Buyout funds managed by private equity giants Apollo Management LP and Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) are among a growing number of limited partnerships that have experienced sharp declines in value, reports the Wall Street Journal, which highlights the economy's impact on such funds, as well as the influence of mark-to-market accounting.

Apollo and Blackstone recently disclosed to investors the values of their last buyout funds at year-end. Apollo Investment Fund VI LP, a $10.1 billion investment vehicle that closed in 2005, was held at 34% below cost. Perhaps the most notable Fund VI deal is Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which has struggled with its debt covenants. Apollo and TPG Capital LP acquired Harrah's in January 2008 for $27.8 billion.

If you want a view into the travails of the private equity industry, you can check out the shares of AP Alternative Assets, which is operated by Apollo Management. Traded on the Euronext, the price has gone from $20 in 2006 to $1.

According to a piece in this week's Barron's [a paid publication], AP Alternative Assets could be headed for even more trouble. Keep in mind that the fund focused on the frothy deals of 2006 to 2007 (although, there are some 2008 transactions). This means there are positions in ailing companies like Harrah's, Realogy, and Claire's Stores. Yikes!

In the world of private equity and M&A, Henry Silverman is a giant. And, at 68 years old, he's getting back into the game. That is, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal [a paid publication], he has joined Apollo Management as the chief operating officer.

With the credit crunch and terrible economy, Apollo has suffered a variety of setbacks over the past two years, such as the bankruptcy of Linens 'N Things and the legal battle over Huntsman (NYSE: HUN). So, the firm definitely needs a boost.

The share prices of private equity firms like Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) and Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG) tell the story; that is, Wall Street thinks the sector is virtually dead.

Well, it might be an exaggeration. In fact, there are actually some signs of life. Just look at Apollo Management LP. According to Reuters, the firm was able to pull off a miracle by raising a whopping $14.8 billion fund.

OK, with the credit crunch still in full force and the economy lagging, why are investors doing this? Aren't they already overloaded on alternative assets? Hey, when making money in this game, it's about finding an entry point in a down cycle.

Keep in mind that it took Apollo about 16 months to raise the fund. Along the way, the firm put the money to work, with the main focus on credit securities.

What's even more amazing is that -- during this period -- Apollo has suffered a variety of recent blow-ups, such as the botched deal for Huntsman (NYSE: HUN) and the bankruptcy of Linens 'n Things. Other deals, like Harrah's, look dicey.

Yet, the new Apollo fund is encouraging, indicating that private equity operators are willing to take risks, despite the pervasive doom and gloom.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

It's been brutal for the chemicals industry. Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW), for example, lost a multi-billion dollar joint venture deal with Kuwait. Then there was the implosion of the Huntsman (NYSE: HUN) buyout, which singed private equity operator, Apollo Management LP.

Now, there's another victim: Lyondell Chemical. The company, which is part of the LyondellBasell Industries AF empire, filed for bankruptcy.

Lyondell Chemical, a maker of polymers and petrochemicals, couldn't manage the price deflation as well as harsh materials costs. Although, the main problem was a $12.7 billion merger in 2007, which resulted in large amounts of debt.

It's been the key question for Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN): Deal or no deal?

Now we know. This week, the company reached an agreement with its private equity sponsor, Apollo Management, to end its $6.5 billion buyout transaction.

For the past six months, the parties have been embroiled in heated litigation with Huntsman getting the edge as the Delaware court ruled that Apollo had to use best efforts to close the deal . As a result, Apollo's settlement is not cheap. The fees come to about $1 billion.

Although, it's a good deal for both parties. Apollo could have lost even more money if the merger agreement had been enforced. As seen with the collapse of the BCE (NYSE: BCE) deal, there is no appetite for multi-billion-dollar deals. And since Huntsman is in a highly cyclical business – specialty chemicals -- it would have likely made it difficult to justify a buyout.

The dispute is far from over, though. Huntsman is still pursuing a lawsuit with its bankers -- Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank -- on the deal. In other words, Huntsman may even snag even more money from the broken deal.

Still, Wall Street isn't too thrilled. In today's session, Huntsman's shares are down 44% to $3.27 by midday trading.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

Back in the summer of 2007, Apollo Management LP struck a typical private equity buyout. The deal called for paying $6.5 billion for Huntsman (NYSE: HUN), a chemicals company. In fact, the deal provided lots of synergy since Apollo already controlled a variety of similar businesses (through an entity called Hexion).

Well, of course, this was the peak of the private equity boom – and the credit markets began to unwind fairly quickly. What's more, the fundamentals of Huntsman started to weaken.

As a result, Apollo tried to extricate itself from the deal. And this meant a tough litigation fight.

Of course, this can be pretty a dicey thing. That is, the Delaware court ruled against Apollo and there was an order to get the deal done.

Yet again, this was bad news for Apollo (which has other faltering deals, such as Linens 'N Things). Actually, some of the top private equity firms have been taking some major hits lately, such as the TPG Group with its Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) disaster.

So, to deal with the court ruling, Apollo has agreed to pony up $540 million to close the Huntsman transaction. Interestingly enough, Apollo has also agreed to give up its lucrative fees (amounting to $100 million or so).

