Put the bons mots of Guy Hands end to end and they stretch further than the declarations of all other private equity executives put together. Compared with the rest of a notoriously cagey group, Mr Hands – chief executive of UK-based Terra Firma Capital Partners – sings like a canary, and his confessions from inside the industry are often about as popular as those of the average police informer. His latest outspoken comments touch on the sensitive area of general partners’ income, which he predicts could fall by three-quarters in the wake of the credit crunch.

Obviously, in tougher times, buy-out firms will take longer to raise funds and longer to invest them. They are likely to have to hold their investments for longer, too. At the same time, we hear credit is scarce. That means a higher proportion of equity will be used to fund deals.