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 drive banks into action. From a private equity perspective the fall-off in leveraged loans across Europe amounts to a 60% drop off in the first nine months of 2008 compared to the same period last year. This has been accompanied by a simultaneous but unsurprising increase in equity contributions - up around a third on average to the 45% mark