What the hell is going on with all this private equity money?

June 6, 2007

Is it just me or does it seem like there have been a ton of deals lately where private equity investors have snatched up public companies?  Of course there was the big one a few weeks ago, where Cerberus agreed to snap up what’s left of Chrysler. 

But that’s hardly the only recent private equity action.  Within the past month there’s been a blizzard of these deals.  A group of private equity companies are trying to buy Iberia, the Spanish airline.  Music publisher EMI joined the chorus with a recent deal to sell the company to Terra Firma, another private equity group.  And now this morning I see that CDW just announced a deal to be acquired by a private equity firm.

Where the hell is all this private equity coming from?  Could it be Russian mobs and South American drug cartels looking to launder their billions thru these private equity deals?

Personally I think it’s Iraqis, using all the stolen Saddam money and oil wealth.  An elaborate plot to upend the Western economies by owning key industries like transportation (Chrysler, Iberia), infrastructure (EDW) and entertainment (EMI).

Not that I’m a conspiracy theorist or anything like that