First up is the Private Equity Growth Capital Council, the advocacy organization that represents the industry. Are PE firms merely corporate raiders whose only intent is to destroy jobs and reap huge profits? Of course not, the PEGCC says.

The group maintains that the PE industry is “simply misunderstood, and actually helps boost the economy by strengthening companies and creating jobs,” according to The Hill.

The PEGCC today unveiled a new campaign, “Private Equity at Work,” that aims to fight those baseless attacks. The effort comes with a new website, www.PrivateEquityAtWork.com, and a resource center that provides educational content, industry data and an “in-depth look at specific PE investments that are driving growth and creating jobs,” PEGCC says in a statement.

UPDATE: Tony James, Blackstone’s heir apparent, also fought back today during the buyout shops Q4 earnings call. James said it was distressing to see “vicious, politically motivated attacks on the private equity business that are both inaccurate and unfair,” the Financial Times reports. While a few deals don’t work out, James says that “these exceptions provide anecdotal fodder for political attack ads.”

“Private equity helps preserve and restore America’s aging industries and moribund assets,” he says in the story. “This takes both large amounts of capital and true operating expertise.” The Blackstone president then cited a $670 million modernization program the buyout shop has undertaken at a U.S. oil refinery, the FT says.

In the Wall Street Journal, Armand Lauzon writes about his experience as CEO of three companies owned by the Carlyle Group. Lauzon was required to put his own capital into the companies, he says. “My clear mandate at every company has been to increase revenues, develop new products and markets, drive profitability, and create a sustainable business for the benefit of shareholders, management and employees. Our view has been distinctly long-term,” says Lauzon, in the story. Lauzon is currently the CEO of Sequa Corp., which Carlyle bought in 2007.

My favorite today? David Rubenstein’s comments about the upcoming Carlyle IPO. Rubenstein, a Carlyle Group co-founder, says he’s taking the firm public to “liquefy” his stake and doesn’t plan to keep all of his riches. “I’m committed to giving away the bulk of my money. If I have money that is available to me as a result of some factors, that’s what I’m going to do with it,” Rubenstein says in the story.

Rubenstein also goes on to defend Romney and his low tax rate. Earlier this month, Romney revealed that he and his wife paid an effective tax rate of 13.9% in 2010. They expect to pay 15.4% when they file in 2011. Yowza. (Yours truly pays around 28%.) Romney’s tax rate is low because most of his income flows from capital gains on investments, according to Reuters.

“When people comply with the law, they shouldn’t be criticized by people who say, ‘The law says you’re supposed to pay X, you should have paid 2X,’” Rubenstein says in the Bloomberg story. “Change the law if you don’t think the law is appropriate.”

The sale generated more than 40x Sun Capital’s invested capital, which includes a dividend recapitalization executed in 2009, according to a source familiar with the transaction. The return is likely among the top 10 ever generated by Sun Capital. The investment comes out of Sun Capital $1.5 billion fourth fund, closed in 2005. It’s not clear how much money the firm originally invested in the company, which generates $150 million in revenue.

The assets Sun Capital bought from Kraft included Aylmer tomato products, Primo pasta, and part of Kraft’s Canadian operations, which included Del Monte fruit products.

“We had some great brand names and there was a real opportunity to invest in and innovate the brands,” Scott Edwards, a managing director at the firm, told Buyouts.

Sun Capital changed the name of the business to Del Monte Canada and sold off the company’s pasta and soup businesses, which were less profitable. The firm installed new management, built up a sales and marketing force and invested in new products like roll-up and frozen fruit snacks. For its fruit business, it also transitioned to plastic packaging from metal packaging, which customers prefer so that they can actually see the product, Edwards said.

Today the company employs 190, according to a release from ConAgra. The sale includes the company’s manufacturing facility in Ontario and its headquarters in Toronto. The company was losing money when Sun Capital bought it and is now profitable, Edwards said, but he declined to discuss specific numbers.

