“IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times,” Charles Dickens wrote.
In private equity (PE), it is easy to find affirmation of the second half of that famous line. Here are some Bloomberg headlines in September: “Private Equity’s Slow Carnage Unleashes a Wave of Zombies” and “Private Equity Is Piling Debt on Itself Like Never Before”.
Outsiders were not the only ones who expressed concern. In September, the chief executive of a large PE group said: “We could see the current 11,000 or so industry participants shrink to as few as 100 next-generation platforms that matter over the next decade.”
Yet such an apocalyptic outcome for PE managers need not necessarily pose a problem...
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