Bloomberg reported The Carlyle Group sees Europe as ripe territory for the greed and leverage boys:
"Private equity firms can look forward to a rich hunting ground for deals in 2022 as Europe’s corporate titans seek ways to shed businesses."
Big companies are being forced to reassess their portfolios as consumer habits change and the corporate world responds to digitalization, a shift to clean energy and fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.
That could fuel a continuation of the record $300 billion-plus buying spree that private equity firms have been on in Europe since the start of last year.
The story highlighted a number of promotions for younger private equity underwriters (PEU).
“We have seen too many times in our industry where the old guard is not paying sufficient attention to the next generation and become a little selfish.”
Greed is a fractal, repeating itself at varying levels of view. It's clear the old guard has not wanted to share by paying their fair share of taxes. Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein saved his preferred carried interest taxation multiple times with the help of U.S. Senators. That's the societal level.
Carlyle's old guard not wanting to share with their younger workers fits with their founding obsession. For the PEU boys, there is never enough money.