The Asset Class

Private equity has quietly taken control of the foundations of everyday life, spreading insecurity and ‘enshittifying’ everything from coffee shops to care homes. O’Brien reveals its arcane dynamics by telling the stories of the fascinating - and often unscrupulous - characters at its heart. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the secretive industry at the heart of our broken economic model – GRACE BLAKELEY, author of VULTURE CAPITALISMThe story of how money to fund housing, social care and hospitals was captured by the few. We should call this what it is: a legalised smash-and-grab raid on public infrastructure whilst governments, many bought with donations, sat and watched. A wild and engaging ride – JOLYON MAUGHAM, author of Bringing Down GoliathA brilliant and penetrating analysis exposing the larceny that powers the private equity industry. This rollicking tale uncovers tricks that are ultimately so simple and brazen that the mind is repelled, and in the process shows a great undertow sapping our economies and feeding public rage – NICHOLAS SHAXSON, author of THE FINANCE CURSEThe Asset Class shows you who really rules the world, then it shows them fracking your granny. Read it if you want to know who precisely is to blame for, well, everything – OLIVER BULLOUGH, author of EVERYBODY LOVES OUR DOLLARSA riveting account of how the Machiavellian men of private finance reveled in the labels of apex beasts. However, so often, as O’Brien forensically documents, there was corruption and deceit at play. As the returns evaporate, as the scandals multiply, The Asset Class deftly lifts the curtain on a murky world of greed and destruction – DANNY DORLING, author of SHATTERED NATIONCombining muckraking with moral clarity, Hettie O’Brien tells an utterly original story about how private equity targets people at their most vulnerable, sniffing out weakness to splinter what is left of the postwar social democratic order. Illuminating and infuriating – QUINN SLOBODIAN, author of HAYEK’S BASTARDSA brilliant analysis of how private equity has come to dominate key parts of our economies, capturing value from the public while evading responsibility for the risks and costs it creates. O’Brien critically shows how this model of financialised capitalism has undermined the real economy, eroded accountability, weakened the public sector and diminished democratic oversight. A powerful and necessary book – MARIANA MAZZUCATO, author of THE VALUE OF EVERYTHINGWhen Hettie O’Brien investigates, the apex predators of the global economy should rest a little less easy on their Learjets. The Asset Class is part compelling wake-up call and part financial thriller. It informs and inspires fundamental change in equal, elegant measures – SHAMI CHAKRABARTI, barrister and human rights activistA superbly vivid journey through what deserves to be one of the greatest scandals of our age. The Asset Class shows we cannot understand the turbulence and injustice of the present without understanding private equity – WILLIAM DAVIES, author of NERVOUS STATESThe Asset Class is a riveting page-turner; it reads like a thriller that is also deeply educational and masterfully accessible. I will be recommending it to anyone - my students, colleagues, family - who wants to make sense of the murky new owners of their university halls, place of work or utilities provider – ROSIE COLLINGTON, author of THE BIG CONIn this truly brilliant and deeply disturbing analysis, Hettie O’Brien opens our eyes to the destructive forces of leveraged finance and the investors whose fortunes keep rising thanks to their embrace by governments” – KATHARINA PISTOR, author of THE CODE OF CAPITALThis book provides an excellent account of private equity - how it emerged, spread like wildfire, and eventually stalled - through the stories of the individuals that built the system. More than a tale of financial engineering, it describes how our economies lost their way and surrendered the fate of ordinary people to speculative greed – DANI RODRIK, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of GovernmentPulls back the curtain on a predatory form of finance that is ruining services, goods, lives, and countries. In clear, jargon-free prose, Hettie O’Brien provides shocking stories, lucid explanation, and an urgent call to action. A must-read for anyone who wants to understand how this Frankenstein form of finance stacked the deck against the rest of us – NANCY MACLEAN, author of DEMOCRACY IN CHAINSMeticulously reported and clearly written … You might need a long walk to calm down after reading it – DAN DAVIES, author of THE UNACCOUNTABILITY MACHINE

Hettie O’Brien is a journalist at the Guardian, where she writes for the Guardian Long Read. She previously worked at the New Statesman and as a reporter in Washington covering the Federal Trade Commission. She lives in London.