Private equity: ruthless or revivalist?

Australian privately owned businesses are increasingly aware of both the growth and exit opportunities that private equity affords them. The market has however traditionally painted a somewhat negative picture with tales of ruthless asset stripping opportunist seeking the gullible in order to extract maximum advantage.

Having personally taken my first business Kudos through early stage VC style funding with Investors in Industry back in 1993, and then subsequently exited this business when Scottish & Southern Energy PLC acquired my shares, I’ve first hand understanding of the questions raised in the minds of business owners and wear a few battle scars of my own.

Increasingly, in my role in leading the Findex go to market strategy, we are engaging with a diverse group of both debt and equity capital providers and there is an ever present need to guide our clients as they consider how their capital structures can be arranged in order to execute on their strategic initiatives.

I therefore thought I’d share this piece from our own institutional investor, KKR, which we believe gives a unique insight into arguably the world’s highest profile provider of private equity. https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-henry-kravis-interview/