The private equity industry is in for a consolidation that would leave a number of funds one can count on less than two hands. Speaking to the private equity summit in Munich, David Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group, compared what’s in store for PE to what happened to investment banks a half century ago. “If you counted the number of investment banks in New York and London in the 1950s, you’d probably find 250 and all privately owned,” Rubenstein said. “Now there are just a handful of global brands and they are all listed. After this current pause, you will find the same thing happening in private equity.” That would bring the number down to six or eight – and he says they would all not be American. “I think you will see in the future some of them will come from elsewhere to reflect the economic reality of the world,” leading some to speculate that one of those could be from China that has the backing of a deep-pocketed sovereign fund.