Banks to be the ‘new private equity’ as companies admit defeat on loans

Banks will own tracts of the corporate landscape as firms suffer in the downturn, PricewaterhouseCoopers has warned.

As New Star, the fund manager led by John Duffield, was forced give its banks a 75 per cent equity stake after struggling to meet debt obligations, Hugh Brown, head of debt advisory at PWC, said banks would become the “new private equity”. He added: “Retail is particularly vulnerable. But no sector is immune.”