Thursday’s Headlines: Terra Firma Chairman Urges Money Grubbers to Stay Away from Private Equity

Just interested in making money? Stay away from private equity, Terra Firma Chairman Guy Hands told attendees of the Harvard Business School Venture Capital and Private Equity conference, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The paper quoted Hands saying: “If you are looking for a career just focusing on making money, please don’t come into the private equity industry. If just making money is what motivates you, then focus instead on the banking industry or the hedge fund industry.”

He added students motivated by making money should “leave private equity and the creation of long term value to those of us who love making businesses better.” … The private-equity veteran described the boom era of 2002 to 2007 as the “Woodstock years” but said that the period that followed had become the “wilderness years” for private equity.

Other News:

BofA will accelerate expansion in China after doubling profit and boosting its workforce there in 2012. [Businessweek]

A group of managing directors has left Morgan Stanley to start Dean Bradley Osborne, an investment banking boutique firm with plans to hire aggressively. [Financial Times]

HSBC will withdraw from consumer banking in Japan, closing down six branches four years after starting the business. [Bloomberg]

Business students pay more in differential tuition. [Businessweek]

Citi aims to raise $2.07 billion by selling its 9.85 percent stake in an Indian mortgage lender. [WSJ]

The booming London metals exchange considers eight suitors. [DealBook]

Technology companies like Facebook tend to select banks that have extended them credit to be underwriters in their IPOs. [WSJ]

Berkshire Hathaway is pushing into Thailand’s reinsurance market. [Reuters]

Public pension funds’ investments account for 29 percent of private equity capital, and more than twice what private pension funds have invested. [Businessweek]

Credit Agricole reported a greater-than-estimated Q4 loss on write-downs. [Bloomberg]