This seems like a "man bites dog" sort of headline: Private equity executives are warning that buyout firms are saddling their portfolio companies with too much debt.

It's ironic to say the least. Joseph Schull, European head of US private equity group Warburg Pincus, told the Financial Times that his industry should not repeat mistakes made during its heyday in 2006 and 2007, when some companies were bought with excessive loan packages.

"Memories are short - this is all I am going to say," Schull was quoted as saying. "The fact that a company can be acquired with a lot of leverage today does not mean that it will create a lot of value in the next five years."

The article also notes the words of Howard Marks, chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, in a note to clients last week."In most regards the capital markets - and investors' tolerance of risk - are retracing their steps back in the direction of the bubble-ish pre-crisis years."

It's likely too early tell if another bubble is building, given that the industry has yet to work through all the problems from the most recent bubble. For the most part, the game has changed for the better. But low rates mean debt is back in vogue at a lot of companies, especially at a time when investor demand for high-yield issues especially is strong.  So it wouldn't be surprising if debt multiples were to creep back up.

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-here's the article

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