Private equity and Jon Huntsman

There is the mistaken belief that the USA president candidate Jon Huntsman is the same Jon Huntsman who co-founded a $1.1 billion private equity firm called Huntsman Gay Global Capital. But he isn't.

The Jon Huntsman running for president is the former governor of Utah and U.S. Ambassador to China. The private equity Jon Huntsman is his father, who previously founded specialty chemicals company Huntsman Corp. and who isn't nearly as involved with the firm as is co-founder Bob Gay (a former colleague of Romney's, as it so happens). The firm also happens to employ Jon Jr.'s brother Paul as a vice president.

Huntsman Jr. does not have any financial interest in his father's firm, according to a source familiar with the matter. He would have a good understanding of the use of many private equity firms who have taken their financial power to re-energize businesses that might otherwise go bankrupt.