Good news for everyone worried that their favourite High Street retailer is about to be snaffled up by a ruthless Wall Street predator, is that the private equity industry looks as if it is running for cover.
Boss of the biggest of them all, Steve Schwarzman of Blackstone, says he's looking to go public after years of pooh-poohing public ownership.
Schwarzman, it seems, has sensed the peak of the private equity boom, and wants to get his money out.
The only way to put a value on his holding in Blackstone is to get a public valuation for the company.
So, years of principled opposition to the public markets have faded in the wake of the new Asian Contagion, Greenspan's warnings and stock market weakness.
But many of us might suffer a change of mind if it helped us cash in to the tune of $8 billion.
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