As The Economist went to press, it looked likely that a diluted version of the Volcker rule would pass, allowing banks to keep running hedge-fund and private-equity units for clients who want to invest in them, and perhaps to keep putting a small share of their own capital in them as well.

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Both companies count their share of gains from these units as equity income.

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Twenty units built for social rent and shared equity are all occupied, while four of eight homes built by private developers have been sold.

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According to Facebook's filings, Mr. Hastings's only equity in Facebook prior to this purchase was 20, 000 restricted stock units he was granted when he joined the board in June 2011.

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In the last decade, Goldman, like other Wall Street banks, has built up its trading and private equity groups alongside its more traditional asset management and merger and acquisitions advisory units.

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Both units are already being marketed to potential buyers, including some private equity firms.

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By contrast, the units or shares of closed-ended funds (such as a private equity fund) are not eligible for interim liquidity.

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It owns units of Conversus Capital, a publicly traded vehicle that holds slices of 210 private equity funds.

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Up until now, most condo developers have relied on a combination of their own personal wealth, investments from equity funds and buyer deposits up as much as 80% of the purchase price of the units to finance construction of their projects.

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