In 2006, the private equity industry was in its “mega-buyout” phase. Low interest rates on borrowed funds, loosening lending standards by banks, and regulatory auditing legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act greatly increased investor confidence, leading to the biggest boom in the private equity industry since its inception. That year, private equity firms bought 654 U.S. companies for $375 billion, 18 times the number of transactions closed three years earlier. U.S. bas