How is this different from piracy?

Pirates take control of a ship on the seas, strip it of its valuables, then abandon it, leaving its crew, passengers, and owners to survive as best as they can. How is the story below (from the NY Times) any different? There's a company instead of a ship.

For most of the 133 years since its founding in a small city in Wisconsin, the Simmons Bedding Company enjoyed an illustrious history.

Presidents have slumbered on its mattresses aboard Air Force One. Dignitaries have slept on them in the Lincoln Bedroom.

But now it is filing for bankruptcy after being boarded and looted by pirates dressed as members of an investment firm.

The owners (investors) and crew (employees) are left holding the empty mattress.

For many of the company’s investors, the sale will be a disaster. Its bondholders alone stand to lose more than $575 million. The company’s downfall has also devastated employees like Noble Rogers, who worked for 22 years at Simmons, most of that time at a factory outside Atlanta. He is one of 1,000 employees — more than one-quarter of the work force — laid off last year.

And the pirates sail off fat and happy.

But Thomas H. Lee Partners of Boston has not only escaped unscathed, it has made a profit. The investment firm, which bought Simmons in 2003, has pocketed around $77 million in profit, even as the company’s fortunes have declined. THL collected hundreds of millions of dollars from the company in the form of special dividends. It also paid itself millions more in fees, first for buying the company, then for helping run it. Last year, the firm even gave itself a small raise.

Wall Street investment banks also cashed in. They collected millions for helping to arrange the takeovers and for selling the bonds that made those deals possible. All told, the various private equity owners have made around $750 million in profits from Simmons over the years.

How so many people could make so much money on a company that has been driven into bankruptcy is a tale of these financial times and an example of a growing phenomenon in corporate America.

I'd call this modern corporate piracy. You can read the whole story at the NY Times.


Or you can contact one of these people who work for Thomas H Lee Partners. There's often (not always though) more than one side to the story.

THL has fostered a culture of partnership and teamwork through its 30+ year history. THL has one of the largest complements of senior partners in the buyout business, emphasizing a hands-on approach to investing. THL benefits significantly from the cumulative experience and knowledge resident in this team and believes it has unmatched continuity and depth of experience among these professionals.

Todd M. Abbrecht Richard J. Bressler Charles A. Brizius Margaret W. Covell Anthony J. DiNovi Thomas M. Hagerty David V. Harkins Charles P. Holden Scott L. Jaeckel Seth W. Lawry John D. McClellan Soren L. Oberg Joseph F. Pesce Scott A. Schoen Scott M. Sperling George R. Taylor Kent R. Weldon Gregory A. White Shari H. Wolkon Beverly Berman Joshua M. Nelson Vivek Sharma James C. Carlisle Daniel G. Jones Ganesh B. Rao Jeff T. Swenson J. Lucas Wimer Alex J. Alexandrov Joshua D. Bresler Hobart A. Cook Alexandra L. DeLaite Laura A. Grattan Douglas H. Vandenberg

Michael Beregovsky Kemper P. Diehl David T. Jackson Anil Kumar Brittni E. Levinson Andrew R. Mayer Megan B. Melican Katherine A. Regner Emma C. Somers Justina J. Wang

Unfortunately, the links don't give you their individual contact information. Here's the contact information the THL website offers:

100 Federal Street
Boston, MA 02110
Phone:	617/227-1050
Fax:	617/227-3514

Media Contacts:
Matt Benson/Robin Weinberg
Phone:	415/618-8750/212/687-8080
Email:	mbenson@sardverb.com/rweinberg@sardverb.com