Back in 1992, Steve Feinberg started a small private equity firm, Cerberus Capital Management LP. It was actually a tough time in the markets. But not for Cerberus. After all, it focused on distressed deals.

Now, the firm is putting together a fund to focus on distressed opportunities in foreign markets (this according to Reuters). After all, the credit crunch is a global crisis -- as seen in places like the UK and even Asia.

In fact, the new Cerberus fund will look mostly at financial services companies, which need lots of capital.

All in all, it's a smart move -- and should produce nice returns. Moreover, Cerberus has strong leadership to pull things off. For example, the chairman of the firm is John Snow, who is the former Treasury Secretary and has a golden Rolodex.

It also looks like Cerberus may raise capital from sovereign wealth funds. Keep in mind that TPG recently snagged $2.5 billion from China for its new fund.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

On last night's MAD MONEY on CNBC, Jim Cramer said he had a stock that can offer some insulation and even some profits from the blow-up in subprime: Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY).

The CEO, Mike Farrell, predicted the subprime mess and stuck out his neck to reposition his company to profit. Cramer said it is a liquid stock, and claimed he hasn't always been right about it because he doubted it when he shouldn't have. NLY has a 52-week trading range of $11.83 to $15.90, and shares were up 3.5% at $16.11 after hours. Cramer just interviewed the company on a video on the evening of April 10 when the stock closed at $15.64. It closed at $15.55 the next day and closed unchanged at $15.55 yesterday.

Cramer also said that he has a paper trade based on recent events. The ex-Treasury head John Snow at Cerberus is benefiting from the Chinese coated free sheet paper tariff, but Sappi Ltd. (NYSE: SPP) is the one that will benefit from this. The tariffs are intended to be used for magazines, yearbooks, and the like. Sappi is South African, but they are the largest in the U.S., and most of the other companies doing this are private. Cramer thinks it is a trade rather than an investment. SPP rose 2.9% to $17.27 after Cramer called it, above its $17.08 high over the last 52-weeks.

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

With change in the air in Washington DC, it does look like we'll see some regulation in the hedge fund industry. True, the implosion of the Amaranth Advisors hedge fund didn't make much of an impact, but Congress appears to be a bit leery of possible time bombs.

Well, former US Treasury Secretary, John Snow, thinks this is a mistake. He believes investors are the best regulators, according to a report from Bloomberg.

Generally, I agree with this. Investors in hedge funds are wealthy individuals and institutions. Thus, if rich people get hurt, they have the legal resources to deal with it, right?

True, but the fact is that many pension funds and endowments are now plowing cash into these hedge funds. This means that any blow-ups would affect middle-class Americans.

Hey, but as for Snow, he is now the chairman of a private equity firm, Cerberus Capital Management. And, given his recent comments, it looks very clear what his role will be: Aan evangelist for private equity and hedge funds.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook. He also operates InvestorOffering.com.

With the emergence of mega equity funds, we are now seeing Fortune 500 companies become the targets of buyouts. It could be quite lucrative for these investors. But, what about the layoffs? Or possible cuts in R&D?

This all may ultimately become a political issue.

So, as a result, we are now seeing high-level former government officials move into the private equity world. The latest: John W. Snow, who was the Secretary of Treasury under George Bush (from 2003 to 2006). His new gig is the chairman of Cerberus Capital (which has $16.5 billion under management and has more than 275 investments).

No doubt, he is likely to have a significant compensation package. But, he will probably be worth it.

First, he will bring along his sterling rolodex. In other words, his role will mostly be in building relationship – that is, making introductions. The grunt work – in terms of deal structure – will likely be left to others.

Next, Snow understands global markets (hey, while in the White House, he had to deal with complex things like currencies). As private equity funds get huge, we are going to see complex global deals.

Also, Snow was the CEO of CSX. Thus, he has a strong understanding of operations of major companies.

Moreover, Snow should be extremely helpful in terms of navigating the inevitable political issues. For example, the Justice Department has been looking at possible collusion among private equity firms (in which several funds team together to buy a company – which may be an anticompetitive practice).

So, all in all, Cerberus's hire of Snow looks brilliant and is likely to be a model for other private equity firms.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.