New York native Peter Georgiopoulos was one of shipping’s pioneers in building companies with help from private equity. But things changed a lot — and not for the better — between his start in the 1990s and his final experiences 20 years later.

Georgiopoulos laid out that transition with typical bluntness on Thursday at a Marine Money conference in Manhattan as he was interviewed on stage by another veteran of the investment wars, Scorpio Tankers president Robert Bugbee.