Lewis Bantin of ECI Partners on value creation through operational improvementp

During the boom years, private equity funds had access to cheap debt and ran amok, buying up huge companies with vast amounts of leverage in order to drive returns. Fast forward to 2010 and the private equity industry, as well as the rest of the world, is coping with the effects of one the worst recessions to hit since the Great Depression. Today, lenders are not laissez faire about their financing covenants and are far stricter with the levels of debt they are willing to offer.

Lewis Bantin from ECI Partners sat down with AltAssets to discuss what funds can do to create value by making operational improvements within their portfolio companies, as opposed to relying on money from banks.