Every cloud ..

Following the cancellation of the Preziozo buyout and the Giannoni sale in May, buyout news is equally bleak this month. The drop in the volume of buyouts has been dramatic, with only the MBI of Capitaine Fracasse taking place. Adding to the gloom, the EU Commission's proposal for an Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, which will affect a number of buyout houses, was greeted with disdain. AFIC itself backed critics of the legislation calling it inappropriate, disproportionate and discriminatory. This news alone should be enough to incite despair but, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining