The private equity put is no more. Now we must rely on the sovereign wealth fund put.

A put option confers the right to sell a stock for a fixed price: it is protection against a fall in the market. Traders talked about the “private equity put” during the bull market in credit. It was so easy for private equity funds to finance buy-outs that they came to be regarded as virtual put options. If companies were doing badly, that just made them likelier candidates to be taken out.