Timing is everything in business. Platinum Equity, a private equity firm with an excellent track record of buying distressed companies, applying its operational expertise to the ailing businesses, and then turning them around, finds the timing is again right to make deals.

As Mary Ann Sigler, CFO of the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based company, points out, few distressed businesses looked to sell their underperforming assets during the downturn. With the economy in an upswing, more of these businesses are now on the block. Not that Platinum Equity waited on the sidelines during the worst of the recession. It acquired 14 companies in 2009 while other PE firms twiddled their thumbs. Still, that's nothing compared to its appetite this past December, when it feasted on four companies in a single month. T&R asked Sigler to elaborate on the recent uptick in deals.

T&R: What a difference a year makes, yes? Sigler: We're seeing some of the same opportunities we saw during the recession, just more of them. There are a lot of distressed companies in Chapter 7 and Chapter 11. During the recession, not many people were willing to let go of their businesses. You don't want to be the one who sold in the trough–you don't want to become famous for that unless you're totally up against the wall. Since a lot of what we buy are carve-outs and parts of other businesses, a company that wants to get rid of underperforming assets wants to be sure they don't sell in the trough since buyers have the ability to second-guess you.