Why only now Mr. Pessina?

We read with interest that an 'energetic' Stefano Pessina now 'puts spring in step at Boots'.
The question we would like to ask is why is it only after buying out the public shareholders of Boots that the man in charge of the business is able to manage the company the way he thinks is right. In the article he even admits that Alliance Boots is still being run 'as if it were a UK-quoted company'. We just cannot believe that it is beyond the capability of any skilled top manager worth his salt to manage a listed company properly.
We suspect that MBO's and LBO's are mainly a way to divert the profits of a company to a changed set of owners. If the incumbent management is a beneficiary of a buy-out we urge shareholders - or their agents (the institutional fund managers) to be extra vigilant and refuse to ratify a sell-out. It will always be much cheaper to install new management if the existing management is unable or unwilling to put in the effort to make the business perform well.