In the fall of 2011, the firm began shopping the company, with Harris Williams & Co., the mid-market advisory shop, managing the process. This is the second time Sun Capital has sold a company to ConAgra: in 2010, it sold Elan Nutrition, a maker of nutritional bars, to the company.

Sun Capital targets struggling companies with $50 million to $5 billion sales across a variety of industries, including retail, packaging, health care and food, among others.

Previous investments in the food and foodservice sector include Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, a processor of Black Angus beef; Harry’s Fresh Foods, a maker of home-style refrigerated foods; and Sunrise Growers-Frozsun, a supplier of frozen and fresh strawberry products.

Sun Capital, which manages $8 billion in capital, is currently investing from its fifth buyout fund, a $5 billion pool of capital.

EG Capital Group, a consumer-focused private equity firm based in New York, is also selling its minority stake in Del Monte Canada as part of the transaction.

Bernard Vaughan is a senior editor at Buyouts Magazine. Follow his tweets @BVaughanReuters. Follow Buyouts tweets @Buyouts.

Zoller spoke to me by phone to give me some tips on fundraising.

What’s the number one thing that GPs do wrong when they fundraise?
Poor communication with LPs is the number one failing. This happens from two perspectives. Too often GPs will announce the launch of their fundraise without soliciting input from their existing investors. GPs should maintain an ongoing dialogue with LPs before, during and after an annual meeting. However, they sometimes will spontaneously announce to investors the fact that they’re coming to market. There isn’t enough ongoing communication about the firm’s development, strategy and fundraising status on a day-to-day basis between GPs and the LPs. These are people that you have to have ongoing communication with. Existing investors shouldn’t hear about the launch of your fund from a news article or chatter in the market. They should really hear about the launch of the fund from you. Also, the GP should really solicit existing investor input before going out. This is very important.

The second problem happens when GPs tell their story to new investors. The biggest mistake is to focus too much on the past. It’s important to talk about your historical track record and where you made mistakes. But people don’t talk enough to new investors about the current market environment and the market opportunity going forward. The market environment that the new investor is looking to evaluate today is very different than what it was in 2005. If you are talking too much about 2005 that is not as relevant as to what is going on in 2012.

How often should GPs be talking to LPs?
You want to be always talking to your LPs.

What can firms do to shorten the fundraising cycle?
You should always be pre marketing. People think it’s just talking to LPs three months early or sending a newsletter. In this market, you need to be always marketing and always communicating…don’t just send out monthly newsletters. You need to have a plan, you need to have a dedicated resource. Someone who will be helping you communicate with LPs.

We work with GPs between fundraisings to help them formulate a strategy with LPs. So when they do fund raise, they’re that much further ahead. By the time they go out, the LPs are already familiar with the GP, familiar with their story and the market opportunity, and they’re familiar with the GP’s track record. The GP is not coming in for the first time to tell the LP who they are.

What can a GP do if their fundraising goes bad?
If a fund has a good communications plan, you shouldn’t have a failed fundraise. Once you talk to investors and they’ve given you input, and you’ve pre marketed to new LPs, you will have the feedback to decide about the fundraising process. Make sure you are following up with LPs. When investors don’t get information [from the GP], the fund may lose momentum. If you stall, that’s one of the things that could lead to a failed fundraise. Another is that [the fundraising] takes too long and it gets stale in the market. Another is you go out too early and your track record isn’t developed enough.

What books do you read?
The last book I read was Michael Lewis’ “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine.” It’s a quick read. What I’m currently reading is the biography of Steve Jobs. It’s a fascinating book for totally different reasons.

WebMD has called off the auction to sell itself. WebMD’s special committee has ended discussions “with potential acquirers and its process to review a potential sale of the Company,” the healthcare information provider said in a statement Tuesday.

In November, WebMD hired Credit Suisse to advise on the sale, according to press reports. WebMD was in talks with four PE firms, including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co LP and Providence Equity Partners, by December, according to my coworkers at Reuters. It’s unclear why WebMD called off the talks.

