All's well that ends well

What a year 2009 has been. This time last year the market entered (what we hope was) the most frightening period of most private equity professionals' careers. LPs began threatening to default on capital calls, as others sent letters to GPs asking they refrain from making any drawdowns for up to 18 months (your editor was shown a couple such letters). The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) released a study predicting the downfall of up to 40% of buyout firms globally. And now, Brussels is threatening to make the lives of fund managers even hairier with its new draft directive