Time to Rein in Predatory Hedge Funds |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
News |
Written by Wisconsin Senate, Jay Wadd |
Monday, 01 April 2019 20:43 |
http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/shopko-s5.jpg GREEN BAY, WI - State Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) said predatory hedge funds like Shopko owners Sun Capital are a threat to the retail industry and the thousands of people who work in the retail industry and that they need to be reined in.
The Shopko bankruptcy is just another in a long line of examples in which Sun Capital has purchased retailers only to strip them of most everything but their debt and then leave them behind:
In the case of Shopko, Sun Capital is accused in court filings of using Shopko to borrow $179 million which they then used to pay dividends to partners in Sun Capital. The filings also state that while the partners of Sun Capital profited the company failed to pay $13 million in state taxes. Other reports showed that Shopko itself may have borrowed as much as $1.2 billion to fund Sun Capital’s buyout of the retailer. “In a lot of cases these predatory hedge funds come in, force a business they’ve targeted to borrow incredible amounts of money to fund the leveraged buyout, drain as much money out of the business as possible and leave them saddled with debt and the workers, creditors, customers and taxpayers in the lurch,” said the Green Bay Senator. “This isn’t capitalism. It’s corporate greed pure and simple. It’s an epidemic in this country and it needs to be reined in.” |
|