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World Service,25 Aug 2010,18 mins

Is private equity misleading investors?

Business Daily

Available for over a year

A fierce new debate has been stirred up about private equity, an industry which buys up under-performing companies to run them better and sell them on again at a profit. Questions have been raised about whether private equity firms are actually making as much money for their investors as they claim. They come in a controversial report from the British think-tank, the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation. Its author, former banker Peter Morris, explains his concerns about the size of private equity fees, and the way that financial returns are expressed. Lesley Curwen puts these concerns to private equity boss, Jon Moulton, who is the chairman of Better Capital. He agrees that some members of the industry have "over-stated their case" and says "private equity is struggling to show that it's a really seriously superior activity." Plus our technology commentator Jeremy Wagstaff announces that "books are dead" and the e-book is the future of reading.

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