Capstone Partners: PE rollups more disciplined than 1990s wave

Ted Polk of Capstone Partners contrasts the failed 1990s public-company rollup strategy with today's more surgical private-equity approach.

““There was a rollup strategy in the 1990s that were employed by several companies that went public. They grabbed five companies to make a bigger company and take advantage of buying power and shared marketing,” Polk said. “It was not handled well and was a black eye on acquisitions. It was not as well thought through as private equity is doing today. They learned from what happened and are much more surgical now. They are thinking things through up front.””

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