The debate about private equity raging on both sides of the Atlantic (evil, just plain bad, or innocent of all charges?) has just intensified a notch in the US, as the industry there launches what some describe as its first serious attempt to hit back at criticism.
The Private Equity Council, the industry’s Washington DC-based trade body, set up in December by 11 by the largest buy-out firms, on Wednesday issued its first study of buy-out firms, describing them as “neither a dark force nor a silver bullet” for the economy.
The criticism is clearly beginning to hurt – particularly this week’s extraordinary outburst by Moody’s, which focused on the industry’s increasing use of debt to acquire companies.
But we doubt whether a defence that characterises private equity as somewhere between a “dark force” and a “silver bullet” will really win anyone over.
After all, one could say that about most irritating things in life.