Trump II fired Navy Secretary John Phelan, a private equity underwriter (PEU) mid-excursion into Iran. The current naval blockade is the President's signature strategy to get the Iranians to fold (even though they have no cards). Phelan cited two factors in his leaving, "competing equities" and "internal friction."
Here's why Phelan might choose the words "competing equities."
John Phelan is the Cofounder and Chairman of Rugger Management. Prior to launching Rugger, he cofounded MSD Capital—Michael Dell’s family office, as well as MSD Partners. John helped MSD post double-digit net returns and over $20bn in profits during his tenure, and serves as Chairman Emeritus. Before starting MSD, John was a Principal at Eddie Lampert’s ESL Partners. John was responsible for ESL’s Special Situation and Distressed Investments, and helped grow the firm from $50mn to >$2bn in AUM. Prior to ESL, John was a VP at the Equity Group and in charge of acquisitions (Western region) for Sam Zell’s Zell-Merrill Lynch Real Estate Opportunity Funds. He also spent a summer with Richard Rainwater. John began his career at Goldman Sachs, where he was a financial analyst in the Investment Banking Division and was mentored by Hank Paulson and Byron Trott.
His financial disclosure showed 10 different Rugger entities, all with the value column left blank. It also showed he owned stock in Apollo (private equity/private credit) and Blue Owl (private credit with a dabble of private equity).
Trump II spun the firing as a win for everyone. Phelan can even come back.
John Phelan's hiring as Navy Secretary was part of a strategic move to pair the Pentagon with PEUs.
Secretive are PEUs and the Pentagon. Neither share the most basic financial information, PEUs because they don't have to and the Pentagon because they don't know it. What a pairing.
Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren. Increasingly, more are one.