WebMD also said Tuesday that Wayne Gattinella, its CEO and president, resigned. He is being replaced by Anthony Vuolo, CFO and COO, who will be interim CEO. WebMD said it also expects revenue to drop 2% to 8% and that is sees increased competition in its consumer products market this year.

The news caused WebMD’s shares to fall. The stock was off 25.32%, or $9.30, to $27.43 in mid-day trading Tuesday. WebMD currently has a roughly $1.5 billion market cap.

Separately, Sun Capital is reportedly also selling Thermasys, which supplies highly engineered copper/brass and aluminum heat exchanger components and assemblies. The Boca Raton, Fla.-based buyout shop acquired Thermasys in 2005 for an undisclosed amount. Last year, Thermasys bought two U.K. companies, Covrad Holdings and Serck Heat Transfer.

Wellspring Capital is the buyer, according to Standard & Poor’s Leveraged Commentary & Data. Wellspring has tapped GE Capital for $142 million in senior debt financing to back its Thermasys buy, LCD says.

Romney, who founded Bain Capital in 1984 and is the former governor of Massachusetts, is expected to win easily tomorrow in N.H. With such a large lead, the Bain founder has a bull’s-eye on his back, which makes for some interesting news.

First up is the Wall Street Journal, which analyzed 77 businesses that Bain Capital invested in under Romney’s tenure from 1984 through early 1999.

The Boston PE firm generated about $2.5 billion in gains for investors from the 77 deals, on $1.1 billion invested, the WSJ says. Bain produced roughly 50% to 80% annual gains during this period, which the WSJ says is among the best for buyout shops during that time.

Most of the gains came from a small number of deals. In fact, 10 deals generated “more than 70% of the dollar gains,” the WSJ says. But some of these top companies later ran into problems; four later landed in bankruptcy court, the WSJ says

Of the 77 companies analyzed, 22% crashed and either filed for bankruptcy or shut down eight years after Bain invested. Another 8% “ran into so much trouble” that Bain lost all their money, the story says. A Bain spokesman called the WSJ story “inaccurate and misleading.”

Next up is this scathing video from Winning our Future (which endorses Newt Gingrich). The video, “When Mitt Romney Came to Town,” says it looked at “four of Romney’s many targets” and the “thousands of employees who worked there.”

“And that hurt so bad to leave my home because of one man who’s got 15 homes,” says a woman in the video.

“I feel that is the man who destroyed us,” another woman is heard saying of Romney.

Nearly 28% of voters picked the Bain Capital founder as 2011’s top story.

The plunge in M&A and fundraising during the second half of the year came in second with about 22% of votes. And, the fact that PE firms are actually interested in bidding for Yahoo came in third place with 19.6% of voters.

As usual, the write-in suggestions were very interesting. Some said that the Skype deal was the lead story of the year. Microsoft completed its buy of Skype for $8.5 billion in cash in October. The sellers–a Silver Lake led investment group–sold Skype after a mere 18 month hold. The Silver Lake led group made a total gain of more than $5 billion, my coworkers at Reuters have reported.

Other readers pegged Castle Harlan’s quick flip as THE story of the year. In July, Castle Harlan bought Norcast Wear Solutions from Pala Investments for $190 million. The PE firm then sold Norcast within seven hours to Bradken Ltd. for $217 million, my companeros at Buyouts reported. That’s SEVEN hours, people! I take more time buying a pair of shoes.

In the US, the Volcker Rule, a part of the financial regulatory overhaul law that limits proprietary trading, or investments by banks using their own capital, has been forcing banks to sell part or all of their private equity portfolios.

In Europe, banks are selling their private equity assets to boost their balance sheets to prepare for the Basel III reform package which will impose capital constraints on investments. The new rules will come into force on January 1, 2013, with full implementation by 2019.

