The City University of New York is in talks to carve out a new 10% allocation target to private equity for its $250 million endowment portfolio, said a person familiar with the matter.

CUNY is discussing the matter amid renewed interest in private equity after the robust exit market propelled some investors to double-digit returns last year. For now, the university’s investment policy doesn’t call for any dedicated proportion of its endowment funds to be in private equity. Read More »

In this morning’s media roundup, Lenox Corp., a tableware company majority-owned by Clarion Capital Partners, emerged as the winning bidder for assets of Reed & Barton, a maker of luxury silverware and giftware.

Also, Baird Capital acquired SloanLED, a maker of light-emitting-diode technology. And Apollo Global Management embarks on a campaign to patch up its relationships with debt investors. Read More »

Efforts by South Korea’s sovereign-wealth fund to buy a minority stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers have helped put the Major League Baseball team’s ownership in play, said people with knowledge of the situation.

“A number of organizations have expressed an interest in investing,” said a person close to the Dodgers, adding that “as of this point, none have gone beyond the point of discussion.” Read More »

The initiative comes on the backdrop of much hand-wringing about the dominance of Silicon Valley tech firms in Europe, as well as regulatory pushes in the European Commission to create a single digital market to help local firms enter the digital age and better compete against the U.S. and Asia. Read More »

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In this morning’s media roundup, Acon Investments acquires 60-store Texas grocery chain Fiesta Mart LLC, which focuses on the Hispanic market. Meanwhile, OmniVision Technologies Inc. agrees to be acquired by a consortium of Chinese-based private equity investors in an all-cash deal that values the maker of digital-imaging services at $1.9 billion. Read More »

Much like the broader U.S. economy, which reported lower-than-expected growth for the first quarter, Carlyle Group felt the pinch of a stronger U.S. dollar.

On a conference call today discussing the firm’s first-quarter earnings, Carlyle Co-Chief Executive William Conway said the 0.2% expansion of the U.S. economy was lower than Carlyle’s expectation. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had predicted 1% growth. Read More »

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In this morning’s media roundup, Francisco Partners agrees to buy HealthcareSource HR Inc., a provider of human-resources software, from Insight Venture Partners. Meanwhile, Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. agrees to buy Armored AutoGroup Parent Inc. from Avista Capital Partners in a $1.4 billion deal, and Penn National Gaming Inc. agrees to buy the Tropicana Las Vegas Casino Hotel Resort from Onex Corp. and a group of shareholders for $360 million. Read More »

A handful of private equity firms are gearing up to raise hundreds of millions of pounds to spend on buyouts in the North of England, where deal makers are looking to profit from the government’s plans to turn the region into an economic powerhouse for the U.K.

Manchester-based Palatine Private Equity recently launched its third fund with a 200 million U.K. pound target and a hard cap of roughly £220 million and is already oversubscribed, according to two people familiar with the matter. Evercore is acting as the placement agent for the fund, which is larger than its £150 million second vehicle raised in 2013. Read More »

Geoffrey Arbuthnott, the former partner of Charterhouse Capital Partners who lost a lawsuit against the London firm last year, is back in court appealing the decision.

At a hearing in London’s Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Mr. Arbuthnott’s lawyers sought permission to appeal the decision saying that Charterhouse unfairly tried to force him to sell his shares in the firm in 2012. Read More »

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In this morning’s media roundup, Brockway Moran & Partners and CHS Capital agree to sell Woodstream Corp., a maker of branded pest- and animal-control products, to Vestar Capital Partners. Meanwhile, Carlyle Group will invest 1.75 billion Brazilian reais ($600 million) for an 8.3% stake in Brazilian hospital operator Rede D’Or São Luiz. Read More »