Look for fund-raising by opportunistic private equity real estate funds to pick up this year. According to private equity research firm Preqin, 182 opportunistic vehicles are out there trying to raise money right now, with a target of $95 billion.

To put this objective in perspective, 2009 was dismal, with only 59 opportunistic real estate funds pulling in $26 billion in fresh capital. The sector was far more successful in 2008, however, raising $84 billion across 84 funds and making it the sector's best year for fund-raising. So, if the 2010 funds reach their goal, it will have overcome the woes of last year and even top the one before.

The federal government needs cash, and we all know it has to come from somewhere. As no politician has ever been criticized (at least not broadly) for going after the folks with the deepest pockets, private equity industry needs to dig in for what could become a fierce battle over new taxes.

The issue isn't new. For a while now, the feds have been kicking around new taxes on private equity firms based on how profits are classified. Yet, this search for cash could have unintended consequences, as the definitions used could wind up taxing venture capital funds and small partnerships, which could be the keys to an economic recovery. Critics argue that the tax may not bring in as much money as the government hopes.

With assets of over $96 billion, the Blackstone Group (BX) needs to get liquid on many deals to generate competitive returns for its investors. This means being aggressive with IPOs. In fact, it looks like 2010 will be fairly active for the private-equity powerhouse.

The latest deal from Blackstone? Well, this week the firm put together an IPO filing for Graham Packaging Co. The estimated size of the proposed deal is $350 million.

Could it be that private-equity buyouts are making a comeback? There are certainly signs of a return. Just last week, TPG and the Canada Pension Plan agreed to shell out $4 billion for IMS Health (RX).

This week, we have another interesting deal: KKR and General Atlantic will buy TASC for $1.65 billion. TASC is the consulting unit of Northrop Grumman (NOC).

Actually, the military giant had little choice but to unload the division because of a conflict of interest. How can you provide unbiased consulting to the U.S. government as well as sell weapons to it?

Not a good day for those looking for green shoots with markets down strongly. And no wonder. Credit card problems with the U.S. consumer are off the hook as CapitalOne (NYSE: COF) charge-offs rose to their highest historical level of 9.91% (via ZeroHedge) and American Express (NYSE: AXP) rose to 10% (via Mish Shedlock).

Higher chargeoffs and retracting credit means further consumer spending retraction. A semi-annual survey by Collier Capital found that 20% of institutional investors plan to downsize their target allocation to private equity, (via PEHub) the largest negative response since the survey started in 2004. An article by two Harvard University economists found that the biggest reason for the growing income inequality is lagging educational improvement in the American workforce (via VoxEU). There is no quick fix for this so its fairly bad news (although better than blaming the inequality on globalization and some neo-capitalist cabal).

Alex Salkever is Director of Research at Piqqem.com, a stock analysis site powered by the Wisdom of Crowds.

Back in early 2007, KKR Private Equity Investors -- along with Citigroup (NYSE: C) -- invested $700 million in Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA). The investment structure was a convertible senior note (both firms split the investment).

And, just like many other private equity deals, KKR wrote down the investment -- by about $167 million. This was as of last year.

Well, in light of Oracle's (NASDAQ: ORCL) announced $7.4 billion buyout of Sun yesterday, there is a nice surprise for KKR. You see, according to the note agreement, KKR is entitled to get its investment repaid. In fact, this also includes payment of accrued interest, according to Reuters.

Just as foreclosures account for a record share of the real estate market, foreclosed companies are also one of the few areas of activity in the private equity space.

Sun Capital Partners took Stila Cosmetics private back in 2006, but defaulted on loans from Wachovia and CIT Group (NYSE: CIT) -- leading those lenders to foreclose on the company.

Now Stila has been sold to New York private equity firm Patriarch Partners for an undisclosed sum sure to be considerably lower than what Sun Capital paid when it bought the brand from Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL), which originally purchased the company from founder Jeanine Lobell back in 1999.

Quadrangle Group, a powerful investment bank and private equity player headed by Steven Rattner (the on-again, off-again Car Czar for the Obama team), has stopped trying to raise money for it's new private equity fund, according to PE Hub. Private equity has certainly gotten a bad rap of late, with many market seers claiming that the whole PE industry was headed for a giant blowup.

