PEUs Behind COVID-19 Manhattan Project

WSJ reported:

A dozen of America’s top scientists and a collection of billionaires and industry titans say they have the answer to the coronavirus pandemic, and they found a backdoor to deliver their plan to the White House.

These scientists and their backers describe their work as a lockdown-era Manhattan Project, a nod to the World War II group of scientists who helped develop the atomic bomb. This time around, the scientists are marshaling brains and money to distill unorthodox ideas gleaned from around the globe.

The group includes numerous private equity underwriters (PEU).

Steve Pagliuca - Bain Capital
Jim Palotta -- Raptor Fund
Brian Sheth-  Vista Equity Partners
Peter Thiel - Founders Fund
Tom Cahill - Newpath Partners
Micheal Milken -- The Milken Institure

Consider Vista Equity Partners' roots:

Vista Equity Partners, for instance, has made billions by buying up mid-level software corporations in niche industries (like Yoga studio software) and raising prices on the small businesses that depend on it.

Vista Equity Partners had this statement on their website regarding COVID-19:

Across our portfolio, Vista companies are leveraging their technology and relationships to mitigate immediate challenges and anticipate and help solve tomorrow’s problems today. To this end, many of our companies are acting quickly to build solutions and offer free services, new applications and resources that address the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic and social crises.

President Trump pardoned Junk Bond King Michael Milken during his lost February.  Rather than prepare the country for a looming pandemic Trump was cheerleading Milken's clean criminal record.  Milken is the father of leveraged buyouts which got rebranded as private equity after his fraud conviction and jail sentence.

Private equity is one of the more important social forces across the West, a style of business that has been structuring our politics and our commerce since it was super-charged by men like Michael Milken and William Simon in the early 1980s.

The PEU led COVID-19 group produced a seventeen page document intended to be a blueprint for a national response.

The greed and leverage boys pulled out the stops to lobby the government for access to trillions in COVID-19 funding.   CNBC reported:

Some of the world’s largest investment firms combined to spend at least $3 million lobbying members of the Trump administration and lawmakers on a bill that was meant to give relief to those that have taken a financial hit due to the coronavirus. 

PEU boys have also served on the shadow COVID-19 task force headed by Jared Kushner.

Science, not greed, should determine our future course. 

Update 5-4-20:  When he's not saving the world from the coronavirus Peter Thiel is trying to help fellow billionaires move their private equity/hedge fund stakes.  

Update 4-19-22:  A Russian oligarch put Chelsea FC up for sale and one bidder is U.S. oligarch Bain Capital's Steve Pagliuca.  Carlyle's David Rubenstein may team up and bid for the Washington Nationals MLB team.

Smithsonian Chair Rubenstein is Earthly Optimist

The Smithsonian Institute hosted its Earth Optimism Digital Summit in honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.  On Thursday April 23rd Smithsonian Board Chair David Rubenstein moderated two sessions from 12:45 pm to 1:55 pm.

I assume the sessions were taped otherwise Mr. Rubenstein has the ability to be in two places at the same time.  Does having several billion dollars allow someone to do that?

A third session occurred during that time period, one right up the Carlyle Group co-founder's alley.

The Carlyle Group is front and center in today's massive financial reset.  David Rubenstein knows what happened in China through Carlyle's many affiliates.  He is great friends with Fed Chief Jay Powell and Vice Chair Randall Quarles.  Both men worked at Carlyle earlier in their careers.

Sure the Blood and Gore group has much to offer about today's government corporate monstrosity, but David Rubenstein wrote the PEU rules at Carlyle's Pennsylvania Avenue office.  His earthly gains show it.  Is the PEU founder finally ready for carried interest taxation?  Fellow billionaire Leon Cooperman says he is.

Update 4-29-20:   Film maker Michael Moore's Plant of the Humans takes aim at "Al Gore for bolstering corporations that push flawed technologies over real solutions to the climate crisis."  Politicians Red and Blue love PEU.

