investor agreed to $3.3 billion deal in February PE firm’s shares tumbled almost 58 percent since 2007 IPO Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. has completed its $3.3 billion cash deal for Fortress Investment Group LLC, marking the first time a publicly traded U.S. private equity firm has delisted. Trading in Fortress shares was halted before Wednesday morning’s announcement. Its stock closed its last day of trading Tuesday at $7.85 a share, almost 58 percent below the 2007 initial...

‘It disadvantages recruits, and it disadvantages us’: Bain Firms compete to attract top candidates for analyst class The private equity recruitment cycle is starting earlier than ever, forcing firms and candidates into the frenzied process before Christmas. Last weekend, Francisco Partners Management was making offers for spots in its 2019 analyst class. By late Sunday, fellow California firms TPG Capital and Silver Lake began arranging interviews after catching wind that others had started....