Big is quite beautiful

The race for scale in private equity continues apace. Permira is the latest firm to join the ranks of the «supermajors», having assembled commitments for an E11bn fund. It is also the first European one. Much ink has been spilled over the question of why buyout shops are loading up with so much cash. The voguish answer is that they need to go after bigger targets because there is simply too much competition in the mid-market sector. Maybe. But that is the sort of logic that led Kohlberg Kravis ...