Getting Desperate?

I had hoped to be done with Internship Drives for 2006, but a steady stream of MBA candidate begging has caused me to reconsider. As such, it’s time for our second-annual Desperate Interns Drive. This is just like what we did a few months ago, except that it’s springtime and many of the best and brightest are just one more rejection away from filling out that summer job application at Bennigan’s. Therefore…

If you are looking to hire a first-year MBA candidate to be a summer intern, please let me know ASAP via email. Please include your firm name, firm type (i.e., LBO, VC, I-bank, etc.) and job location. Your firm name will be kept confidential from prospective candidates, who will contact you via an email account that I will set up (unless you have one you’ prefer them to send to). There is no charge for this service.

MBA Candidates: Do not email me CVs, cover letters or any other content that explains why you’re qualified to be an intern. If you do so, your info goes directly to Bennigan’s corporate (I was once a busboy there, so I’ve got connections). The listings and contact info will be posted early next week.

*** KKR reportedly is planning to raise at least $1.5 billion via a public offering on Amsterdam’s euronext exchange. This is getting a lot of notice, but it’s hardly unprecedented. Ripplewood did something similar last year, while Permira is getting fund capital via an SVG Capital-managed public vehicle and 3i Group has been listed for years. Plus, there are BDCs like American Capital Strategies, Allied Capital and the recent Apollo effort.

So why all of the hubbub about KKR? Well, part of it is simply because KKR could make news by changing its office vending machines from Coke to Pepsi. More importantly, some believe this move is a precursor to KKR filing for a much larger IPO in the U.S. A toe in the water, if you will.

The thinking goes like this: Henry Kravis and some other senior members of KKR want to realize some brand value liquidity, as opposed to just portfolio company liquidity. Moreover, the firm could theoretically benefit from not having to deal with those pesky LPs for fund capital, when it could instead just keep tapping the public evergreen. So KKR becomes a public entity and everyone wins… in theory.

The problem with the theory is that it doesn’t consider the younger KKR partners. You know, the ones who will be making future investments. They might have a slightly different take on the brand equity vs. fund equity dichotomy, which could lead to serious dissension in the ranks. Nothing causes PE partnership problems like poorly-aligned/non-equal interests, and a major KKR IPO – or that of Carlyle, Blackstone, etc. – could seriously jeopardize firm stability. If senior managers are feeling cash-strapped, stick around for another fund or participate as a major LP. If not, honor the brand you built by keeping it strong for the next generation.

*** My new favorite blog is called Going Private, which is written by an LBO pro who prefers to remain anonymous. Sometimes it’s actual market commentary, while other times it reads more like a novel (since the blogger’s firm, partners, portfolio companies, etc. are all given fictional names). Check out the offering memorandum for a backgrounder.

*** Finally, lots of you have written in to inform me that Vijay Singh and Ted Forstmann are longtime pals, which explains Singh wearing the Forstmann Little logo on his shirt. Appreciate the explanation, but it still doesn’t make much sense to me. FL is basically a dead brand. At this point, it would almost make more sense to simply pin a photo of Forstmann to Singh’s shirt, since Ted is very much alive…