Private-Equity

Steward Health Care Declares Bankruptcy After Private Equity Extracts $1.3 Billion, At Least 15 Patient Deaths Linked to Substandard Care

| Importance: 10/10

Steward Health Care, the Dallas-based for-profit hospital system operating 31 hospitals across eight states, declared bankruptcy in one of the most colossal failures of a hospital chain in American history. Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management and former CEO Ralph de la Torre reportedly …

Steward Health Care Ralph de la Torre Cerberus Capital Management Medical Properties Trust Senate HELP Committee healthcare hospital private-equity bankruptcy patient-harm +2 more
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FTC Blocks JAB Consumer Partners Veterinary Clinic Roll-Up: Private Equity Monopolization Strategy

| Importance: 9/10

The Federal Trade Commission ordered private equity firm JAB Consumer Partners to divest veterinary clinics in four metropolitan areas as a condition of its $1.65 billion acquisition of Ethos Veterinary Health, citing concerns about JAB’s roll-up strategy creating local monopolies in specialty …

Federal Trade Commission JAB Consumer Partners JAB Holding Company National Veterinary Associates Ethos Veterinary Health +1 more antitrust consolidation private-equity veterinary healthcare +4 more
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Harvard Study Finds Private Equity Hospital Takeovers Increase Emergency Room Deaths by 10%

| Importance: 10/10

In December 2021, researchers at Harvard Medical School published a landmark study in Annals of Internal Medicine demonstrating that hospitals acquired by private equity firms experienced significant increases in emergency department mortality—7 additional deaths per 10,000 visits (approximately 10% …

Private Equity Industry Blackstone Group KKR TeamHealth Envision Healthcare healthcare private-equity corporate-crime regulatory-capture deaths
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Private Equity Firm ReGen Healthcare Invests $100M in Failing Genesis Healthcare, Beginning Four-Year Collapse to Bankruptcy

| Importance: 8/10

Genesis Healthcare, once the largest skilled nursing operator in the United States, narrowly avoids bankruptcy by accepting a $100 million investment from Joel Landau’s private equity firm ReGen Healthcare LLC, which receives 93% equity stake and two board seats in exchange. Genesis’ …

Genesis Healthcare ReGen Healthcare Joel Landau David Gefner Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services healthcare nursing-home private-equity bankruptcy patient-harm +2 more
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No Surprises Act Bans Surprise Medical Billing After Years of Private Equity Industry Obstruction

| Importance: 8/10

On December 27, 2020, Congress passed the No Surprises Act as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, banning most surprise medical billing beginning January 1, 2022. The legislation addressed a predatory billing practice that generated billions in profits for private equity-backed …

U.S. Congress TeamHealth Envision Healthcare Blackstone Group KKR +1 more healthcare private-equity regulatory-capture surprise-billing legislative-reform
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NBER Study Reveals Private Equity Nursing Home Ownership Increases Mortality 10%, Causes 20,000 Excess Deaths

| Importance: 9/10

National Bureau of Economic Research releases landmark study (Working Paper 28474) analyzing patient-level Medicare data from 18,000 nursing facilities over 17 years, finding that private equity ownership increases patient mortality by 10% compared to other nursing homes. The 10% mortality increase …

National Bureau of Economic Research Private equity firms Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services healthcare nursing-home private-equity patient-harm mortality +2 more
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iHeartMedia Files for Bankruptcy with $20 Billion Debt - Conservative Radio Empire Collapses Under Leveraged Buyout Burden

| Importance: 8/10

On March 15, 2018, iHeartMedia (formerly Clear Channel Communications) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, seeking to restructure more than $20 billion in outstanding debt accumulated from the disastrous 2008 leveraged buyout by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners. The bankruptcy filing …

iHeartMedia Clear Channel Communications Bain Capital Thomas H. Lee Partners Rush Limbaugh +1 more media-consolidation bankruptcy leveraged-buyout private-equity conservative-media +3 more
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Great Northern Paper Bankruptcy Leaves 1,000 Maine Workers with Pennies on Dollar of Promised Pensions

| Importance: 7/10

Approximately 1,000 former Great Northern Paper workers in Millinocket and East Millinocket, Maine began receiving bankruptcy settlement checks representing ‘a small fraction’ of the pensions, vacation pay, and severance they spent decades earning at the once-dominant paper mills. …

