Joseph Rice III, chairman and founder of US buyout firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice and guest speaker at the sixth annual Private Equity News awards held in London last week, warned that heads could roll before the industry weathered the current downturn which he acknowledged was a natural part of the economic cycle.

More than 200 executives from the industry attended the event at Banqueting House in London, the scene of Charles I’s execution. Law firm Proskauer Rose sponsored the awards.