I cannot agree with any of your summation. I worked in a private equity company and in fact I still have great friends in the businesses we invested in and sold off. A few did fail but often it was the people managing the business that was flawed.
A few don't end up the way the internal management and staff had hoped for but that is life. I woke up one day to find out we had been sold in Frankfurt and the new boss would arrive that evening ... Such is life.
There are real skills that can be taught to management teams about money , frugality and getting the best value out of shareholders funds. I think the time I worked in a company owned by a private equity company really made that real. Whilst the other staff got their salary each month I had to phone and report on progress, cash flow and draw down funds ( to pay salaries mostly) whilst we were unprofitable - always a very uncomfortable moment. Thankfully that changed and I ended up working in one later.
In fact almost all the businesses we were involved in carried on and in a number of cases were sold off to management or other larger businesses. Those that went the MBO route actually run great businesses and are often approached as people see the quality and value of the business.
Like every industry there are other models that I would not like to follow.
As regards AJX - why hold if you see the train-smash coming. I do agree this could be the biggest scam I have been invested in but I certainly dont have the feeling that it is and if I felt like you state you are - assuming you are not spoofing us - I would sell when the market opened.
AJX Price at posting:
52.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)