This means that Huntsman should be on firm footing (especially in terms of its solvency). And, something else: the banks on the deal – which include Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank – will have to raise the necessary funding, which will likely mean losing several billion on the transaction.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) posted solid Q2 results despite touch economic conditions.
• Apollo Management LP swung to a net loss on a write down and litigation, but is on track for an IPO.
• Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) beat analysts' expectations and raised its revenue guidance.
• Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE: DPS) beat earnings estimates and raised its full-year guidance.
• 4Kids Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: KDE) widened its Q2 net loss more than analysts had anticipated.
• Kohl's Corp. (NYSE: KSS) topped Q2 expectations and raised its full-year guidance.
• Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: LGF) unexpectedly swung to a Q1 profit as revenues soared.
• Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) beat Q2 expectations despite lower sales, and warned of weakness ahead.
• Napster Inc. (NASDAQ: NAPS) Q1 net loss matched the previous quarter and the year-ago loss.
• Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) beat Q2 expectations despite a drop in earnings and lowered its guidance.
• Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) CEO predicted post-merger earnings next year.
• Thomson Reuters Corp. (NYSE: TRI) Q2 profit fell while revenue soared, but still missed estimates.
• UBS (NYSE: UBS) dismal Q2 results were accompanied by speculation of breaking up the bank.
• Wachovia (NYSE: WB) revised its Q2 loss to include auction rate securities settlements.

Also, Jim Cramer warns against bearishness on the financials and also suggests that the collapse of commodities will buoy earings.

For more highlights from this week, see: Wal-Mart, JCPenney, MBIA, Deere, Applied Materials and others

Upcoming quarterly reports include Lowe's (NYSE: LOW), Home Depot (NYSE: HD), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Target (NYSE: TGT), La-Z-Boy (NYSE: LZB), Saks (NYSE: SKS), BJ's Wholesale (NYSE: BJ), Limited Brands (NYSE: LTD), Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), Burger King (NYSE: BKC), Gap (NYSE: GPS), Heinz (NYSE: HNZ), and Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

GSTrue, which is operated by Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), is a new-fangled marketplace to trade privately-held interests. One of its high-profile listings is Apollo Management LP., a top-tier private equity firm.

Unfortunately, the shares have lost more than 40% over the past year. Of course, this has been the treatment for many other private equity players because of the severe credit crunch.

According to the latest quarterly report, Apollo suffered a loss of $96 million, compared to a net profit of $144 million in the same period a year ago. The internal rate of return (IRR) fell from 42% to 21% over the quarter.

Moreover, Apollo is involved in litigation on its botched deal for Huntsman Corp (NYSE: HUN). And there was a 20% write down on the investment in Harrah's.

Despite all this, Apollo still appears to be on track for an IPO – to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Don't expect it to be easy.

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.

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.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• As it prepares to report its first quarter results, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (NYSE: LEH) may need to raise $3B to $4B to support its balance sheet, meaning its first quarter loss could be higher than the anticipated $300M, according to the Wall Street Journal. The capital raise would likely be through new common shares.
• Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) shareholders are suing the company over an employee severance plan they say was intended to help block its takeover by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), adding between $462M and $2.1B to Microsoft's costs,the Wall Street Journal reported.
• The Financial Times reported that Momentive Performance Materials, a company owned by private-equity firm Apollo Management, has exercised its option to suspend cash payments on part of its debt.
• As manufacturers push to compete in the "netbook" category, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) admitted to shortages of its Atom microprocessor. In an interview with with the Financial Times, Intel's executive vice-president, Sean Maloney, said the company had received more orders than expected for the low-power processor.

Chemtura Corporation (NYSE: CEM), a chemical company, is the result of a merger of Crompton Corporation and Great Lakes Chemical Corporation back in 2005. Since then, the company has been "right-sizing" and "right-shaping" its organization with divestitures as well as more acquisitions. Some of the company's core competencies include plastic additives, seed treatments, pool and spa products, and urethane polymers.

Well, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal [subscription], it looks like The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) and Apollo Management LP are interested in purchasing Chemtura. True, it sounds like the talks are preliminary; but at the same time, private equity firms are hungry for deals, especially for valuations of $2 to $4 billion.

Blackstone and Apollo are highly experienced in the chemical space, and have had fairly good success. If anything, Chemtura is likely to find synergy with other portfolio companies.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Last December Chemtura Corporation (NYSE: CEM), a specialty chemicals company with a market cap of about $1.9B, said it might sell itself, and now The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) and Apollo Management are in talks to buy the company, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• In part one of a series to help explain the reasons why The Bear Stearns Companies (NYSE: BSC) collapsed, the Wall Street Journal said that the troubled firm was torn apart by executives who couldn't agree on what course to take, including raising capital and slicing mortgage and related bonds from its inventory. And each of about six attempts to raise capital fell part.

• The American investor and Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK.A) chief Warren Buffett said the United States is already in a recession that is deeper and will last longer than the public expects, the Economic Times reported.
• According to the Telegraph, Barclays Plc (NYSE: BCS) is planning to sell Barclays Life Assurance Company, its life assurance arm, which has over GBP7B of funds under management. Sources believe potential bidders for the unit may include Pearl, Swiss Reinsurance Company (OTC: SWCEY), General Re, Canada Life and XL Re. Market commentators believe that on an embedded value basis, the unit is currently valued at around GBP1B.

Back in February 2006, Apollo Management purchased Linens 'n Things for about $1.3 billion. At the time, it looked like a sensible deal. After all, the company has a strong retail format (for home textiles, housewares and so on). What's more, there are over 500 stores in 47 states.

However, with the slowing economy – especially in the real estate sector – things have turned sour. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal [a paid publication], it appears that Linens is planning a bankruptcy filing and has hired Conway Del Genio Gries, which is a top advisor on restructurings.

For Apollo, this will certainly be a black eye. Keep in mind that the firm has recently filed to trade on the NYSE. Plus, if there is a bankruptcy, it is likely to mean a significant reduction in the equity value of Apollo's investment in Linens.

When creditors sense trouble, things can get particularly bad for retailers. Basically, they will often hold back on shipments or require cash upfront. Plus, Linens has a $15 million debt payment due on Tuesday. And if it doesn't pay it, it looks like that will be the day the company will file for bankruptcy.

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.