Brookfield Asset Management Cate Street Capital Great Northern Paper Company corporate-looting pension-theft bankruptcy-abuse workers-rights deindustrialization +2 more
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Ways and Means Chairman Proposes Carried Interest Reform That Private Equity Lobbying Defeats

| Importance: 8/10

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) released comprehensive tax reform draft legislation proposing to raise the tax on carried interest from 23.8% to 35%, effectively closing one of the most notorious tax loopholes benefiting private equity and hedge fund managers. Carried …

Dave Camp House Ways and Means Committee Carlyle Group Cerberus Capital Management Managed Funds Association regulatory-capture tax-policy lobbying private-equity congressional-corruption
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Evan Bayh Joins Apollo Global Management and Five Corporate Boards After Senate

| Importance: 8/10

Former Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) joined private equity giant Apollo Global Management as a senior adviser and McGuireWoods as a strategic advisor immediately after leaving the Senate in January 2011. Within months, Bayh also secured positions on five corporate boards: Marathon Petroleum, Berry …

Evan Bayh Apollo Global Management McGuireWoods Marathon Petroleum Berry Plastics revolving-door lobbying congressional-corruption private-equity corporate-boards
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Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners Complete $26.7 Billion Clear Channel Leveraged Buyout - Creating Debt Crisis

| Importance: 9/10

On July 24, 2008, Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners completed a historic $26.7 billion leveraged buyout of Clear Channel Communications, the nation’s largest radio broadcaster with over 1,200 stations. The transaction, led by Bain Capital (founded by Mitt Romney in 1984), loaded the …

Bain Capital Thomas H. Lee Partners Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia Mitt Romney +1 more media-consolidation private-equity leveraged-buyout regulatory-capture debt-loading +3 more
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Ares Management Acquires Aspen Dental: Private Equity Dental Roll-Up Strategy Launches Industry Consolidation

| Importance: 9/10

Private equity firm Ares Management acquired Aspen Dental in 2006, launching an aggressive roll-up strategy that would help consolidate the fragmented dental industry and establish the template for private equity’s systematic monopolization of healthcare sectors including dental, veterinary, …

Aspen Dental Ares Management Leonard Green & Partners American Securities antitrust consolidation private-equity dental healthcare +4 more
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Bain, KKR, and Vornado Acquire Toys 'R' Us for $6.6 Billion, Loading Company with $5 Billion Debt

| Importance: 9/10

Private equity firms Bain Capital, KKR, and Vornado Realty Trust acquire Toys ‘R’ Us for $6.6 billion in a leveraged buyout, with only 20% ($1.3 billion) from PE firms’ capital while 80% ($5.3 billion) is borrowed debt loaded onto Toys ‘R’ Us itself. This debt burden …

Bain Capital KKR Vornado Realty Trust Toys R Us private-equity leveraged-buyout debt-loading wealth-extraction retail
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Tom Daschle Joins Private Equity Firm and Lobbying After Senate Majority Leadership

| Importance: 8/10

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) joined InterMedia Advisors, a New York-based private equity firm, as a consultant and chairman of its executive advisory board just months after losing his 2004 reelection bid. Simultaneously, Daschle joined the law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird …

Tom Daschle InterMedia Advisors Alston & Bird Leo Hindery revolving-door lobbying congressional-corruption healthcare private-equity
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KKR's $31 Billion RJR Nabisco Leveraged Buyout Establishes Private Equity Wealth Extraction Model

| Importance: 8/10

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) completes the largest leveraged buyout in history, acquiring RJR Nabisco for $25 billion in equity ($31.1 billion including assumed debt) at $109 per share, establishing the template for private equity wealth extraction that will be replicated thousands of times over …

KKR Henry Kravis Ross Johnson RJR Nabisco private-equity leveraged-buyout wealth-extraction debt-loading corporate-power
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