Private equity underwriters (PEU) share widely about their winners. The Stephens Group highlights their early investment in Walmart. They don't talk about losers, even scrub them from their website.
CBS News did a piece on Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams going bankrupt overnight. More than 700 people lost their job and their corporate promised 60 day severance pay vaporized under a bankruptcy filing.
The piece did a good job of highlighting the evils of private equity (a mission of PEUReport since its establishment in 2007). PNC Bank defaulted the loan due to paperwork issues, Stephens Group chose not to fill the funding hole.
Mitchell Gold rues that they ever sold the company to begin with. Now their baby is in bankruptcy. It remains to be seen what emerges from liquidation.
What won't be revealed is how much money Stephens Group siphoned from Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams under their PEU ownership via management fees, deal fees, and special dividends/distributions.
Update 10-12-23: Stephens Group provided early money for the Clintons. Private equity got a solid foothold under Bill's presidency, soared under W.'s and Obama's, and became official robber barons under Trump and Biden.