Carlyle Affiliate Monetizing Taylor Swift During Pandemic

The Guardian reported:

Taylor Swift has disowned a new live album released under her name, calling it tasteless and “shameless greed” amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Swift said:  "This release is not approved by me. It looks to me like Scooter Braun and his financial backers, 23 Capital, Alex Soros and the Soros family and the Carlyle Group have seen the latest balance sheets and realised that paying $330 MILLION wasn’t exactly a wise choice and they need money.  In my opinion … Just another case of shameless greed in the time of coronavirus. So tasteless, but very transparent.”

Carlyle executives pretended to be peacemakers some months ago.  As moneymakers The Carlyle Group is solely interested in returns.  PEUs = shameless greed.

Update 4-28-20:  Showbiz 411 reported paltry sales of the new live album.  "The stream appeared last week and at first sold 7 copies. SEVEN. Then on Friday and Saturday another 26. The total is 33. THIRTY THREE. That’s it. No one bought it."   

Update 4-12-21:  Swift re-released her Fearless album.  Loyal fans are burying the old versions on Spotify.

Following Friday's midnight release of Fearless (Taylor's Version) — for which Swift re-recorded her music after failing to acquire the rights to her early albums two years ago — Swifties launched a campaign to bury the Big Machine version on Spotify.

Hopefully the unnamed investment firm can claw-back money from Ithaca and The Carlyle Group.  Taylor Swift, like the City of Missoula with Mountain Water, tried many times to buy back the rights to her music.

 

Carlyle Sells 13% of India Diagnostic Testing Affiliate

Laing Buisson reported:

The Carlyle Group has sold a 13% stake, more or less its entire stake, in Mumbai-based diagnostics company Metropolis Healthcare to raise Rs7.6bn (US$100m).  It sold 6.6m shares the range of Rs1,150-Rs1,160 per share. The floor was set at Rs1,110.  Although the company’s shares have a one-year return of almost 29%, they have slipped 36% from a peak of Rs1,992 at the start of March to Rs1,272.

Metropolis has a presence across 18 states in India with 106 laboratories. It offers 3,480 clinical laboratory tests and profiles which are used for prediction, early detection, diagnostic screening, confirmation and/or monitoring of diseases. It also offers analytical and support services to clinical research organisations for their clinical research projects.

Carlyle was in a position to solve India's COVID-19 testing problem.  Also, there is a need for strong clinical research into the deadly coronavirus.  So why did Carlyle sell its remaining shares?  In early April Reuters reported:

India is restricting the export of most diagnostic testing kits

BBC News reported India's Supreme Court ordered all COVID-19 testing be done for free.

According to the new order, issued on 13 April, the government will reimburse private labs for testing the 500 million people covered by a flagship public health insurance scheme. The rest would have to pay.

Carlyle expects governments to ensure their grand returns.   Plus the $100 million helps in a credit crunch.

The Carlyle Group is searching for a new managing director for its India investments.  It needs to replace the gentleman hired in 2018 for that position.  Carlyle India experienced two exits, one affiliate and one employee.  Are the two related?

Update 7-11-20:  Carlyle sold the rest of Metropolis for roughly $11 million.

Carlyle to Raise New $3.5 billion Credit Fund as Pioneer Offers Middle Finger

Bloomberg reported The Carlyle Group is raising $3.5 billion for a new credit opportunities fund so it can backdoor companies by buying their debt for pennies on the dollar and foreclosing.  Carlyle took over British carpet maker Brintons' and cookie retailer Mrs. Fields in such a manner.

Carlyle just tried to foreclose on Australian lender Pioneer Credit as their once amicable deal unraveled.  Pioneer terminated its plan to join The Carlyle family.  A handshake turned into a beating and the parties couldn't agree to walk away.  That's the nature of a credit opportunities fund.  Ask the Brintons' family. 

Another Way for Carlyle to Profit from COVID-19

Irish Times reported:

The estimated €115 million that the State will pay each month to use 19 private hospitals during the Covid-19 crisis will go to companies owned by religious orders, foreign investors, two billionaires, a vulture fund and private backers.

