This is worth a read, if only to witness the personal angst of Cerberus founders Steve Feinberg and William Richter - a nine page letter, obtained by the Wall Street Journal, from the buyout firm to its investors.
The year-end missive takes us through each aspect of the credit crisis, before defending the firm’s behaviour in pulling out its deal to buy United Rentals. Then it’s on to Chrysler and GMAC and all the rotten things that get said:
In general we despise all the public attention we are getting. We apologize for all the press you probably see about us. We do our best to avoid the spotlight, but, unfortunately, when you do some large deals, such as Chrysler and GMAC, it is hard to avoid. It is also possible that our disdain for publicity and our attempts to avoid it may even become topics for press coverage in themselves…
On the one hand, we must have a thick skin, and on the other hand we must keep our humility. We must laugh when something bad is written, and we must ignore any good articles because once you loose your humility you will collapse as a money manager. We must remain humble and hungry…”