This article uses earlier debates on managerial capitalism to set up and explore questions about the role and possible effects of fee-earning capital market intermediaries in present day capitalism. The question then becomes whether a new group of actors (the capital market intermediaries) have taken a new leading role in the economy, in part by constraining the discretionary power of an old group of actors, the salaried corporate managers. A broader analysis of the new group of intermediaries makes two key points: first, business models in activities such as investment banking, corporate law and private equity all generate substantial rewards for senior intermediaries; second, the different agendas of these different groups have the net effect of encouraging an economy of permanent restructuring. The conclusion highlights differences between the managerial revolution and the rise of new intermediaries, while noting the role of this new group in an economy of permanent restructuring.Capital Market Intermediaries, Managerial Capitalism, Investment Banking, Private Equity, Corporate Restructuring, The City,

This article argues that, during the 2002—7 conjuncture, private equity was levered on capital, not labour. During this period of rapid up-scaling the sources of the gains were variable and included financial engineering and windfall trading gains. In general terms, the favourable conditions of cheap and available debt meant that restructuring at the expense of employment conditions was not a necessary, or even important, part of all private equity deals. The first half of the article reviews the narrative and numbers on the employment effects of private equity, highlighting the counter claims of different narrative positions and the heterogeneous nature of the evidence. The second part of the article presents an alternative view of private equity, arguing that the change in conjuncture after the credit crunch that began in 2007 will mean that different sources of gain become more important.

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