Private equity players are, in general, a secretive bunch. Not so Jon Moulton.

The founder of Alchemy Partners, who shot to national prominence with his abortive attempt to buy Rover, has become an outspoken critic of the industry.

This may seem ironic, given that he was portrayed by unions and politicians as a ruthless asset-stripper when he tried to buy Rover from BMW in 2000.

His bid failed, largely because he was outspoken about the need for job cuts. The consortium that beat him to the car company ran it into the ground before it collapsed in 2005 with about 5,000 redundancies.

When Mr Moulton, 57, addresses the Commons Treasury Select Committee tomorrow, he is expected to be characteristically blunt in his assessment of the theme - Financial Stability and Transparency.

The native of Stoke-on-Trent has done his best to fulfil the image of a plain-spoken man from Britain's industrial heartland and Alchemy is one of the few private equity companies to publish a full set of accounts at Companies House.

Mr Moulton is aware that his industry is perceived as full of rich capitalist swine.

He has criticised it in the past for abusing Britain's tax regime and individuals for registering abroad for tax purposes, two of very few points on which he might find himself in agreement with the average reader of the Socialist Worker.

He was also one of the first to give warning that the private equity bubble could burst last year. Furthermore, he has savaged the industry body for publishing questionable statistics in an effort to bolster the sector's battered image.

As a child, a series of illnesses, including tuberculosis and aplastic anaemia, a bone marrow disease, fed his desire to be a scientist.

He studied chemistry at Lancaster University, but then decided that there was more money to be made in finance. After training as a chartered accountant with Coopers & Lybrand, he moved to their New York office in 1978, where he was tempted into the arms of private equity.

Mr Moulton returned to the UK in 1981 and set up CVC's British unit before joining Schroder Ventures (now the private equity group Permira) in 1985. After a short time at Apax Partners, he set up Alchemy Partners in 1997, hoping to turn base companies into golden returns

His penchant for speaking his mind in public was visible early on, when, as a callow 20-year-old, he appeared on the BBC's Panorama to complain about the Government's treatment of the British chemicals industry.

In February, he popped up on screen again when he presented a stinging critique of investment banks' role in the credit crunch for Dispatches. With his address to the Treasury Select Committee tomorrow, Mr Moulton will once more return to the public arena.

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