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December 7, 2006
Carlyle CEO Comments on Private Equity and China
A brief link this morning to the Financial Times, which interviews David Rubenstein, CEO of the private equity firm, Carlyle, of interest because of the firm's extensive movements in China.
[NB: He speaks in as flat a tone as one has ever heard with virtually no inflection, creating the impression of stability in emotion and consistency in thought. However, each comment thus appears to be of equal value in the listener's mind. It is rather difficult to understand him from anything but a rationalist's perspective -- essentially cutting away a vast swath of potential information about the speaker and the subject of his talk.]
In the interview, Mr. Rubenstein notes the firm's great interest in purchasing privatized SOEs (state-owned enterprises), which, he believes, will decrease to a mere 100 from 200,000, either wholly or partially divested by the state. This statement tends to supplement the quote of Sean He, a managing director of the firm, said recently that publicly that ""We are very interested in private companies in China, which are very different from state-owned companies, from their business scope to management level." But one wonders the extent to which central, provincial and local governments will divest profitable SOEs, given the revenue they bring into the public coffers.
Of interest to attorneys, Mr. Rubenstein expressed an interest in limiting suits against American corporations. One would like him to expand on this idea, indeed.
Once again, my criticism reaches out to the FT editors. Yet another interview of an older white male business leader well established in the Western corporate community -- can't FT find anyone who doesn't fit this mold to comment on the week's news?
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