Private Equity and the Culture of Value Extraction

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size The authors acknowledge the financial support of the EU 6th Framework under the ESEMK research project (http: //www. univ-evry. fr/esemk/). Notes 1. 'The new kings of capitalism', The Economist, 27 November 2004, p. 3. 2. 'Locust, pocus – German capitalism', The Economist, 7 May 2005, p. 75. 3. Emily Thornton, 'Gluttons at the gate', Business Week, 30 October 2006. 4. Peter Koenig, 'Is private equity building up a debt bubble', Sunday Times, 6 March 2005, Business Section, p. 1. 5. Financial Services Authority (FSA), Private Equity: A Discussion of Risk and Regulatory Engagement, Discussion Paper 06/6, London, 2006. 6. '2006 fundraising smashes all previous records', Private Equity Online, 5 January 2007, http: //www. preqin. com/article. aspx? articleid=233 (accessed 15 January 2007). 7. See, for instance, Jason Singer Steve Rosenbush, 'Private equity: what's the limit? ', Business Week, 8 December 2006. 8. International Financial Services London (IFSL), Private Equity, City Business Series, IFSL, October 2006, p. 8, http: //www. ifsl. org. uk/uploads/CBSPrivateEquity₂006. pdf (accessed 15 December 2006). 9. See, for example, British Venture Capital Association (BVCA), The Economic Impact of Private Equity in the UK 2006 (BVCA, 2006) ; BVCA, Private Equity – a UK Success Story (BVCA, 2006) ; European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA), Employment Contribution of Private Equity and Venture Capital in Europe (EVCA, 2005). 10. British Venture Capital Association (BVCA), The Economic Impact of Private Equity in the UK 2005 (BVCA, 2005), p. 6. In its 2006 report, the BVCA also for the first time estimated the number of people by companies currently backed by private equity: this was estimated to be 1. 2 million, or 8 per cent of the private sector employees (BVCA, The Economic Impact of Private Equity in the UK 2006, p. 5). 11. IFSL, Private Equity, p. 4. 12. John Micklethwaite in the six years to 2003, the equivalent sum was US10 billion. See Greg Ip 'Boots provides takeover aid test', Financial Times, 20 April 2007. 58. Serena Ng, 'Moving the market – tracking the numbers', The Wall Street Journal, 27 December 2006, p. C1 59. Adam Harmes, 'Institutional Investors and the Reproduction of Neoliberalism', Review of International Political Economy, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1998), pp. 92–121. 60. Ibid. , p. 107. 61. Dennis K. Berman, 'Will private equity suffer a push-back? The era of easy deals may be nearing end; holders demand more', The Wall Street Journal Europe, 3 January 2007, p. 19. 62. Julie Froud, Sukhdev Johal, Adam Leaver & Karel Williams, Financialization and Strategy: Narrative and Numbers (Routledge, 2006).