Private Equity and Venture Capital in Europe

Building the cycle

The cycle Tony James was referring to was the third one since LBOs became active in capital markets in the mid-1980s. The first one ended in 1990 when the junk bond market collapsed. There was an active, but smaller scale LBO business from 1993–2000 that was halted by the collapse of the technology and telecommunications sectors and the record levels of bankruptcies that ensued. In 2003 the third cycle began and peaked in mid-2007, just as the Blackstone deal was brought to market, when private equity fundraising reached the $250 billion per year record level it had achieved in 2000 and then slightly exceeded it. During the four and a half years of this cycle, one now that comprised as much activity in Europe as in the United ...