Whither private equity, in the wake of its descent from a “golden age” to the dog house in a handful of months? Few businesses or individuals (save, perhaps, Bear Stearns or Eliot Spitzer, the former New York governor) have fallen so far, so quickly.

Since July, not a single private equity deal has been hatched above $4bn, and only $49bn of leveraged buyouts larger than $1bn have come forth. That is less than half the amount achieved in June 2007 alone. Not only are new deals scarce, a number of agreed deals that had not yet closed have hit the rocks, spawning recriminations and litigation.