Filed under: Venture capital industry, Private equity industry, Value and lack thereof

Say Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) has a report out showing various 2007 private equity returns. While the numbers are backward looking and do not indicate anything for tomorrow, the numbers are still staggering considering all of the problems that started hitting private equity firms last year.

The Say Street Private Equity Index posted its returns for the index date December 31, 2007 and it still shows a long-term return that’s higher than the traditional equity markets.

The index is based on the latest quarterly statistics from Say Street Investment Analytics’ Private Edge Group. It is a detailed analysis of private equity investments for a diverse client base covering public and private pensions, endowments and foundations, representing more than 4,000 commitments totaling more than $160 billion.

Continue reading the full report at 247WallSt.com.

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Filed under: American Express (AXP), MasterCard Inc’A’ (MA), Headline news

I love the long-term prospects of Visa (NYSE: V) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA), but I do have to concede that a pesky lawsuit by Discover (NYSE: DFS) is the one large fly in this story’s soup. According to the following article, Discover wants both credit-card companies to pay $6 billion for perceived violations of antitrust regulations. Unfortunately, these damages could be tripled if Visa and MasterCard lose. One of the big problems here’s that American Express (NYSE: AXP) already won a settlement of $2.1 billion from Visa late last year and the company established an escrow fund worth $3 billion for litigation payments.

I’ll admit, this lawsuit does give me and my credit-card investment thesis a little case of the shivers. After all, tripling $6 billion to $18 billion means that a massive amount of money is in play here, and a successful outcome for Discover would hamper the stocks of the two large card entities. When you read through the litigation risks in Visa’s SEC filings (out of MasterCard and Visa, the latter is my favorite since it is still relatively fresh off its IPO and MasterCard has already had a huge run), they are pretty scary. And the fact that the $6 billion figure just came to light this week has probably soured the perception of some investors and analysts. Nevertheless, all the previous litigation speak didn’t stop Visa’s stock from taking off after its IPO earlier this year.

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I still think both companies are worth putting on a watch list, considering the fact that their futures are extremely bright. As time goes on, debit and credit cards will be increasingly used for transactions, and both of these large brand names will capture a lot of fees related to cashless payments. Recently, I discussed growth in prepaid cards. And you’ve got to love the fact that credit risk is basically a non-issue with Visa and MasterCard.

I’ve been thinking about buying Visa lately, and I’m glad I didn’t pull the trigger just yet. What I’m going to do is watch the price action over the next several days to see what guidance its trading might give me. Do I personally think the lawsuit is going to sink Visa and MasterCard? No. But if I have the ability to wait and get in at a price that more properly discounts the outcome, then I might be better off.

Disclosure: I don’t own any company mentioned, but I am watching Visa for a potential buy; positions can change at any time.

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Filed under: Movers and shakers, Raising money, Private equity industry, Value and lack thereof, Public or private?

If you’re Sam Zell right now, you are probably sitting there wondering why on earth as an old billionaire that you thought an old world media property with very little in new media that you’d have to shrink and break apart to profitability was such a good idea. Tonight, that looks even more so the case.

According to MLB.com Tribune Co. rejected a no-tax proposal in the sale of Wrigley Field to the Illinois Sports facilities Authority, which also owns and operates the Chicago White Sox U.S. Cellular Field as well.

If you read the full article you’ll see how this may also impact the sale of the Chicago Cubs as well. Zell announced in April 2007 that the Cubbies were to be sold. Interestingly enough, the Cubs are also in first place in the NL Central division.

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