Helping an investor cash out of a gummed-up buyout fund used to be a niche business. Now it’s mainstream. So-called secondary funds, which offer to buy unwanted private equity holdings, have become widely accepted.

Calling your business a burning platform is, in most cases, a stupid thing to do. The idea is to scare staff into performing better and prepare an underperforming organization for painful layoffs. But it can just make things worse.

Spare a thought for the other AT1 crowd — not investors in Additional Tier 1 securities extinguished in Credit Suisse Group AG’s rescue, but shareholders in Aroundtown SA, the Frankfurt-listed property firm with the same stock-market ticker.

This should be the time when forward-thinking bosses can launch a takeover without having to fight a counterbid from a private equity firm, and hopefully end up paying a sensible price.

It’s a deal which until recently was hard to imagine. Buying Albertsons Cos. triggers major antitrust risks for any of its obvious industry suitors.

Poor-performing chief executives can sleep a little easier. Bill Ackman, one of the world’s best-known investors, has all but ruled out future activist campaigns in favor of a lower-key approach to influencing portfolio companies. That’s a commendable investment stance. But efficient capital markets still need the odd rabble rouser.