A Limited Partner's Worst Fear
Any private equity investor facing cash constraints would have read this story from Reuters in complete horror. The article, from this morning, proudly declares that private equity is getting ready for its comeback. The so-called "haves" of the buyout world--the funds that raised money before raising money became impossible--are gearing up to put all that sidelined capital to work. "There are plenty of private equity firms with significant funds available to invest and a growing impatience to invest them," said Michael Berry, head of debt advisory firm Versatus. Once those firms start putting money to work, as we're already starting to see with deals like KKR's buyout of Oriental Brewery and CVC Capital's deal for iShares, industry pros expect there to be a period where investors shell out millions of dollars to fund capital calls but receive no distributions from exits.
