Hating private equity is easy to do. It often feels like they use debt to drain the life out of a company. The most recent example would be UK beer company, Brewdog. While the company still operates, the value of equity given to employees and private investors has been wiped out by the value that has accrued to the private equity investors. I have friends in private equity and they always claim that they are providing capital and are value creating. Perhaps this true and in this case perhaps the founders of Brewdog were just foolish to agree the deal. But one thing that has always been clear about private equity is that they are hostage to corporate debt markets and the economic cycle. During the GFC, Blackstone lost nearly 90% of its value.
