Leon Black’s sell everything call has been heard by his rivals

Bloomberg/Leslie Picker and Ruth David/Bloomberg, 6/30/2015

MK note: Private equity firms are selling out of stocks “at a record clip,” according to this Bloomberg article. Leading the charge are hedge funds like Leon Black’s Apollo Global Management which started its liquidation program two years ago (!).  What’s more these funds are using highly-publicized corporate buybacks as a means to that liquidation.  “Private equity is selling everything that’s not bolted down. With the robust valuations in today’s market, they are accelerating monetizations of companies they own,” says Frank Maturo, Vice chairman of equity markets at UBS AG.  Another analyst, Lise Buyer (Class V Group) says, “It’s clear that we are currently in an environment of frothy valuations. The insiders — those with the most knowledge — are finding this a very good time to take some money off the table.”  Simultaneously, gold is traversing lows and looking like a good place to park some of those stock market gains.