Today, we’ll take a look at some of the US and European institutions who have been offloading their private equity assets and what prices they have been getting. It also includes a couple that are on the sales block waiting to make their announcement. There are also a few among the bunch that, since being spun out, have commenced efforts–with varying degrees of success–to raise new funds. How successful these PE shops will be independently in some cases remains to be seen…

[slideshow]

[slide title="Bank of America"]

Headquarters: US
Date Announced: 2010
Business Spun Out: Banc of America Capital Investors
Assets Under Management: $1.4 billion
New Business Name: Ridgemont Equity Partners
Business Description: Mid-market buyout and growth investments of $25 million to $100 million in industry sectors including consumer & retail, energy, healthcare, telecommunications/media/technology, and financial services.

[slide title="Bank of America"]

Headquarters: US
Date Announced: April 2010
Acquiror: AXA Private Equity
Asset value: US$1.9 billion
Assets Sold: High quality, mature buyout funds portfolio.

[slide title="Citigroup"]

Headquarters: US
Date Announced: July 2010
Asset Value: $900 million
Acquiror: Lexington Partners
Assets Sold: Citi’s stakes in bank-branded fund-of-funds, mezzanine and co-investment vehicles.

[slide title="PNC"]

Headquarters: US
Date Announced: 2011
Business Spun Out: PNC Equity Partners
New Business Name: Incline Partners
Business Focus: Buyouts, minority recapitalisations, corporate divestitures

[slide title="Bank of America"]

Headquarters: US
Date Announced: June 2011
Business Spun Out: BAML Capital Partners
New Business Name: North Cove Partners
Assets Under Management: $5 billion
Assets Sold: Buyouts and growth equity investments

[slide title="Key Bank"]

Headquarters: US
Date Announced: June 2011
Business Spun Out: Key Principal Partners
New Business Name: Cyprium Partners
Assets Sold: Provider of mezzanine and equity capital to profitable, mid-market companies.

[slide title="Citigroup"]

Headquarters: US
Date Announced: June 2011
Asset Value: $1.7 billion
Acquiror: AXA Private Equity
Assets sold: 207 limited partnership interests. The portfolio was funded by Citigroup proprietary capital and does not include funds or investments managed by Citi Capital Advisors.

[slide title="HSBC"]

Headquarters: London
Business Sold: HSBC Capital (Canada)
Date Announced: October 2011
Acquiror: Fulcrum Capital Partners
Asset value: C$2 milllion
Business Description: HSBC Capital primarily invests in the Canadian middle market, and has made approximately C$1 billion of investments in 120 companies since 1994.

[slide title="Barclays"]

Headquarters: London
Date Announced: November 2011
Business Sold: Barclays Private Equity
New Business Name: Equistone Partners Europe (management buyout)
Asset Value: 45 million pounds ($71.7 million)
Business Description: BPE was focussed on backing management buyouts from 1996 and has invested 5.3 billion euros in 214 transactions in that time. Focus on management buyouts in businesses with enterprise values between 50 million euros and 300 million euros.

[slide title="Crédit Agricole"]

Headquarters: France
Date Announced: December 2011
Business Sold: Crédit Agricole Private Equity (CAPE)
Acquiror: Coller Capital
Asset Value: Approximately 300 million euros ($390 million)
Business Description: Investor in French businesses encompassing LBO & Expansion; venture capital; mezzanine, renewable energy, PPP infrastructures and co-investments

[slide title="AXA"]

Headquarters: France
Status: Pending
Business being sold: Axa Private Equity
Assets Under Management: $28 billion
Business Description: AXA Private Equity provides investors with funds across the full range of private equity offerings: funds of funds; LBO mid cap and small cap; innovation and growth; co-investment; infrastructure; and mezzanine.

[slide title="BNP Paribas"]
Headquarters: France
Status: Pending
For Sale: US$700m book of investments in more than 50 private equity funds

Source: Thomson Reuters

[/slideshow]

The fourth quarter saw 108 funds collect $52.4 billion, according to data from Preqin. The total is slightly lower than the $54.4 billion raised in third quarter, which was the weakest time period since the onset of the financial crisis, Preqin says.

