THE ANNUAL REVIEW 2010 - PEI Media

page 100 private equity annual review 2010
f i r s t ro u n d
PEI’s sideways look at the European private equity market in 2010
Kids, eh?
Tom Hicks Jr lets down Tom Hicks Sr
Hicks Sr: not loved in Liverpool
Public displays
of disaffection
UK private equity veteran Jon Moulton
recently made headlines for saying more
stringent private equity regulation at
the EU level was unnecessary given
the industry was already exposed to
“clinically insane” levels of UK regulation
(a charge the BVCA promptly distanced
itself from). Though it received
a fair amount of ink from the financial
press, the episode was less likely to raise
Piccadilly Circus: Moulton makes his mark eyebrows among private equity players
given Moulton’s well known penchant
for public (often controversial) outbursts.
His next public “performance”, however, went beyond contentious sound bytes and prompted
the Financial Times to call him “private equity’s prophet of doom”: in early March, on the day that
his new firm, Better Capital, held an official launch party, Moulton took out a 45-second ad on the
famed neon billboard in London’s Piccadilly Circus. Much like the electronic “clock” installation in
New York’s Times Square which kept a running tab on the US national debt, Moulton’s featured
a UK version dubbed “Debtmageddon”. The debt counter was accompanied by ominous quotes
including ones from Aesop (“We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public
office.”) and former US President Herbert Hoover (“Blessed are the young, for they will inherit
the national debt.”). ■
Top flight professional English football is among the most cash-generative sports in the world.
No wonder top flight private equity investors have long been drawn to it. Success, however,
can be elusive.
It’s been a tricky time for Tom Hicks, the former Texas buyout titan and now proprietor
of Liverpool Football Club. Not only has his co-ownership of the club with fellow mogul
George Gillett been a fairly unhappy alliance thus far, but Hicks is also lacking in popularity
among Kopites, the club’s army of ultra-passionate supporters.
In January, Hicks’ approval ratings among the Anfield faithful dropped to the bottom of
the table when his son, Tom Jr, replied to an email from a critical supporter in terms so foul
that we don’t really want to repeat them here (if you must know what he said, Google will
tell you). Suffice it to say that once the email had been made public, the writer didn’t last
another day as a director on the club’s board. It was an electronic own goal.
Followers of private equity history will recall that in 2004, when Hicks Sr retired from
institutional private equity investment at the firm once called Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, he
issued a press release which said he was looking forward to spending more time doing business
together with his “older children”. Is it time to start headhunting among the younger ones? ■
Poor
visibility
EU Parliament: no flights in, no flights out
As this month’s PEI was going to press, news
emerged that the meeting of the European
Parliament’s JURI committee – which was
due to vote on future transparency requirements
for alternative investment fund managers
– had been postponed because of the
disruption caused by the cloud of volcanic
dust hanging over Northern Europe. A
transparency vote thwarted by a vast opaque
cloud? Let’s hope JURI members appreciate
irony. ■