Wednesday, February 27, 2008

From Today’s WSJ: Timing is Everything for Private Equity Firms

Having bought up $1.9 trillion of companies from 2005 to 2007, private owners will inevitably confront how to monetize their investments, what is so cynically called "the exit."

The doors look barred. The mergers-and-acquisition markets have shut, as potential buyers wait for asset prices to decline. One can only hope that a mass of over leveraged and overpriced assets will stay out of public-investor portfolios. But don't bet on it. There is too much inventory to move. If the IPO markets re-vitalize, will values be bloated for these assets?

Below is a video from the Wall Street Journal's Dennis K. Berman explaining the challenge for these firms. No World Borders is still finding value in innovative companies as a sell-side representative for an Enterprise-class IT outsourcing firm targeted at SMB, and a leading Internet search marketing firm ranked in the top 15 among agencies and consulting firms in the U.S.

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