Circle of friends

Dow Jones newswires has an interesting story (subs. req’d) about the negotiations for a capital infusion for Irish banks.  There’s a quote from a government spokesman complaining about all the people who are complaining about the private equity interest in the banks –

There has been a rush to criticise private investors as vulture funds. But Ireland has always been open to private investment which has significantly benefitted the public in the past

That’s a mixing of past direct investments in Ireland (e.g. to build and operate a factory) with the type of investment being considered here, where Eircom provides an unhappy precedent.  The article also says that another private equity group has entered negotiations — London-based Apax partners.  They thus join the faux-Irish named Mallabraca (as if Eircom was helped by the name of one round of owners being Valentia), and the more curious interest from the institutional fund managers group (curious because their bid sounds like it would be done with other people’s money).  Finally, the article says that one major hurdle is lining up the financing needed to buy the banks, because the size of a deal means that any loan would have to come from a foreign bank — whose host government might wonder why one of their banks is taking on a risky Irish loan.  Finally, one potential investor is not mentioned: the National Pension Reserve Fund.  Based on today’s share price, it would buy all of Anglo-Irish with less than half the money it gets from the budget just this year.