Anil Seetharam of Stockbridge compares how information availability and time pressure differ between private equity and public market diligence.
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“In the private equity business, the way it works is you have access to a data room. And you have a certain amount of time to understand as much as you can about a company with full access to the information and the management team. So if you were to use an analogy of a puzzle box, they hand you the puzzle box and put a clock next to it. In the public markets, they hand you a puzzle box, take about 90% of the information and throw it into the woods, but don't put a clock next to it.”
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AssertionNot checkable as stated
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