Private equity – a Sword of Damocles?
Andrew Seth
Of today's 100 listed companies in the UK 25% are apparently targeted by private equity consortia. Certainly 2007 has seen a huge UK increase of private equity search for and successful acquisition of major companies. The traditional image of private equity was well described in Barbarians at the Gate– a close-knit marauding band of clever financial engineers who acquire control of ailing businesses, run their rule book over their cumbersome, over-managed structures, take rapid, significant cost savings – usually from fixed assets and headcount – thus creating a stable...