White Knight Or Great White Shark?

There's a recurrent theme in ace investor Warren Buffett's communications to shareholders of his holding company Berkshire Hathaway a disdain for private equity (PE) firms. From accusing PE firms of charging unreasonable management fees to alleging that they are "lying a little bit to make the money come in", Buffett is one of the biggest critics of PE investors.

Before 2016/17, Indian promoters too felt the same way. "Bringing them onboard is akin to signing a slavery bond," the CFO of a large auto component firm had once said.

That perception is changing. With the economic slowdown hurting earnings of companies, traditional sources of capital drying up and debt rising, PE firms are now the only silver lining for cash starved Indian companies. Once confined to funding smaller promoters, start ups and IT firms, PE investors are now getting board seats on some of India's top tier companies, including government owned entities. And they are here to stay.

Canadian investment firm Brookfield Asset Management has inked a deal to invest Rs 25,215 crore ($3.66 billion) in Reliance Industries's telecom tower assets in the single biggest PE