Where Are They Now? Top Deals of the Decade
While news reports are calling the "00s" anything from a lost decade to one to skip, to one without authority to just plain sucky. For private equity, the aughts could not have been more exciting (that is, until around mid-2007). The industry ballooned in the face of low interest rates and lax lending, leading to record breaking dealmaking that won’t be matched for a very long time. Globally, the top ten buyout deals of all time occurred between 2006 and 2008. When they were struck, the buyout barons behind them were on top of the world (or, Masters of the Universe, if you prefer). But of course, when the good times ended, private equity was not immune. The last two years have been a wake-up call for private equity, with writedowns and stalled fundraisings to prove it. Here’s a rundown of the ten largest deals of all time--which all occurred in this decade--and how they’ve fared in the interim.
