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, around three quarters of private equity-backed businesses are thought to be behind target. There is now increasing strife between LPs and GPs as the deal-doing cogs have ground to a creaky halt