Driving private equity offshore would be a profound mistake, says ALEX BRUMMER By Alex Brummer for the Daily Mail Updated: 17:01 EDT, 4 July 2024 e-mail View comments The private equity bandwagon in Britain keeps rolling. Latest to be imperilled is gaming group Keywords Studios, creator of Fortnite and League of Legends, which is being bought by Swedish buyout firm EQT for £2.2billion.
The highly leveraged deal for Royal Mail owner International Distribution Services is, to all intents and purposes, a private equity deal except the buyers are the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinisky and Slovak investment banking partners J&T. There are reasons to object to both deals. New ownership at Keywords may allow it to tap into new capital, which British asset managers are slow to supply.
However, the ultimate goal of private equity is to sell off prey as soon as possible and cash out. No one knows where ownership and the intellectual property will end up. The financing model for the Royal Mail buyout is destabilising and the transaction cannot be in the public interest.
London calling: The UK is a magnet for private equity firms. Some of the biggest in the world, including CVC, Permira, Cinven and Apax, have their largest offices in the UK Private equity has a mixed record in the UK. Some buyouts – Debenhams, Southern Cross care homes and, latterly, Asda spring to mind – have been destructive of the underlying enterprises.
Others, such as Pets at Home, Worldpay and Formula 1 are a.
