``The ability to raise capital, no matter who you are, has changed dramatically,'' Richard Friedman, global head of merchant banking at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said Sept. 16 at the Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst conference in New York. ``People are winning by not losing at the moment.” Blackstone CEO Stevie Schwarzman and Seer of Omaha Warren Buffett are cases in point. Get a load of their playbooks and perhaps, you too, can raise capital for anything, anytime, anyplace.

Bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and government-seized American International Group Inc. top the list of distressed sellers seeking buyers for at least $1 trillion of assets. So far, bargain hunters aren't biting.

The same uncertainty that erased $3.1 trillion from global stocks in the first four days of this week has all but paralyzed the market for unpaid corporate debt, non-performing mortgages, degraded securities and repossessed real estate. Before takeovers are pursued that help troubled companies bolster capital and pay off creditors, hedge funds and buyout firms that have raised $163 billion this year face roadblocks such as a lack of financing.

``We're raising the hurdles for putting money out there because there are going to be increasingly better opportunities,'' Blackstone Group LP Chief Executive Officer Stephen Schwarzman said in an interview. ``You're most aggressive when you're coming off the bottom.''

The winners from Lehman's bankruptcy and AIG's government bailout will be investors such as billionaire Warren Buffett who can buy without borrowing and, in some cases, afford to hold onto their purchases for as long as five years without cashing them in, said Thomas Priore, chief executive officer of New York-based ICP Asset Management, which originated and oversees $13 billion in collateralized debt obligations.

Buffett's Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has been involved in eight acquisitions since October, including yesterday's $4.7 billion purchase of Constellation Energy Group Inc. in Baltimore. That compares with six in the previous 12 months, when Berkshire's largest acquisition cost $350 million. The deals were possible because the company had cash on hand totaling $31.2 billion at the end of June.

``The ability to raise capital, no matter who you are, has changed dramatically,'' Richard Friedman, global head of merchant banking at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said Sept. 16 at the Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst conference in New York. ``People are winning by not losing at the moment. It's going to be eerie for a while.''

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