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Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Private equity takes pains to avoid overpaying for Western companies, (NYSE: APO), (NYSE: TRI), (TSE: TRI.TO)

Private equity fund managers, who have taken advantage of favorable Western capital markets to sell companies for top dollar, say they need to move beyond traditional buyouts to avoid overpaying for companies. Even after returning hundreds of billions of dollars to their fund investors in the last two years through asset sales, the private equity industry is still sitting on $817.9 billion of investor money it can invest, the highest amount of "dry powder" since 2008, according to market research firm Preqin.This is despite dealmaking having picked up, with leveraged takeover volumes, including the debt of the companies acquired, reaching $174.2 billion in 2013, up from $136 billion in 2012 and the most since 2007, according to Thomson Reuters data.At the industry's main annual gathering in Berlin this week, the SuperReturn International conference, buyout bosses bemoaned that competition meant rising prices for companies in Europe and North America. But they expressed confidence that niche strategies and a focus on increasing the value of companies by improving them could overcome frothy valuations.Leon Black, who told the Milken Institute conference last year that his firm, Apollo Global Management LLC, was "selling everything not nailed down", conceded on Tuesday that Apollo's investment pace had not kept up with its asset sales but said his firm was still busy working on new deals.

Apollo Global Management, LLC (Apollo) is a global alternative asset manager. Shares of APO fell by 0.25% or $-0.08/share to $31.63. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $20.86 and as high as $36.51. On average, 973708 shares of APO exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 744273.

Thomson Reuters Corporation (Thomson Reuters) is a provider of information for the world?s businesses and professionals. Shares of TRI fell by 0.43% or $-0.15/share to $34.67. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $29.98 and as high as $38.73. On average, 749931 shares of TRI exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1201507.

Thomson Reuters Corporation (Thomson Reuters) is a provider of information for the world?s businesses and professionals. Shares of TRI fell by 0.42% or $-0.16/share to $38.38. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $30.80 and as high as $42.10. On average, 926168 shares of TRI.TO exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 806439.



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