For alternative asset managers, the financial results can be complex and volatile. Just look at the Blackstone Group's (BX) latest quarterly results. Revenues came to $725.3 million, which compares to negative revenues of $611.3 million in the same period a year ago. Adjusted earnings were $329.4 million, or $0.29 per share, which is up from a loss of $763.8 million, or $0.68 per share.

Of course, these results also reflect the brutal impact of the credit crunch.

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.

Even thought its more than 30 years old, Express continues to be a relevant specialty fashion retailer. In fact, it is ranked the number six player in the U.S., with 573 stores.

So this week, Express filed to go public. The company expects to raise $200 million.

Express focuses on a tough demographic; that is, women and men between the ages of 20 and 30. Yes, this is part of the so-called Gen Y crowd, which can be fickle. But it is also a large market and will continue to grow.

The New York Post reports that five years after taking Toys "R" Us private for $6.6 billion, "the retailer's private-equity owners are angling to cash in with an initial public offering this summer."

Bain Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Vornado Realty are the current owners of the 860 Toys "R" Us stores in the United States, along with 716 international stores.

In the past five years, quite a bit has changed in the toy industry. Leading competitors FAO Schwarz and KB Toys collapsed as a result of the recession -- with Toys "R" Us acquiring the former off the scrap heap. According to the Post, "The retail industry reported only mildly positive holiday sales last month, but Toys 'R' Us boasted a solid gain of 4.6% in its domestic comparable sales for December, helping offset a companywide decline of 3.5% in last year's fourth quarter."

The corner of the private equity sector focused on distressed investment opportunities has a considerable amount of cash on the sidelines. Distressed debt funds lead the private equity industry in terms of dry powder, followed by special situation and turnaround funds, according to alternative investment research firm Preqin.

Though global dry powder has fallen from its worldwide high of $59.9 billion in December 2007, its January 2010 level of $42.5 billion is still far above the $18.7 billion reached in December 2004. This does represent a decline of 29% from the 2007 peak, but the dry powder levels remain robust.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) wanted a piece of what could be the most interesting insurance IPO of the year, but it won't get a taste.

American International Group's (AIG) Asian life insurance unit, American International Association, is going to go public in Hong Kong for an estimated $10 billion, and JPMorgan isn't being allowed to play, insiders say, because of a sour relationship that stretches back to the September 2008 financial crisis. As a result, it will be the only major investment bank not being admitted to the party.

Investors are getting down with managed accounts this year. This approach is "clearly becoming more mainstream," alternative investment research firm Preqin reports, with 16% of the 50 institutional investors it surveyed using them within their portfolios. Another 23% are considering an allocation to managed accounts in 2010. Several reasons were cited, including greater transparency (41%), better liquidity terms (22%) and increased regulatory oversight (22%), which were the three most common reasons cited.

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.

Software giant Oracle (ORCL) finally completed its $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems on January 26, for $9.50 per share in cash and debt deal, setting up an opportunity for the company to dominate its competition in the database software and enterprise computing systems markets.

Sun has been delisted from the Nasdaq and all Sun stock holders were to have cash payouts mailed to them within a week.

When it comes to snowplows and salt spreaders for light trucks, Douglas Dynamics has top-notch brands in the industry. They include Western, Fisher and Blizzard.

Now, Douglas has filed to go public. The estimated size of the offering is about $150 million.

Venture capital funds aren't being terribly adventurous. In the U.S., they invested less capital in start-ups, a sign that uncertainty persists. Also, they're spreading the wealth: More companies are getting a taste, but in smaller doses. This tendency suggests that VC investors are diversifying as a way to test the waters for promising companies.

The situation is pretty straightforward: A difficult economy means that (a) start-ups will have trouble finding customers and (b) exit strategies for investors will be more difficult to attain and probably less lucrative. So, the risks of failure are higher, and the rewards are lower. As a result, VC investors need to be more cautious as they enter positions. Add to this the general financial market malaise we've experienced for the past year and a half -- longer if you trace the origins of the financial crisis to February 2007, with the agita at New Century Mortgage -- and now doesn't exactly seem like the time to place a handful of big, concentrated bets.

For a mega private equity firm like Blackstone (BX), there's a need to get liquidity on a mega scale. So this week, the firm prepared for one of its holdings, Travelport, to go public. The deal could be worth as much as $3 billion.

Blackstone will float the deal on the London Stock Exchange. There will also be the issuance of 7.2% of the stock to Government of Singapore Investment Corp. (for about $225 million).

A new book, The Prince of Silicon Valley, chronicles the dealmaking of the IPO king of the 1990s: Frank Quattrone. He made a fortune as he helped more than 100 tech companies go public, which included marquee names like Cisco (CSCO), Netscape and Amazon.com (AMZN).

But those days seem quaint. In fact, the tech IPO market has been a backwater for the past decade, even though there have been some big deals -- like the offerings of Google (GOOG) and Salesforce.com (CRM).

The Twitter-verse continues to get interesting. I've always felt that the returns are to be found around Twitter rather than with Twitter itself, and the venture capital community seems to be acting from the same position. Twitter interaction platform HootSuite just announced a new round of venture capital funding, with $1.9 million in fresh money coming in the door to support its growth efforts.

HootSuite, which was started by Invoke Media in November 2008, has evolved into a brand monitoring, file-sharing and social media integration utility. Only a year later, it has attracted more than 300,000 users, from Time (TWX) to Martha Stewart to the White House to Aol (AOL).BloggingStocks is among the Aol blogs using HootSuite.

Mega-buyout funds are turning in their worst returns over one-, three- and five-year periods. Large buyout funds haven't performed well either, with small buyout funds faring best, according to alternative investment research firm Preqin. With enough time having passed from the financial market mayhem of the third quarter of 2008, it's now possible to gain some perspective and measure the results.

Mega-buyout funds' returns were negative over the past year, down 31.4%. Over the last three years, returns were still negative at 3.1%. But over the last five years, mega-buyout funds returns a solid 23.9%.