Under the microscope_英文原版

regulators put buy-out firms under scrutiny, but market forces may well be a tougher challenge for this booming investment sector

first it was hedge funds, now private-equity firms. from the executive suites of europe's biggest companies to the bureaucratic cubicles of washington, , there are growing calls for stricter oversight of buy-out firms, which lately have marched from one big takeover to another. the most recent (though failed) bold stroke—a €40 billion ($51 billion) offer for vivendi of france by kohlberg kravis roberts—has galvanised critics, who claim good corporate citizens are under siege.

now the regulators are weighing in. on november 6th britain's financial services authority () issued the first in-depth review of private equity by a top supervisory body. its preliminary conclusions are that the biggest buy-out firms and their lenders deserve closer surveillance in several areas, but pose no broad risk to the financial system. the european central bank has also voiced concern over the growing exposure of banks to debt-hungry buy-out vehicles; but it, too, sees no cause for panic.