It's easily the bottom of the barrel type recovery.

Although historically private equity has been a net gain for struggling businesses that would otherwise go out of business.

There was tons of anti PE stuff after the financial crisis and they received some of the earlier and harshest attacks from congress and other groups, but the data didn't support the idea they were some corporate raiding vultures and far more often turned around ventures in precarious positions.

But ultimately its not something you go to when they are going well. Unless there is some obvious value add consolidation scheme.

They could just as well be buying it as a platform for their portfolio, and look to buy more similar companies to consolidate. PE is more than just buying struggling companies, it’s often buying fairly valued companies in a fast growing sector, and then expanding them, or finding ways to cut costs.