An article by Forward magazine (published by the Metals Service Center Institute) looked at Platinum Equity -a private equity firm relatively well-known in the distribution industry for its investment in Strategic Distribution and bid for Industrial Distribution Group. It also owns Ryerson Inc. and recently sold PNA Group to Reliance Steel and Aluminum. While much of the article is focused on how well Platinum has done in the metals industry and how its operating model is different from other private equity firms, it does provide a decent glimpse into how it approaches investments. For one, Platinum has tended to look at moves its makes much …