The 1980s are officially over, as far as private equity is concerned.
The industry’s lobbying group, the Private Equity Growth Capital Council, has released an educational video portraying buyout firms as friendly business partners that give struggling companies a helping hand.
Absent is any trace of the swagger that the private equity industry projected in its heyday. Instead, with animated whiteboard drawings and an upbeat soundtrack, the video makes the industry appear wholesome.
In one scene, there’s even a beaming cartoon sun — with a smiley face.
It’s the latest salvo in a public relations campaign by the lobbying group, coming amid political attacks on the industry that have centered on Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital. A recent video, highlighting Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’s investment in Rockwood Holdings, which makes components for batteries, featured Rockwood executives extolling the benefits of private equity ownership.
This time, the group has broadened its focus, aiming to educate viewers about the industry as a whole. The result of a private equity buyout, the narrator says, is a “growing company, new jobs, better products and economic benefits that ripple throughout the U.S. economy.”
“That’s private equity at work,” continues the narrator, as the music strikes a satisfying chord.