The lucky, the unlucky and the abundantly blessed

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First, the lucky: with Covid-19 decimating real recreational businesses while boosting virtual online activity, it’s hard not to admire the lucky timing of vendors in the hotel and hospitality industry during last year’s M&A frenzy. In the now struggling pub sector, the winner’s curse befell Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s richest man, who acquired Greene King for an eye-watering £4.6bn, including debt, while TDR Capital’s private equity-owned Stonegate Pub Company took over Ei Group for a hefty £1.3bn. Both great leisure businesses, but very hard – or near impossible – to make a return in these surreal, socially distanced times.

Similarly, in the events and conferences business, the canny Neville Buch, who built and sold Blenheim Exhibitions to United News & Media in the 1990s, sold Tarsus, his second successful exhibitions venture, to Charterhouse private equity in 2019. Lucky timing, or perfect timing? I suspect it was the 11th year of the longest bull market and record levels of global debt that made this ...