Australia to investigate buyout world, will BCE deal stir copycat move here?

One more example that overly successful capitalism is testing the relationship between the haves and the have-nots, the pending Qantas Airline takeover has prompted the Australian Senate Economics Committee to “investigate the impact of private equity groups on the economy and the risks they may pose to investors”, according to FT. Don’t forget that the U.S. DOJ is trying to figure out if Private Equity club deals represent collusion or fair play.

With the KKR/BCE going-private rumour out this am, one of our readers asked this morning: how long before the Liberals/BQ launch a similar House of Commons Committee inquiry in Ottawa? All of the grumpy seniors that missed out on BCE’s income trust conversion will now get their golden egg in a different form.

Who thinks the Federal Minister of Industry Maxime Bernier cares a whit about foreign ownership of telephone lines? Pas moi.

MRM