Private Equity After The World's Economic Meltdown
What follows is the prepared text of a speech given today by John Castle, chairman and CEO of private equity firm Castle Harlan, to the the New York Chamber of Commerce. It is a pleasure to address an audience so knowledgeable and concerned about our current economic situation. I think we can all agree that the economic meltdown of the past two years has been the worst since the Great Depression. Locally, nationally, internationally – everywhere we look, the economic wreckage is piled up. The causes of all this are many and often rehashed – the real estate bubble, excessive and unrealistic mortgage lending, derivatives whose risks were only dimly perceived. And all this is now compounded by consumers tightening their spending, businesses declining to invest, and banks refusing to lend. In addition, the mess has been global, affecting literally every corner of the world, even the Middle East. In the 1970’s, the Middle East Oil countries did extraordinarily well even as the rest of the world collapsed. But even this region has been adversely impacted this time as oil prices skidded from their peak of $150 before moving back up to $70. In this recession, virtually no region in the world did well.
