Lawmakers Target Private Equity Greed

This month saw the re-introduction of the Stop Wall Street Looting Act, a bill that would (among other things) require PE firms to be responsible for the debt burdens of the companies they control, increase transparency about the management fees they charge, and create new protections for workers and consumers. CEPR’s Eileen Appelbaum pointed out that it also cracks down on common tactics that have devastated health care providers:

“The Stop Wall Street Looting Act removes the ability of private equity funds to extract cash from companies they acquire via sale-leaseback deals, dividend recapitalizations, and monitoring fees. These legal but unscrupulous practices enrich PE firms and their investors. But they undermine the financial stability of the companies they acquire, squeeze their workers, and reduce the quality of their products and services, hurting employees, customers, and communities.” READ MORE