Some of the private equity firms which will be watching this offering closely are The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) worth $7.4 billion, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (NYSE: KKR) worth $3.1 billion, American Capital, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS) worth almost $2.5 billion, Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (NYSE: OZM) worth about $925 million, and Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE: FIG) worth about $665 million.  There is also the PowerShares Global Listed Private Equity (NYSE: PSP) ETF that Carlyle will ultimately become a part of when it comes public.

Carlyle is going to list on NASDAQ rather than on the NYSE and it is going to list under the ticker “CG” for its units.  No financial terms have been set for the deal.  The private equity giant has selected J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, and Credit Suisse as the listed book-runners for this IPO.

It is hard to admit that it was hard to ignore that the founders made a combined $413 million in 2011 ahead of this IPO.  The full amended filing is here.

One reason that private equity deals matter to the public right now is because of Mitt Romneys’s roots back to Bain and the current misconceptions about what private equity firms actually do.  While layoffs happen at most private equity buyout targets, many of those businesses were failing to generate profits and many may have eventually folded on their own.  Who are the largest clients of private equity firms?  Usually company and governmental pension funds.

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JON C. OGG

No money was injured while filming

The 2011 Class of Private Equity-Backed IPOs is really off to a rough start.  The market conditions of late have all culminated to create a cautious IPO environment and even a cautious private equity environment.  We have reviewed some of the key 2011 private equity-backed IPOs (and some which emulate private equity) for their performance and we have also reviewed some of the top pending deals that are waiting in the halls for the IPO market to get a bit better.

What private equity firms have to fight is two things.  First, no one wants to just hand money over to old rich men who buy a company up, leverage the books up after paying handsome dividends, and then who expect to sell it back to the Joe Public later.  The second issue is that the IPO climate still mostly demands solid companies that have clean books and clean structures (except for the Web 2.0 winners of late).

Bankrate Inc. (NYSE: RATE) has actually only of late come under selling pressure after its $15.00 per share in the IPO originally fell but then ran up to $1850 and higher before the end of July market tank took the wind out of the sails.  Some investors have probably been hoping for more of a bounce and shares are currently at $15.50.  This one isn’t broken, but it is pressured.

Freescale Semiconductor Inc. (NYSE: FSL) may have gotten a boost from the old Motorola ties, but it has still been considered FREEFALL as some former employees called it.  The IPO was at $18.00 and shares are now around $13.80 after having hit a low under $10.00.

HCA Inc. (NYSE: HCA) was the largest of the private equity offerings at $30.00 but it has since already warned (like it couldn’t have known elective surgeries were running soft) and now that reimbursement rates from Medicare and Medicaid are either being cut or are feared to be under review.  Bain Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (NYSE: KKR), and Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) via BAML Capital Partners, and founder Dr. Thomas First, Jr. were all behind it.

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI) priced 95.5 million shares at $30.00 and rose initially before selling off.  The company is under the great Richard Kinder and seems to just be sorting itself out right now.  Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) is part owner as well.  Another issues is that it sold more shares at a higher price than originally scheduled.

Vanguard Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE: VHS) sold 28.75 million shares (after the overallotment option) in total at $18.00 per share at the end of June from parent Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX).  The market and the woes of Medicaid and Medicare took a big bite and after falling as low as about $12.00 the stock is back up to $14.25.  Still a broken deal.

TWO MORTGAGE DEALS…

American Capital Mortgage Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: MTGE) is a start-up mortgage REIT that was launched just on August 3 under parent American Capital, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS).   The company priced at $20.00 per share for total gross proceeds of $160 million and American Capital agreed to buy 2 million shares for $40 million at the initial public offering price in a private placement. This one opened weak, but it has responded with the market bounce and shares are back up to $19.50.  That is still a busted deal but better than it was.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $220 at Oppenheimer; Reiterated Buy with $198 target at BofA/ML; Maintained Buy with $220 target at Canaccord Genuity.
American Capital, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Apollo Investment Corporation (NASDAQ: AINV) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) Cut to Sell at S&P Equity Research (late-Tuesday call).
BioMarin Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: BMRN) Cut to Neutral as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) Maintained Buy but raised target to $65 at BofA/ML.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Maintained Neutral but cut target to $22 at BofA/ML.
Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Raised to Buy at Kaufman Bros.
IAC/InterActiveCorp. (NASDAQ: IACI) Raised to Buy at Citigroup; Raised target to $39 at BofA/ML.
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $190 at Argus.
Joy Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: JOYG) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Lexmark International Inc. (NYSE: LXK) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Panera Bread Company (NASDAQ: PNRA) Maintained Neutral but raised target to $135 at BofA/ML
Stillwater Mining Company (NYSE: SWC) Reiterated Outperform and $28 target at Credit Suisse.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE: TSM) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Maintained Buy at Zacks.

