And let's be completely frank: private equity is winning these auctions not just because it is more aggressive than strategic buyers.

"This is a strategic buyer, Nine West, that wants to buy the shoe business and let us as shareholders participate in the future upside."

This is not the first time that the collapse of a market has brought the large strategic buyers out of the woodwork.

And there are plenty of logical, strategic buyers.

He argued that, if it happened, Westinghouse would be "a good strategic buyer."

This unique strategy means the firm often acts more like a strategic buyer of companies than a financial buyer.

"They are not a strategic buyer who will integrate it with another business," he said.

The term is used by both private equity and venture capital investors and by strategic buyers.

But with the stock markets still uncertain, selling outright to a strategic buyer seemed a surer route, analysts said.

Instead, venture capitalists have been forced increasingly to rely on sales to strategic buyers for an exit of their investment.