(Bloomberg) — EQT AB, Europe’s biggest listed private equity firm, saw $2 billion wiped off its market value on Monday after analysts at Nordea Bank cut their recommendation on the stock to sell.
“We believe growth rates are mathematically bound to slow down,” the analysts said in a research note, sending the share price down as much as 6.4% during early trading in Stockholm.
They added “the market has got carried away” and pointed to an implicit cost of equity for EQT that is only 3% while those of its peers are in the range of 8% to 14%.
The move comes amid a frenzy of deal making in the private equity industry as funds increasingly bid against each other, which is driving up prices for assets as they rush to spend their records amount of capital.
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