Also, fourth quarter’s $52.4 billion is a 40% plunge from the $88.4 billion collected in second quarter, which Preqin says was a “strong” time for fundraising. But Preqin expects the Q4 figure to jump by 10-20% as more information becomes available.

In all, 603 funds held a final close in 2011, raising $262.2 billion. Buyout funds contributed most to the year’s totals; 92 funds raised a combined $69.2 billion. The largest pool came from Lexington Capital Partners VII, which collected $7 billion in 2011. Venture capital had the most; 133 funds closed in 2011 raising $32.3 billion, Preqin says.

Eric Zoller, Sixpoint Partners co-founder and co-CEO, doesn’t think things were that bad. “Fundraising, as a whole, was the strongest its been since the downturn began in late 2008,” he says. “Many funds closed at or above their targets.”

The first half of 2011 was clearly stronger, Zoller says. Pent-up deal activity resulted in a large number of exits. This caused LPs to receive more distributions, which they used to make new GP commitments, he says.

Things changed as volatility hit during the late summer. “As Europe deteriorated, the credit markets froze and the public markets sank,” Zoller says. “This caused fear to return and people to put new investments on hold. Exits slowed down and the positive feedback loop was broken.”

LPs, during the second half, took a “wait and see” approach, he says.

Still, Zoller thinks fundraising in 2012 will rebound. There are currently 1,823 funds on the road seeking $739.6 billion, Preqin says.

The public markets will continue to recover while M&A will likely rebound in 2012, Zoller says. “We’re seeing more investors looking to put more commitments out,” he says.

ACG New York asked dealmakers–which include private equity execs, attorneys, investment bankers, and lenders, etc. — which Republican candidate was best suited to help resurrect the flailing U.S. economy. More than half, or 51.1%, picked the former Bain Capital founder, while nearly 29% chose Newt Gingrich. A small group, 13.3%, picked John Huntsman, while a minute 3.3% went for Ron Paul.

ACG then asked whether the Republican candidate or President Obama would do a better job of reviving the U.S. economy. Not surprisingly, more than two-thirds, or nearly 78%, picked the Republican candidate. Romney, who founded Bain Capital in 1984, is seen getting major support from Wall Street. Stephen Schwarzman, the Blackstone Group’s chairman and CEO, even hosted a fundraiser for Romney at his Park Avenue apartment.

In December, ACG New York queried executives about their political views and hopes for 2012. ACG, a global association that represents middle market deal makers, received 128 responses.

In a surprise, a majority, or 52.9%, of dealmakers said they would be willing to pay higher income taxes if it would revive the economy. But a solid minority, 47.1%, said they wouldn’t.

How much of a tax increase is acceptable? Of the group in favor of higher taxes, 86.2% said that a 3% to 5% boost was acceptable, while 10.3% picked a 6% to 10% increase.

The survey found that middle market execs aren’t overly optimistic about 2012. ACG asked dealmakers to predict whether the U.S. economy, at the end of 2012, would improve. Roughly half, or nearly 53%, think it will be the same while one third, or 29.8%, believe it will be “better.” A small group, 13.2%, thinks the economy will be worse, while 2.5% think it will be “much better.”

Party On Marc: Sun Capital’s Leder expected to ring in the New Year in typical outrageous fashion.

The Runup: Romney gets a 45% edge over Prez Obama in telephone poll.

One Great Step: China wants to put an astronaut on the moon likely after 2020.

Can’t Take a Hint: Ex-HP CEO Mark Hurd made romantic overtures to an independent contractor over several years. And here’s the sexual harrasment letter that got Hurd fired.

Righting Itself: Samoa is skipping Friday, Dec. 30. That’s right. The country’s just cancelled the day.

Rumors: Now Apple won’t be releasing the iPad 3 at MacWorld or CES.

Facebook IPO: Goldman, Morgan Stanley considered top contenders to handle the FB IPO.

Tests Positive for Holy Water: What will happen to Tim Tebow in 2012? ESPN readers weigh in.

This will be the last First Read of 2011. Here’s wishing everyone good deals and happy tweets in the New Year!