The Super Return conference draws its name and much of its mythology from happier times in the world of private equity. In previous years partners in the largest American buy-out firms are said to have raced their private jets across the Atlantic. At this year's conference in Berlin there were few signs of such extravagance-just one lonely Bentley was parked out front. Unlike the years in which the assembled buy-out barons crowed about their mind-boggling profits, this year they were warning that few should expect any return at all.rnYet a more ominous pall hangs over the industry, and the firms they have bought, than the prospect of investors losing some of their money. A large number of companies it bought in recent years look as if they are about to go to the wall.
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