In Australia, at least, all private equity funds are not created equal. By some accounts, the industry is booming, specifically in offerings made by some of the big movers and shakers, but listed private equity funds are turning out to be something of a bust. The Age reports that, regardless of their strategies, Macquarie Capital Alliance Group and Babcock & Brown Capital are down 10.5% and 23% from their initial capitalizations, while Allco Equity Partners is 30% off from its high. All three, according to The Age, have gone down the path of negative returns while employing different approaches: MCAG, for example, invested $1 billion in eight different businesses in different sectors in different countries, while BBC is scrambling for something positive after putting nearly all its eggs in one deal. Allco, says The Age, is struggling to make it big by seeking out listed companies as an activist shareholder. The bottom line is, none of these funds has made a cent for their investors, and the trouble may not be with their strategies, but their business model. Craig Aspinall of Grange Securities told The Age: “There’s a big J-curve with private equity,” Aspinall said, noting that it could take five to seven years for a company that starts from scratch to get up and running.