Companies: SVI   

Further public floats of private equity firms are likely in future, although a consolidation wave is less so, believes Nicholas Ferguson, chairman of London-listed SVG Capital (lead backer of private equity powerhouse Permira).

‘There are two major industries run by highly intelligent people that seem to have no mergers at all,’ Ferguson was recently quoted as saying at a hedge fund and private equity summit in London. ‘One is charity and the other private equity.’

He thinks private equity groups could attempt to sell stakes like hedge funds have previously done and considers the possibility that some smaller, struggling buy-out firms might attempt to merge, although ‘two weaks don’t make a strong’.

Significantly, he thinks private equity IPO deals (in the wake of US investment powerhouse Blackstone Group’s looming IPO) are likely. ‘I think it will become the norm,’ he opined. ‘It’ll be more the big American ones. I totally understand why a Steve Schwarzman (chairman and CEO of Blackstone) would say “this is an opportunity to capitalise on my huge success”.’

The legendary Schwarzman, believed to own around 40 per cent of Blackstone, stands to score a financial windfall from the IPO, the most eagerly anticipated flotation on Wall Street since Google in 2004. Under Schwarzman, Blackstone has emerged as the Goliath of the secretive private equity industry and its forthcoming IPO has set Wall Street abuzz.

SVG Capital	LSE	£292.05m	210.00p	-17.00p
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Further private equity floats predicted			01/05/2007