Condensed summary of remarks to the annual meeting of National Association of Small Business Investment Companies (NASBIC), Palm Beach, Florida, October 17, 2006

Bob Sherlock, The ProAction Group, Chicago

Not long ago, we worked with a well-positioned, private equity-owned manufacturer whose innovative products had grown revenues significantly in the past few years. The company had been profitable until the prior year, when it ran into what management called “The Perfect Storm.” In the same year, they encountered three

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Debt Problems on the Horizon

Conventional wisdom is that loose credit is fueling the buyout boom. Dealogic reports that there have been more than $72 billion of buyouts for less than $1 billion. Some of these will have debt problems. We don’t know how many, we don’t know when, and we don’t know how severe the debt problems will be.

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2007 Logistics Trends

Private equity firms that invest in logistics businesses face some significant market challenges in 2007.

Following several strong years of conditions favoring logistics providers, several key segments of the logistics market are shifting to the buyers’ advantage in 2007. Demand is softening for many modes of transportation, following recent capacity increases. Furthermore, fuel prices continue to be a major cost for logistics providers and have not stabilized.

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