The private equity industry has traditionally shunned the limelight. All that changed – perhaps for good – in 2007. Some of the most daring buy-out bids in its history were launched, for iconic companies including Sainsbury’s and Boots.
Unions in the UK, meanwhile, began an effective, if somewhat crude, campaign against the industry, portraying it as full of avaricious asset-strippers. Private equity suddenly became an issue in the battle for the deputy leadership of the Labour party. And the media began to scrutinise the industry and its methods much more closely.
