VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Thinking that Claren Road Asset Management has come to the end of the road, Investors are ready to pull half of their money out of the company, which is another blow for the Carlyle Group LP's firm.

DBRS Ltd, the privately held credit rating agency that competes with Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC, Moody's Corp and Fitch Ratings Inc, is exploring a sale, according to people familiar with the matter.

Eastern Media International Corp., which currently owns a 30% stake in Eastern Broadcasting Co., is reportedly placing a bid to acquire Carlyle Group's entire 61% stake in Taiwan's largest broadcasting company.

Le Groupe Lactalis reportedly acquired India's Tirumala Milk Products for $275 million. Lactalis bought the 74% stake held by Tirumala Milk's founders and the remaining 26% from private equity firm Carlyle Group.

Private equity funds Carlyle Group LP and KKR & Co are in discussion to purchase troubled Brazil-based medical services provider Fleury SA in a deal worth BRL2.9 billion ($1.2 billion), according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Private equity firms are increasingly seeking to partner with U.S. companies rather than buying them outright, as they struggle to find ways to put their huge piles of money to work at a time when frothy markets have made takeovers expensive.

Private equity firm KKR & Co. takes the top spot in Dealogic's list of most acquisitive investment firms, spending about $174 billion in 34 companies this year.

Private equity firm Carlyle Group has acquired a minority stake of 28% in Indian super-specialty hospital chain Global Health for INR960 crore. Carlyle as of September this year had invested $1.1 billion in India.

US-based private equity firms Carlyle Group and KKR & Co and Australian investment firm Archer Capital have advanced in the sale of Transpacific Industries Group's waste management business. The three firms are working with banks to put together loan packages to back their bids.

Italian clothier Moncler is expected to raise a total of about €784 million in its initial public offering after arranging banks Goldman Sachs Group, Bank of American Merrill Lynch and Mediobanca exercised the listing's greenshoe over-allotment option.

Private equity firm Carlyle Group had put up for sale its specialty chemicals business PQ Corp. for $3 billion. Carlyle has tapped investment bank Credit Suisse to explore an outright sale or IPO of PQ.

Wall Street banks including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley have been calling on private equity firm Ares Management to go public soon. Ares, however, does not see the need for a public offering in the near future.

KKR & Co LP and Carlyle Group LP are competing for National Vision Inc, the fourth-largest U.S. retailer of eyeglasses and contact lenses, in an auction that could fetch up to $1 billion, people familiar with the matter said this week.

Private equity firm Carlyle Group is mulling over an initial public offering or an outright sale of inorganic specialty chemicals producer PQ Corp. Sources said that the proposed deal could bring in USD3 billion.

Cool Japan Fund is looking to invest in TV channels and retail properties in the US and Southeast Asia to promote the country's culture. Cool Japan is backed by the government as well as Japanese companies and is led by a former Carlyle Group executive.