Something has clearly changed when family businesses refer to private equity as a good long-term partner. Two proposed delistings in Europe—of German publisher Axel Springer and Merlin Entertainments, the owner of Madame Tussauds waxwork museums and other attractions—show that buyout firms are getting better at appealing to families that still own significant stakes in many public companies. An...

Global consumer companies face an increasingly powerful frenemy as they move to reshape their portfolios: private equity. Some of the buyout industry’s biggest names, including Blackstone and CVC, are currently slugging it out against public companies Unilever and Beiersdorf to buy Nestlé’s multibillion-dollar skin health division. The business was put on the block last year as part of Chief Executive Mark Schneider’s turnaround of the Swiss food giant. ...