The IUF's Private Equity Buyout Watch

A new study of the employment impact of private equity ownership on US retailers documents the extent of debt-driven job destruction. Over the past decade some 600,000 jobs have been destroyed in the ‘Retail Apocalypse’. The multiplier effect on suppliers has meant the loss of over 700,000 additional indirect jobs. The job losses came at a time of overall employment expansion in the retail sector, but Wall Street investors wiped out 8 times more retail jobs than they created.

Continue reading "New study shows 1.3 million US jobs lost in US private equity’s ‘Retail Apocalypse’, with more on the way " »

Posted on August 12, 2019 11:04 AM | Permalink

Struggling under a mountain of acquisition-induced debt, the UK's Premier Foods is reportedly seeking a large cash injection from private equity investors in order to shore up its wobbly capital structure and avoid breaching loan covenants.

Continue reading "Debt Drives Premier Foods, Largest UK Food Group, into the Arms of…Private Equity" »

Posted on January 13, 2009 04:35 PM | Permalink

Private-equity owned Burger King, the world's second largest restaurant chain (over 11,200 units in 65 countries), adamantly opposes an agreement which would see Florida farm workers receive one extra US cent for every pound of tomatoes purchased by the fast food giant.

Continue reading "Penny a Basket for Tomato Pickers Too Much for PE-Owned Burger King" »

Posted on December 12, 2007 03:15 PM | Permalink

Domino's Pizza, the US-based pizza delivery giant with operations in 55 countries, claims to have discovered a new financial tool: heavy leverage to fund share buybacks and dividends.

Continue reading "Learning from the Locusts: "Newly Discovered Financial Tool" Powers Buybacks, Dividends for Multinational Pizza Chain" »

Posted on July 30, 2007 05:51 PM | Permalink

Cadbury-Schweppes' projected sell off it's US drinks division to private equity appears to be advancing on schedule, following the March demerger of the two divisions.

Continue reading "Cadbury US Beverages Sale to "Unlock" Shareholder Windfall " »

Posted on May 29, 2007 03:45 PM | Permalink

"Burger King Corp.'s private equity backers are looking to king-size their returns from the chain ahead of its initial public offering, with plans to collect a $400 million dividend, according to Moody's Investors Services. The payout would put the investors - Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners - in the black on their investment, as they are believed to have injected $325 million in equity during the $1.5 billion purchase of Burger King in 2002."

Read more.... "Burger King holders plan whopper dividend: Moody's says private equity backers will collect $400 million before taking fast-food chain public", CNNMoney.com (2 Feb 2006)

Continue reading "Burger King pays out whopper US$400 million dividend for Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital & Goldman Sachs Capital Partners" »

Posted on February 21, 2007 02:04 PM | Permalink

“Private-equity outfits have been snapping up companies like there's no tomorrow. Now, a trio of investment firms, including storied Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, has topped all others. With a record $33 billion bid, including $11.7 billion of debt, the firms said on July 24 that they would take over HCA (HCA ), the nation's largest hospital chain. The price tag surpasses the record holder, KKR's $31.4 billion buyout of RJR Nabisco, a 1989 deal described in the book and film Barbarians at the Gate.”

Continue reading: 'Barbarians At The Gate II ', BusinessWeek (US), 7 August, 2006.

See the background and links about Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco, by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar about KKR's leveraged buout of RJR Nabisco in 1988. The book was the basis for the film, Barbarians at the Gate, released in 1993.

Posted on February 6, 2007 10:47 AM | Permalink