Not-So-Super Returns?

Perhaps the Super Return conference, currently ongoing in Dubai, should search for a more appropriate name?

In a poll at the beginning of the conference, 56 percent of participants said the markets had not yet reached a bottom, but thought it was close.

Asked what private equity returns would be this year, 27 percent said “zero” and another 27 percent said “between 5 percent and 10 percent.” With the target typically 20 percent, that’s far from the superior returns investors demand from private equity firms.

Middle East investors are being hurt by the global crisis but are hungry for deal opportunites. Views from big U.S. names such as Henry Kravis and David Rubenstein are keenly anticipated in the coming days. Providence’s Jonathan Nelson, originally set to speak on Monday, cancelled.