The call of the continent

摘要

"Europe is behind Britain, which is behind America," says Johannes Huth, head of the European arm of Kohl-berg Kravis Roberts (KKR), an American private-equity firm making inroads on the continent. Whereas buy-out groups consider America a maturing market, they regard the old world, especially continental Europe, as a land of promise. Its cushioned corporate ways are particularly irresistible: the more padding there is to remove, the greater the potential rewards.