The issue of transparency in the private equity industry raised its head in a panel session moderated by Fortune Magazine's editor-at-large Bethany McLean on Thursday at the ACG InterGrowth conference in Phoenix.
Bill Walton, chief executive of Allied Capital, and Michael Queen, managing partner and head of infrastructure of London's 3i, told a packed ballroom attending a panel titled The Changing Faces of the Deal World, Part 1, that the buyout industry should be more pleased with the results of its acquisitions.
"We should be hugely proud of revitalizing the economy and businesses. It's not about stripping assets out, those days were 15 to 20 years ago," Queen said.
Allied Capital's Walton agreed, saying that if private equity firms don't better tackle the issue of transparency the U.S. buyout industry could come under political pressure not unlike that faced by its European counterparts.
Today's LBO world couldn't be more different from years past when the industry took heat for slashing jobs, cutting costs and leveraging companies to the hilt, according to the pair.
"This is about building businesses," Queen said, noting that concerns over secrecy were hampering the industry's chance to tell its story.
"This concern around secrecy is really missing an opportunity," he said.
Walton, who oversees the publicly traded Washington investment firm, concurred: "The message is great, we just need to get it out there."—Kelly Holman
Continue reading below
