Tag Archives: Hedge Funds and Private Equity

a dollar bill on top of a pile of money with scrabble pieces spelling out "tax" on top

News Release: New Report Exposes the Role of Tax Law in Boosting Destructive Impact of Private Equity on Workers, Consumers & Communities

Today, a comprehensive new joint report published by Americans for Tax Fairness, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund exposes the often destructive impacts of the private equity (PE) industry on consumers, workers, and communities. In addition to providing several first-person stories of the havoc wrought by private-equity investment, the report details how the tax code makes the industry even more profitable and wealthy PE owners even richer. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) recently introduced legislation that would close one of the industry’s most egregious tax loopholes. 

News Release: Prospect of Walgreens Acquisition by Sycamore Bodes Ill for Retailer

The possible acquisition of drugstore chain Walgreens risks writing a new chapter in the long-running saga of private equity’s looting of the American retail sector, a trend that has caused the loss of over half a million jobs, numerous bankruptcies, and extensive consolidation that leads to higher prices, lower quality for consumers, and more precarious conditions for workers.

In The News: Senators take aim at big private equity landlords as rents soar (NBC News)

As landlords, private equity firms raise rents, impose new fees, skimp on property maintenance and pursue tenants more aggressively in court, the Americans for Financial Reform research noted. “The cumulative effect is a massive transfer of wealth from mainly low- and middle-income renters, who can’t afford the onerous barriers to homeownership, to some of the wealthiest men in America,” it said.

NEWS RELEASE: New Yorkers, Frontline Leaders, Climate Groups React to NYC Comptroller’s Groundbreaking Private Equity Commitment

NEW YORK – Today, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander announced a commitment to exclude new pension investments in private equity-backed fossil fuel midstream and downstream companies and projects, addressing a significant loophole in the funds’ Net-Zero Implementation Plan. This makes NYCERS, NYCTRS, and NYCBERS – three of New York City public pensions representing $207 billion in assets – the first-in-the-nation to make such a commitment, setting precedent for funds across the country and around the world to follow suit. 

IN THE NEWS: Warren Toughens Private-Equity Bill, Aiming to Prevent Healthcare Abuses

It also has the support of labor and financial-policy groups, including the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers and National Nurses United. Lisa Donner, executive director of financial watchdog group Americans for Financial Reform, said the bill “takes important, much-needed steps to rein in Wall Street predatory practices and promote a more just and sustainable economy.”

News Release: New Legislation Needed to Curb Private Equity Abuses

The Stop Wall Street Looting Act of 2024 includes new measures to curb the growing power of private equity across the board and in key sectors of the economy like healthcare, and to penalize private equity firms and executives for their actions that harm a company and its workers even after they no longer control it. Lessons from the 2023 collapse of Steward Health Care, which stemmed from its 2010 buyout by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, shaped the new provisions.

News Release: Private Equity Holdings in Fossil Fuels Spew Gigaton of Carbon Annually

The 2024 Private Equity Climate Risks Scorecard studied 21 private equity firms that manage $6 trillion worth of companies, and found that two-thirds of the energy companies in their portfolios are invested in fossil fuels, using hundreds of millions of dollars from pension funds. Their gigaton of carbon emissions is over three times as much as from the energy used to power all the homes in America and exceeds those of the global aviation industry.