Exit by Stealth: TPG Completes Sale of Gate Gourmet
According to a March 2 Reuters report, "A day after Texas Pacific Group [TPG.UL] joined other powerful private equity houses in a call for more transparency, the firm's mystery sell-off of Gate Gourmet reveals just how much work the industry has ahead of it. TPG, which bought the airline catering firm in late 2002 from Swissair, has quietly reduced its stake in the business over the past year without any disclosure, selling the last piece to Merrill Lynch on Thursday."
At the time of its acquistion by TPG in 2002, the airline caterer employed 25,000 workers. TPG immediately launched an aggressive drive for steep reductions in payrolls, wages and benefits involving closures and assaults on union rights. According to the Reuters report, the company today employs "about" 20,000 people.