Past valuations of companies partnering with private equity may have been too high and have not given the financial returns expected. Here’s my favourite private equity investor commenting on the current state of the private equity markets. David talks about how the big private equity players are shying away from the mega deals of the past and preferring smaller deals, such as struggling banks. Here's Bloomberg's interview:
Carlyle Group Inc. co-founder David Rubenstein said he expects the private-equity industry to come back and be “stronger than it was just a few years ago” as the recession ends.
Carlyle, the world’s second-largest private-equity firm, bought some companies at prices and debt levels that in hindsight were too high, he said today in a Bloomberg Television interview in Washington.
“We had some companies that didn’t perform as well as we would have liked,” Rubenstein, 60, said. “Generally I think we’re coming back. We’re now investing again. Our companies are in good shape.”
Private-equity managers are seeking to resuscitate a leveraged buyout business crippled by the global credit crisis that began more than two years ago. Carlyle and larger rival Blackstone Group LP are eschewing public-to-private buyouts of more than $10 billion that characterized the 2006 and 2007 peak in favor of smaller deals for targets such as struggling banks.
