Vulture Capitalism at its finest...

PE firms pay $166M to settle Mervyn’s claims

In 2004, the PE firms, along with real-estate investors Lubert-Adler and Klaff Partners, led a $1.26 billion buyout of the chain. They saw value in real estate — both in the stores Mervyn’s owned and in its long-term leases, which allowed the retailer to pay below-market rents.

The owners split Mervyn’s into two companies, one held the real-estate assets and the other 257 stores. The latter was left with negative working capital of more than $22 million, according to its creditors.

The property company increased the pressure on the stores by charging market-rate rents, raising the cost from $90 million to $172 million.

The PE firms, meanwhile, took dividends from the real-estate company equal to more than $400 million.

In 2008, Mervyn’s went out business, resulting in the loss of 18,000 lost jobs.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/p ... hPQkoGbLbK

YessirreeBob, I want someone who "knows about business" in the White House, who not only thinks this is okay, but made a living out of destroying other people's jobs. Gee, that amounts to $22,222 per job that the vultures made...for 18,000 FAMILIES who were destroyed by their greed.

Gotta love the smell of greed in the morning.

Think he might operate differently as president than he does as venture capitalist?

Warren Buffet was and still is a ruthless capitalist but surprise now he is also a leading philanthropist. Like Bill Gates, who ruthlessly competed to become the dominant platform and crushed his weaker competiton, putting plenty of people out of work, but now he is one of the leading charities in the world.

Romney turned 65 and like many men looks differently at life after reaching this milestone.
I don't think he will run the country the same way he ran Bain capital, but he still has the experience unlike Obama who is still learning on the job. 50+ years old and in many ways, Barack is still wet behind the ears.

Fred...are you really willing to trust the future of our country to a man you THINK might operate differently? That you think might not operate the country like he did Bain? Romney is no Buffet or Gates. I would be more comfortable if either one of them were running. I don't know what it is you see in Romney that makes you want to vote for him. His lies? His flip flopping? His ruthlessness? Or is it just the R after his name?

Sure I could go with Obama who has shown us four pitiful years of no leadership and inability to deal with congress.

And [url=http://www.electoralvote.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]www.electoralvote.com[/url] in a article today says that even more moderates have retired and left on both sides and in both the Senate and House. So Obama will be able to do even less if he scrapes out a win. We know what doesn't work, Barack Hussein Obama.

I love the smell of whine and desperation in the morning

Take a shower Heisenberg, you will smell a lot better.

archer wrote: Take a shower Heisenberg, you will smell a lot better.

Tell that to the disgusting troll you love to support..... she's always smelling 'something' in the morning.

Hey LJ- tell me what you think about this story- since you keep pounding the Bain story over and over- should we keep reminding you everytime about the Vampire Capitalist
Federico Peña?

Former Denver Mayor and Obama National Campaign Co-chair Federico Peña has a résumé surprisingly similar to Mitt Romney's.

In a fundraiser on Wednesday in Denver, the President continued to push the "Venture Capital Vampire" theme.

Peña has been a partner at private equity firm Vestar (Vulture) Capital since 2000. And while President Obama has been giving private equity a bad name, both Peña and Vestar managing director James Kelley have made recent contributions to Obama's re-election efforts.

Furthermore, Peña's record as a vulture capital investor dates even back to his 2008 days, when he also served as an Obama National Campaign Co-Chair.

So let's examine the recent "humanitarian" record of Vestar Capital.

In March of 2011, Vestar acquired 100% of Del Monte Foods through a leveraged buyout.

Just two weeks ago, Del Monte announced the closure of a plant in Kingsburg, Califoria, effectively slashing 1,000 jobs. "I am extraordinarily disappointed by Del Monte to make this decision," Kingsburg Mayor Bruce Blayney told the Kingsburg Recorder. "This is a major blow to the local economy."

Roughly eight years ago, Vestar purchased the Solo Cup Company.

According to this report, in 2007 the Solo Cup Co. (with Vestar as a parent firm) shuttered three U.S. factories. As early as 2010, with Vestar still as the parent company, Solo Cup announced plans to shut an eighty year old factory, ending more than 540 jobs.

In 2002, Vestar acquired frozen food giant BirdsEye Foods.

Roughly four years later, Vestar laid off approximately 500 workers at BirdsEye. "Some of them were employed at Birdseye for 15 to 30 years," according to KGO Ch. 7 in San Fransico.

If the President intends to make this election about Romney's record at Bain, then Mr. Peña and James Kelley must come clean about layoffs at Del Monte, Solo Cup Company, and Birdseye foods. If not, Mr. Peña might not be available to stand on the campaign stage with the President at his next Colorado rally.

Read the story here....
http://completecolorado.com/stories/Is-Former-Clinton-Secretary-A-Venture-Capital-Vampire.html

Ouch. You aren't supposed to see the Vulture capitalists who support Dem's. Or former VC who run as Dems.

You are ruining LJ's narrative.

Hardly... Posting irrelevant stories to support vulture-capitalism don't ruin my narrative at all... So, Pena donated to his campaign? Big F'ing whoop...

We aren't talking about who donates to someone's campaign... (If we did, then all those foreign governments, and foreigners who are legally not supposed to donate to RMoney's campaign would be in trouble if their under-the-table millions were reported by Crossroads/GPS.)

RMoney is a vulture, he's a liar, he's an opportunist who fills his pockets while destroying other people's jobs. I don't want that slimebag in the White House, and I guess I'll just work that much harder to see that he doesn't.