Many are now looking hard at Japan, following the success of Ripplewood and Christopher Flowers in buying Shinsei Bank out of bankruptcy, cleaning it up and floating it.
Better yet, what they really need to do is identify an entirely new mobile buying constituency like 1-800 Flowers did a few years ago (more on that in a moment).
Refco's holding company filed for bankruptcy protection late Monday night, and the firm announced the sale of its key futures-trading business to an investment group led by Christopher Flowers , a former Goldman Sachs investment banker who has made a new career of buying distressed financial companies and turning them around.