The Carlyle Group owns one Dublin hospital participating in this arrangement.  Carlyle also bought blood plasma software company MAK Systems in February.   60 Minutes did a piece on convalescent plasma treatment for the seriously ill coronavirus patients.  With crisis comes opportunity.

Carlyle and its PEU peers have the political chops to get a bipartisan Congress and the Federal Reserve Bank to open Uncle Sam's wallet and save their highly leveraged affiliates.  The sweet PEU deals keep coming.

Politicians Red and Blue Love PEU

The private equity love continues in America's billionaire bailout.  Open Secrets reported:

Top lawmakers from both sides of the aisle seem to agree on one thing — small businesses backed by private equity and venture capital investment firms should be able to tap into the aid.

Congressional leaders continue to negotiate another round of $250 billion in aid to combat the economic impact of the coronavirus.

Small businesses and startups with fewer than 500 employees but controlled by large parent companies including private-equity firms are not currently eligible to get loans under the program. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — hailing from California and catering to Silicon Valley constituents — want to change the rules to extend support to them. 

Private equity lobbying group American Investment Council changed its name from Private Equity Growth Capital Council (PEGCC).  They did not take my recommendation of Private Equity Capital Knowledge Executed Responsibly (PECKER) as a better fit for the greed and leverage boys.

Private equity underwriters (PEU) are behind big lobbying money and political contributions.

Blackstone Group, which is lobbying for small business loan eligibility, has given over $17 million in contributions. Their CEO, megadonor Stephen Schwarzmann gave $10 million to the Senate Leadership Fund and $2.5 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund in the 2020 election cycle. Schwarzmann is a trusted adviser to President Donald Trump and gave $3 million to Trump’s super PAC in January.

Carlyle Group has contributed nearly $1.6 million to candidates, giving to candidates from both sides of the aisle including McCarthy and Pelosi. And Apollo Global Management reportedly loaned Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner’s real estate firm $184 million. 

Had private equity used their capital knowledge to invest responsibly they wouldn't be asking Uncle Sam for a bailout, not while they sit on $1.5 trillion in dry powder.  Politicians continue serving big donors to the detriment of citizens.

Update 4-25-20  Former Carlyle Managing Director David Marchick is Director of the Center for Presidential Transition.  His job is to ensure politicians Red and Blue continue to love PEU..

Update 4-20-20:  Carlyle plans to raise $3.5 billion for a new credit opportunities fund.  How will they find discounted debt to buy that hasn't been propped up by Fed Chief and former Carlyle employee Jay Powell?  

Update 11-27-21:   Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner plans to launch Affinity Partners using international money.  Middle East contacts are lukewarm on Kushner's offering despite his solving regional conflict in that part of the globe.

Update 11-28-21:  The Saudi Public Investment Fund may be ready to put big money into Jared Kushner's planned PEU, Affinity Partners.  Kushner's father in law Donald Trump gave the Saudi Crown Prince a free pass after the Kingdom executed Western journalist Jamal Khoshoggi.

Update 12-23-21:  Kushner's Affinity Partners is at $3 billion and growing.  It plans to invest in U.S. and Israeli companies seeking to grow to India, Africa, the Middle East and other parts of Asia.  The money is from international investors.  

Update 1-20-22:  Kushner's Affinity Partners hired a number of Red Team members of the Trump White House as well as some PEUs to manage the investment side.  Red Team PEU love!

Update 4-11-22:  The Saudi Public Investment Fund, controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, invested $2 billion in Jared Kushner's new private equity firm six months after Kushner left the White House despite the screening committee's voting unanimously against investing in Kushner's fledging Affinity Fund, citing the "inexperience" of its management, an asset management fee that "seems excessive," and the fact that due diligence found the firm's operations "unsatisfactory in all aspects." 

Update 6-14-22:  Former PEU with Pegasus Capital, now White House Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy wants social media to crackdown on people opposing green energy. 

Update 7-16-22:  American University and just hired former Carlyle Group Managing Director David Marchick as Dean of AU's business school.  

Update 3-31-23:  Kushner's Affinity Partners received $200 million each from a Qatar and UAE sovereign wealth fund.  That's on top of the $2 billion from the Saudi PIF.