The percentage of deals done by private equity shops fell by over 50% in 2008. Many of the university endowments and state and municipal pension funds that had been key patrons of PE fundraisers are now so far underwater that they can't even conceive of coughing up cash for PE, let alone explaining why they are reserving money for an asset class that looked incredibly toxic in 2008. Certainly, the PE sector will bounce back because every single pension and endowment fund manager will chase the highest returns, even if there is no strong statistical research that PE profers higher returns (or even any returns) over time.

Alex Salkever is Director of Research at Piqqem.com, a stock research community powered by the Wisdom of Crowds.

The credit crunch has pretty much brought the private equity industry to a halt: Without access to cheap, readily available, debt with liberal terms, the leveraged buyout shops lack the paper they need to get the deals done.

But the Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that some firms are now trying "equity buyouts" or EBOs -- deals that involve taking companies private without the use of debt. With companies available as cheap as they are now, some titans are betting that they can earn excellent returns without the leverage the has historically led to outsized profits.

Apollo Management acquired Realogy -- the parent company of real estate brokerages like Century 21 and Coldwell Banker -- at precisely the top of the real estate bubble.

So far the results have been about what you might expect. Now Apollo is pumping another $150 million in (subscription required) to keep the deal afloat through 2009. The company says that combined with the big cost cuts it's implemented over the past three years will be enough to save the company. Investors disagree, with some of the bonds trading for as little as 11.5 cents on the dollar suggesting a high probability of bankruptcy.

Not long ago, institutions and sovereign wealth funds salivated over the opportunity to invest in private equity operations. But, as seen by the lowly stock prices of the Blackstone Group LLP (NYSE: BX) and Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG), things are much gloomier now.

Interestingly enough, TPG has spent some time trying to drum up interest in an equity stake. And, it looks like there were serious talks with the Kuwait Investment Authority, the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the California State Teachers' Retirement System. However, according to a report in the Financial Times, it appears that negotiations have ended.

Founded in 1988, Perry Capital has posted a stunning investment track record. But, in 2008, there was no place to hide, as all asset classes broke down. And, as a result, Perry Capital posted its first annual loss in 20 years (down 27%).

Well, the NY Times was able to snag the firm's shareholder letter. And, it's pretty good reading.

First of all, Perry Capital actually made some good bets. For example, the fund went short on subprime securities.

At just over $13, Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) is already trading near its 52-week low. The shares may go lower. Rohm & Haas (NYSE:ROH), which is being bought by Dow, is suing to get the deal finished.

According to Dow Jones, "Dow confirmed that it doesn't intend to close the merger by a Tuesday deadline, with Chief Executive Andrew Liveris calling the deal 'untenable at this time' in a prepared statement. "

Dow is in a pinch. A joint venture with Kuwait, which should have brought in billions of dollars, was canceled. And, banks are not likely to lend money for most M&A deals. Private equity firms have shut off almost all of their investment activity.

Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI - option chain) shares have moved higher today after privately-held Yucaipa Companies, LLC announced it has acquired a 7 percent stake in WFMI. Yucaipa is also considering other strategic moves, which might go as far as a takeover of the company. Any speculation in WFMI being a buyout target should give this stock a floor, and if you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on WFMI.

WFMI opened this morning at $10.72. So far today the stock has hit a low of $10.27 and a high of $10.89. As of 12:30, WFMI is trading at $10.75, up 74 cents (7.4%). The chart for WFMI looks bearish and S&P gives WFMI its lowest 1 STARS (out of 5) strong sell ranking.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a February bull-put credit spread below the $8 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 11.1% return in just six weeks as long as WFMI is above $8 at February expiration. Whole Foods would have to fall by more than 26% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

WFMI hasn't been below $8 since November and has shown support around $9 recently.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in WFMI.

2008 was one of the worst years for private equity deal volume in awhile -- an abrupt end to the boom years marked by the high-profile bankruptcies of companies like Linens n' Things.

But that could be changing: sort of. The number of bad deals of the past few years has led to a growth in "loan to own" deals: vulture private equity firms that lend money to companies struggling under the weight of earlier buyouts with the goal of gaining control over the equity.

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that buyout flops like Real Mex Restaurants and Bally Fitness are finding themselves under the ownership of new private equity firms after the original deals go south.

But 2009 could also represent a comeback for private equity in the traditional sense if credit markets loosen up. Interest rates are at historic lows and the stock market has taken a pounding leaving a number of profitable companies trading at valuations that make them extremely attractive takeover targets.

If the credit markets return to normal levels of activity, private equity could be a major catalyst for the market's rebound over the next few years by taking private many of the undervalued companies that are driving the market down.