An observed fact over most of my 40-plus year career is that ‘regional’ funds have underperformed private equity in terms of return terms by a significant amount.
Our columnist takes umbrage at an attack on private equity from a national newspaper
A long article in The Guardian titled “Slash and burn: is private equity out of control?” on 10 October makes a number of points about the industry that should be criticised.
Do we really need the concept of floating charges?
Security over assets is a basis for a great deal of finance for businesses. The potential to recover some, even all, of a lender’s loans in the event of bankruptcy cuts down the cost of borrowing for companies. This security, of course, means that unsecured creditors may get little or nothing back from a business failure as the secured lenders swipe the remaining value for themselves. This bill is generally felt to be more than offset by the benefits of the cheaper and more abundant debt that secured creditors provide.
Labour is very likely to form the next government — so what actions can be taken to mitigate some of the expected policies?
The UK is almost certainly going to have a Labour Party government in the next parliament. We know the things they say they are committed to doing and suspect some of the others.
What does the election and a likely change of government mean for private equity?
I am writing this in the first week of the election campaign.The dissolution was a surprise for a lot of people – including some of the Cabinet. Given the position that the Conservatives have in the polls of 20% wanting to vote for them as opposed to 41% for Labour the
decision looks bold, tending to suicidal, and some members of the private equity fraternity believe that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants to lose before the campaign wrecks his August holidays.
The Bank of England is right to worry about private equity
Last month, the woman in charge of banking (and a lot more) at the Bank of England, Rebecca Jackson, gave a speech on “Private Equity Financing”. In summary, the BoE is getting concerned at the scale, complexity and increasing risk levels in the use of debt by and around private equity.
Many talk about the ills of high inflation. But for buyout firms, it may not be all bad news
I was reading the recently published and excellent Bain Global Private Equity Report. They somewhat bemoaned the adverse effects of interest rate rises that followed on from higher inflation and now see the coming of lower interest rates as good news for leveraged buyouts. Should they not be hoping for more inflation?
Are NAV loans a smart piece of financial engineering or do they repeat the mistakes of the Great Financial Crisis?
Net Asset Loans: are they clever or too clever? I’m talking about loans made secured against the net assets of a fund (Net Asset Value loans). For those who remember the Global Financial Crisis, if you substitute “NAV loans” for “sub-prime housing” then much that happened in sub-prime lending could happen in the world of NAV loans.
Should we be encouraging more UK university spin-outs or make do with fewer but better ones?
A few weeks ago the government published The Independent Review of University Spin-Out Companies. Its oddest feature is its title. The review was initiated by the government and staffed, it seems, exclusively by people who are not independent. Vice chancellors,
other industry academic investors and the like. Excellent and talented they hopefully all are – but independent they are not. As a group, the thing they are most likely to agree on is increasing the size of the cake.
Read Jon Moulton’s insightful analysis and comments about the markets…
Time for a reset
The Labour government’s first Budget presents challenges for private equity, but nothing is insurmountable.
Valuation crutches
Revenue multiples might be easy to calculate, but they are fraught with difficulty.
Passing Parcels
The ‘evolution’ of the big private equity players could be taking us into dangerous territory,
Levels of innovation
An observed fact over most of my 40-plus year career is that ‘regional’ funds have underperformed private equity in terms of return terms by a significant amount.
Written in the stars
The only stars in Jon Moulton’s eyes are the ones brought on by a dizzy turn from yet more regulation
Bedtime reading
We need to make regulatory demands on companies and directors less onerous if we are to attract the best leaders, says Jon Moulton
Small steps
Times are not easy in the UK’s smaller deal world, says Jon Moulton
Blame Game
With the UK’s junior exchange hitting new lows for new listings, Jon Moulton takes a look at the issues it faces.
Our columnist takes umbrage at an attack on private equity from a national newspaper
A long article in The Guardian titled “Slash and burn: is private equity out of control?” on 10 October makes a number of points about the industry that should be criticised.
Thames Water – a fluid situation?
The sponge may or may not be thrown in – but the appropriateness of a liquidation has never seemed more obvious
Read More
Do we really need the concept of floating charges?
Security over assets is a basis for a great deal of finance for businesses. The potential to recover some, even all, of a lender’s loans in the event of bankruptcy cuts down the cost of borrowing for companies. This security, of course, means that unsecured creditors may get little or nothing back from a business failure as the secured lenders swipe the remaining value for themselves. This bill is generally felt to be more than offset by the benefits of the cheaper and more abundant debt that secured creditors provide.
Labour is very likely to form the next government — so what actions can be taken to mitigate some of the expected policies?
The UK is almost certainly going to have a Labour Party government in the next parliament. We know the things they say they are committed to doing and suspect some of the others.
What does the election and a likely change of government mean for private equity?
I am writing this in the first week of the election campaign.The dissolution was a surprise for a lot of people – including some of the Cabinet. Given the position that the Conservatives have in the polls of 20% wanting to vote for them as opposed to 41% for Labour the
decision looks bold, tending to suicidal, and some members of the private equity fraternity believe that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants to lose before the campaign wrecks his August holidays.
The Bank of England is right to worry about private equity
Last month, the woman in charge of banking (and a lot more) at the Bank of England, Rebecca Jackson, gave a speech on “Private Equity Financing”. In summary, the BoE is getting concerned at the scale, complexity and increasing risk levels in the use of debt by and around private equity.
Many talk about the ills of high inflation. But for buyout firms, it may not be all bad news
I was reading the recently published and excellent Bain Global Private Equity Report. They somewhat bemoaned the adverse effects of interest rate rises that followed on from higher inflation and now see the coming of lower interest rates as good news for leveraged buyouts. Should they not be hoping for more inflation?
Are NAV loans a smart piece of financial engineering or do they repeat the mistakes of the Great Financial Crisis?
Net Asset Loans: are they clever or too clever? I’m talking about loans made secured against the net assets of a fund (Net Asset Value loans). For those who remember the Global Financial Crisis, if you substitute “NAV loans” for “sub-prime housing” then much that happened in sub-prime lending could happen in the world of NAV loans.
Should we be encouraging more UK university spin-outs or make do with fewer but better ones?
A few weeks ago the government published The Independent Review of University Spin-Out Companies. Its oddest feature is its title. The review was initiated by the government and staffed, it seems, exclusively by people who are not independent. Vice chancellors,
other industry academic investors and the like. Excellent and talented they hopefully all are – but independent they are not. As a group, the thing they are most likely to agree on is increasing the size of the cake.