Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.

In financial markets the coin of the realm is returns; in politics it is power. Modern capital markets mediate competing claims for money and power among governments and businesses, savers and borrowers.

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But it was found during the course of this study that many middle-sized and small corporations had never heard of rug-ranking (while practicing it) or were convinced that it was strictly a Public Service concern.