With the eurozone sovereign crisis seemingly impervious to resolution, and global equity markets remaining volatile, private equity sponsors have come to terms with extended holding periods and lower-than-expected sales prices, but many are happy to divest to willing buyers now, rather than wait for a big initial public offering (IPO) payoff, which may never arrive.
“The big-ticket end is difficult because the IPO market is dead, but if you look at the slightly smaller deals it is not actually that grim out there,” says James Barbour-Smith, a partner and head of portfolio management at Gresham Private Equity. “At the right price we have some appetite from trade buyers for high-quality assets.”
