Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein was in Toronto this past week and was a speaker at a private equity symposium there. As expected, he talked about his firm’s increasing presence China. But he also outlined Carlyle’s other major worldwide priority: helping to rebuild private equity’s tattered reputation.
Private equity has been lumped together with investment banks and hedge funds as the evil face of capitalism, and linked, perhaps incorrectly, to job losses. “Our image is so low even Law Vegas casino operators have a better image than we do,” he was quoted as saying, in an article in Canada’s Financial Post.
Despite the fact that private equity has made a lot of money for pension funds and turned around many struggling firms, the message about positive accomplishments of private equity firms has failed to reach the general public. This is a priority that both Carlyle and the industry in general must address, said Rubenstein.
As for Carlyle’s expansion, he sees China as “the greatest source of our profits in the next couple of years.” Carlyle plans to open offices in other parts of the country beside Beijing. Rubenstein also noted that Canada is underdeveloped in private equity, relative to GDP, and said his firm may be looking to fill more private equity jobs there in the future.
What do you think? Do you think private equity has been unfairly tarnished by the excesses of other financial industry sectors? Should PE professionals be doing more to polish its image? Add your comments below.
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