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The withdrawal of a $1.65 billion takeover bid for national retailer, David Jones, has bought to a close one of the most bizarre chapters in the company’s 174-year history.

Private equity has performed poorly in old retail. There’s no reason why it will do any better as the sector faces major change.

Private equity firms on Wall Street have a current piggy bank of around US$500 billion and nowhere for it to go. But they need to make some deals, because if they don’t invest the money quickly, they’ll have to return it to their clients.

The emerging stoush between the Australian Tax Office and the former private equity owners of Myer should warm the cockles of the hearts of every long-suffering Australian taxpayer.

The advent of Annex Funds are an admission that the private equity model is broken beyond repair and it’s desperate times for the likes of KKR, Apollo and Cerberus.

The majority of private equity floats of recent years have been disastrous for shareholders, writes Adam Schwab.

Less than two years ago, private equity was the new black, but the collapse of Australian Discount Retail indicates its reign is all but over, writes Adam Schwab.

Here’s a deal that will send a chill down the balance sheets of certain Australian and Canadian media companies which did deals with private equity groups in 2007, writes Glenn Dyer.

UK retailer Debenhams is suffering, as are the private equiteers who own it. The really bad news is, there Australian companies stepping into the same leaky boat, writes Glenn Dyer.

It’s not hard to understand why Lachlan Murdoch can’t get $1.2 billion for his $3.3 billion Consolidated Media play. The bid only benefits one person: James Packer, writes Glenn Dyer.

There is no more conflicted a transaction as when insiders (specifically, senior management) team with financial backers to acquire a company. That is because management are employed by the very people they are purchasing the asset from. Despite best intentions, it is a conflict that seems impossible to reconcile.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back and put in new share orders… comes a report from the IMF that the private equity market is at much at risk of a meltdown as the sub-prime mortgage market, with potentially greater consequences for global investment.

The highlights and lowlights of this morning’s sharemarket activity.

One would be hard-pressed to find a better example of how not to run a business than the sorry saga of Australian Pharmaceutical Industries, owner of Priceline, Price Attack and Soul Pattinson.

Reading much of the commentary by various Australian financial market commentators about the genius of private equity and their seeming insatiable appetite for snapping up Australian companies often reminds me of the story of the fawning courtiers around King Canute who told the King he could even command the sea.