Private Equity überträgt Firmeneigentum auf Investoren
Das zentrale Ziel von Private-Equity-Firmen besteht darin, die Assets einer übernommenen Firma zu übernehmen und die Kosten mit aller Gewalt zu drücken. Dabei ist es auch egal, wenn das Unternehmen pleitegeht.
Contrary to the industry’s claims about being experts in turning companies from losers to winners, private equity typically targets healthy companies rather than underperforming ones, the better to extract cash reserves. Having loaded the balance sheet of the company with debt—debt incurred in the purchase of that very company—they hire managers to run as lean and ruthless an operation as possible. They borrow even more money to pay themselves “special dividends,” to recoup their initial small equity outlay many times over even if the operating company goes broke. The big losers in this game are the company’s workers.