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JON C. OGG

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) Raised to Buy with $35.50 target at BofA/ML.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) Raised to Buy at Nomura; Reiterated Buy at Gleacher with $12 target.
American Capital, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Capstone Turbine Corp. (NASDAQ: CPST) Started as Buy at Merriman.
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Reiterated Buy with $44 target at BofA/ML.
ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) Cut to Equal-Weight at Barclays.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc. (NYSE: FCX) Raised to Buy at Stifel.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) Raised to Buy with $23 target at UBS.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Reiterated Buy with $26 target at Argus; Reiterated Buy and raised target to $27 at Gleacher.
Local.com Corporation (NASDAQ: LOCM) Cut to Neutral at Merriman.
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) Raised to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Vodafone Group PLC (NYSE: VOD) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

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JON C. OGG

Agrium (NYSE: AGU) has seen targets raised at CIBC, Canaccord, and TD.
American Capital (NASDAQ: ACAS) Raised to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Bancolombia (NYSE: CIB) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) Raised to Neutral at Devenport.
Kinross Gold Corp. (NYSE: KGC) Raised to Perform at CIBC.
Mueller Water Products (NYSE: MWA) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) Raised to Buy with $335 target at Stifel Nicolaus.
Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) Reiterated Overweight Overweight (raised EU target) at JPMorgan.
SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) Raised to Buy with $1.50 target at Wunderlich.

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Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALXN) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
American Capital, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS) Cut to Sell at Stifel Nicolaus.
Athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN) Started as Market Perform at Avondale.
Charles Schwab Corp. (NASDAQ: SCHW) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) Started as Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Focus Media Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ: FMCN) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) Cut to Hold at Roth.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) Started as Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) Raised to Outperform at FBR.

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) up 5.2% at $248.26 on 386,792 shares (8:20 AM).

ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ ASML) up 6.7% at $31.60 on 275,000 shares (8:20 AM).

LM Ericsson Telephone Company (NASDAQ: ERIC) up 5.6% at $10.63 on 255,160 shares (8:20 AM).

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) up 4.9% at $25.92 on 158,171 shares (8:20 AM).

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ: BPOP) up 9.1% at $3.60 on 145,000 shares (8:20 AM).

DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) up 6.7% at $5.43 on 114,000 shares (8:20 AM).

Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) up 10% at $15.53 on 10,851 shares (8:20 AM).

JA Solar Holdings, Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) Up 8.4% at $6.45 on 31,480 (8:20 AM).

American Capital, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS) up 9.15% at $5.60 on 43,000 shares (8:20 AM).

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) up 3.9% at $22.16 on 150,000 shares (8:20 AM).

National Bank ogf Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) up 19% at $3.18 on 140,000 shares (8:25 AM).

American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) up 5.3% at $40.75 on 42,000 shares (8:25 AM).

Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV (NYSE: PHG) up 11.8% at $32.49 (8:25 AM).

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) up 7.5% at $2.71 on 160,000 shares (8:25 AM).

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American Capital, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS) is up after earnings: Q1 EPS was $0.17 versus $0.09 expected from Thomson Reuters; net asset value was listed as $8.98 vs. $8.29 a year ago and versus the $6.09 close yesterday.  Shares are up over 4% at $6.32 on about 80,000 shares.

Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH) is up this morning after pricing its 12.5 million shares secondary offering at $5.81 after a close of $5.81 and a close of $6.88 on Monday.  Shares are up over 2% at $5.92 on active volume.

BP plc (NYSE: BP) is trading up over 2% at $51.51 on over 1 million shares as the damages it owes may be severely capped by disaster laws and as traders try to look for a bottom.

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) is trading lower after $0.38 EPS and a 1% revenue drop to $431 million versus Thomson Reuters estimates of $0.42 EPS and $484.5 million.  Shares are trading down 11.7% at $33.10 versus a 52-week range of $19.40 to $40.47.

InterMune Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN) is the worst stock on NASDAQ with shares down almost 80%.  Full news at BioHealthInvestor.com on the FDA major delay in complete response letter.  Shares are down 77% at $10.13 on 4 million shares.  The prior 52-week range was $10.48 to $49.46 and this was a $9.00 stock last night at the re-open from the Halt.

Melco Crown Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ: MPEL) is trading down after a Goldman Sachs SELL rating this morning.  Shares closed at $4.60, but shares are down almost 5% at $4.38 on over 85,000 shares.

Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) is the second worse performer on disappointing earnings and guidance.

Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSIR) is up 12% at $8.50, but on very thin volume.  The company receives from the FDA an Orphan Drug Designation for its stem cell treatment for Type-1 diabetes.

Ryanair Holdings plc  (NASDAQ: RYAAY) is down after another cut to the PIIGS in Portugal and on continued worry over business from teh Iceland volcano.  Shares closed at $27.14 and ADR shares are down 3.1% at $26.30 on about 15,000 shares.

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All of the net proceeds near $295 million in capital is being used “for general corporate purposes,” which includes investment and lending activities and to repay debt under existing obligations.

There is another situation here as well, and that Paulson & Co. is showing that it is not concerned that it will be tarnished by the SEC charges against Goldman Sachs.

American Capital shares are up 6.4% at $5.67 right before the closing bell on over 15 million shares.  If you look at the drop seen in American Capital on Friday, that was nearly a 6% drop.  Today’s gain is a mere recapture of what was taken away on Friday.  Shares had hit a new high of $6.08 earlier this morning before coming off throughout the day, and the old 52-week trading range was $2.08 to $5.75.

JON C. OGG

Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) is up over 3%, but far less than you’d think after earnings were well above estimates.

Vonage Holdings Corporation (NYSE: VG) is down close to 10% despite positive earnings because revenues declined.

Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) is soaring by 25% on a huge earnings per share number, after items of course.

American Capital, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS) is up 18% and this is already well off highs after earnings and a potential debt restructure.

STEC, Inc. (NASDAQ: STEC) is one of the morning’s ugliest with a 30% drop on a idsappointment in its earnings and on at least two analyst downgrades.

Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) is down 2.4% on the E.U. hurdle noted last night, but this had been down as much as 8% or 9% after the news broke. (No Link)

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