Blog Post
The year of the portfolio
The numbers are in for 2008 and the picture is bleak across Europe. Only countries such as Italy or Portugal posed (small) exceptions to the overall trend. Remembering the beginning of 2008, when the effects of the credit crunch had already taken hold...
A leap of faith
We enter the new year with uncertainty and apprehension about what lies ahead, after a turbulent 2008. As Jarle Gundersen of Norvestor Equity put it: "We started off with annus mirabilis and ended up with annus horribilis."
Emergency exit
LPs have little to lose (and lots to gain) by defaulting on initial capital calls. All the talk nowadays is on finding the quickest and least painful way out; of deals (for stressed GPs that are willing to accept low pricing) and of funds, with limited...
A touch of frost
A chilling frost has gathered around the private equity world for the winter season of 2008, especially in the leveraged buyouts department which has all but ground to a halt with only the EUR300-500m Socotec deal closure to speak of. With only limited...
On the rocks
All the chit-chat nowadays is about how no-one will close a deal before Christmas and that vendors want silly sums for their businesses. The deal-doing world is largely on hold, and with it, the community that advises them for handsome fees. Furthermore,...
Welcome to the jungle
As the year ends, we can definitely say 2008 was an annus horribilis. The stormy skies observed from afar in the summer of 2007 did little to prepare us for the vicissitudes of the market. It feels like hurricane season in the Caribbean: you are barely...
Extraordinary: LP defaults
Signs of panic are ubiquitous. The Bank of England has just slashed interest rates by 150 basis points to 3% - their lowest level in 54 years. All this seems to have achieved is to confirm fears that the situation is indeed dire, while doing little to...
Autumn renaissance
The leaves are falling; it's getting cold and dark and so is the Q3 unquote barometer. It shows European private equity has dropped almost 10% in deal volume and more importantly 35% in deal value to the lowest level since Q1 2004. The French market however...
Pandora's box
The world order feels much like a disorder; just as the end of a party, it is a sight that I deplore. With the lights back on, the extent of the damage is visible
Closed for Christmas
Shock news stories about the global economy have subsided. Global stock markets are down - the DAX has now fallen below 4,200 points - and the economic freeze is reaching beyond the automotive industry, which was the first to call for protective measures...
Hard knock life
Figures often corroborate what experts already accept as truth, so it was no surprise to learn that the UK economy is officially in decline and on the verge of recession (though many broadsheets treated it as such with dramatic headlines). In a similar...
Hold your breath
Normally, as a journalist, I am the one asking the questions. However, in Stockholm last week, everyone was keen to know how the situation was in London. Was it really a doomsday feel in the streets of the City? Have the lights gone off in the posh night...
Down, not out
As this issue of unquote" goes to press, the UK government has announced a ТЃ37bn rescue package for its biggest banks. RBS stood to receive the most, just as Sir Fred Goodwin stood down. The bailout is the second event in as many weeks that is hoped...
Survival of the fittest
From the rescue of HBOS by Lloyds TSB to the nationalisation of another British bank, not a week seems to pass without more evidence that the structure upon which the last decade of prosperity was built was over-optimistic and under-regulated. During...
Nuclear winter
It is hard to write anything about the market without being potentially disproven by new developments tomorrow - or even in just a few hours
Tough time
Over the last month, the media have been aghast at the pace of bank collapses. Foul winds have blown in from the US and reached Europe, hitting the largest countries spectacularly. This time the crisis collided with Benelux head-on as failed insurer and...
Back to school
Having expected minimal movement in the private equity and venture markets it was a pleasant surprise to see a number of deals completed while everyone was supposedly on holiday. The largest of these, the EUR550-600m purchase of Compagnie Europeenne de...
Laws of causality
What a return from the summer this has been! Curiously enough, experts now say they saw the current global financial crisis coming. If indeed their observations are not the products of hindsight, then the next logical thing to ask is how did it happen...
The party is over
These were the words of Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic house speaker, when she gave her speech on why Congress would reject the bailout plan to save American banks. At the time of writing, there is still uncertainty regarding whether or not the revised...
Blue Brothers
At present it is unclear how the collapse of Lehman Brothers will effect the private equity industry, although it will surely be a question of how rather than if. For starters, the investment management unit, which includes all Lehmanтs private equity...
Pensions Regulator oversteps the mark
The news that Duke Street Capital has been forced by the Pensions Regulator to inject ТЃ8m into the defined benefit scheme of DIY retailer Focus more than a year after the private equity firm sold the business should confirm the worst fears of the industry....
Mixed messages
Recent German legislation has been anything but welcoming to foreign investors. Both the Risikobegrenzungsgesetz and Aussenwirtschaftsgesetz are widely seen as a deterrent against what certain parts of the government seem to still regard as hordes of...
Large deals are back in Benelux
Quiet as Benelux appears to be, the summer has not been as calm as one would have expected. The region, characterised by a mid-size market, is now witnessing a revival of large deals
Aestival reflexions
Southern Europe continues to see activity. However, levels are a far cry from the heady days of yesteryear. That said, prices are still readjusting - one just has to look at the failed Cavalli deal to be reminded of the changing paradigm in which the...