Indeed, a case like Centro is bread and butter for private...

Indeed, a case like Centro is bread and butter for private equity. The raison d'etre of private equity is to buy into exactly this kind of situation.

I was not in touch with the market on the day Centro first got sold down hard. But I guess in the frenzy, everyone just sells. It's the stockmarket equivalent of that dated adage "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM". It's the conversative, cover your arse choice, to sell down on the initial panic.

Uninformed punters read the press and think this is another Enron (financial sleight of hand and no real money inside the company) or another RAMS. So they all sell too, exactly at the wrong time.