When it comes to management challenges, fish fingers and circuses are at opposite extremes: one product is the acme of industrialised food processing, the other the ultimate expression of human creativity and energy. Somehow, private equity has found room for both: last week, Permira agreed to sell Iglo, which makes Birds Eye fish fingers in Europe, after nine years running the frozen foods company, while another buyout group, TPG Capital, led a deal to gain control of Montreal’s Cirque du Soleil.
談到管理上的挑戰,炸魚條和馬戲表演是兩個相反極端:一個是工業化食品加工的極致,另一個是人類創造力和能量的終極表達。從某種程度來講,私人股本找到了同時實現這兩點的空間:前一陣子,私人股本集團帕米拉(Permira)同意出售在歐洲生產Birds Eye炸魚條的Iglo公司,帕米拉經營這家冷凍食品公司已有9年時間;另一家收購集團德太集團(TPG Capital)則領銜達成一筆交易,獲得蒙特利爾太陽馬戲團(Cirque du Soleil)控股權。