Legal Week Private Equity Forum: Called to account
Private equity came under intense scrutiny in 2007, but at the second annual Legal Week Private Equity Forum, attendees discussed how the Walker report, transparency and in-house lawyers can help to restore the industry's battered public image. Philip Hoult reports
May 21, 2008 at 08:18 PM
11 minute read
The private equity industry has traditionally shunned the limelight. All that changed – perhaps for good – in 2007. Some of the most daring buy-out bids in its history were launched, for iconic companies including Sainsbury's and Boots.
Unions in the UK, meanwhile, began an effective, if somewhat crude, campaign against the industry, portraying it as full of avaricious asset-strippers. Private equity suddenly became an issue in the battle for the deputy leadership of the Labour party. And the media began to scrutinise the industry and its methods much more closely.
Private equity was unprepared for the onslaught. A disastrous showing by leading industry players before a Treasury select committee hearing did not help; a week later the chief executive of the industry's trade body, the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA), resigned.
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