Pandemic Turns Europe’s Private Equity Dealmakers Into Rescuers

For private equity firms, the Covid-19 pandemic turned a record buying binge into an industry-wide panic, upending a lucrative business model and turning dealmakers into rescuers overnight.

It’s left investors like Cinven, Blackstone Group Inc., Permira and KKR & Co. rushing to set up financial lifelines for their European holdings, providing emergency loans or buying debt back off the companies they own. In some cases, firms are asking their limited partners for funds to plug liquidity shortfalls -- money that should have been deployed for deals.

Economic shutdowns across entire nations have transformed portfolios of prized assets into ...