I Have an Issue With S&P
I'm certain that, in general, I'm not alone in my ratings agency rage, but mine is a very insular, specific rage. Standard & Poor's recently released a report titled "Global Credit Comment: Exposure to Deteriorating Assets Increases Risks To Private Equity." It's not unlike prior reports the firm has released titled "Private Equity Swirling In The Eye Of The Storm" and "Default Autopsy Finds Traces of Private Equity DNA," both of which I've been equally critical of. This report states that more half of the 293 companies on its Weakest Links list "have been involved in transactions with private equity at one point or another." The Weakest Links list consists of entities rated ‘B-‘ and lower. If the purpose of the report is the assess risk to private equity, as the title states, then it makes no sense to include companies that private equity has already exited. A buyout fund can't be exposed to risk on a company it no longer owns.
