News

Hundreds of investors are taking their private equity holdings to the market to get rid of them. A new second-hand private equity sales market opened with huge sums of private equity listings from pension funds, insurance companies, banks and more. More than $540m (€420m) worth of private equity secondary commitments are up for sale as investors try to off-load these illiquid assets. The success of the sale is uncertain because of selling restrictions and the need for strict confidentiality for the limited partners.



The selling frenzy has begun the same week that well known private equity group 3i received a downgrade in its credit rating. This is further evidence that private equity investment has lost its shine. Standards and Poor ratings agency marked down the credit rating of the company saying “In our view, the operating environment for private equity is very difficult and we believe that this may linger”.



Unions are watching this industry closely as private equity failure threatens jobs and pension investments. UNI Global Union has urged unions and workers working for private equity employers to keep in touch with their union and alert them of any signs of company failure. UNI and the Global Union movement are pleading for regulators to pay attention to private equity investment and to develop a plan to save jobs and companies in the event of failure.