What Can Legal Academics Add to the Debate About Private Equity?

In December 2015, Unite – Britain’s largest trade union – called on the UK government to investigate the ‘secretive machinations of private equity firms’ following the near-collapse of Fairline Boats, a Northamptonshire yacht-builder employing well over 400 people.1 Unite’s demands were not new: as the economic influence of private equity firms has increased in Europe over the last few decades, so have the calls from unions, politicians and the media for regulators to intervene.