It was somewhat ironic to see Jon Moulton, the head of buyout house Alchemy, commenting on the ethics of private equity houses buying back debt in portfolio companies on the same day as it emerged that his company itself owned equity and debt in struggling UK retailer Floors-2-Go.

Moulton’s comments in the Financial Times warned of legal and ethical problems of buying debt in portfolio companies, centring on the potential conflict issue as well as the fact that returns on offer were not amazing.