Despite promising investors consistent and long-term performance, fewer than half the firms that led the US private equity industry a decade ago were still at the top last year. Some of the biggest names of the late 1990s, such as Forstmann Little and Cypress Group, have vanished from the big league, to be replaced by the likes of Goldman Sachs and Carlyle Group.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Blackstone and TPG Group head the list of those big names that have stayed the course. As the heads of firms privately admit, the industry is at an inflexion point after years of success. In 2005, Daniel DâAniello, founding partner and managing director of Carlyle Group, said private equity could be living through a golden age.
