Washington, D.C. — The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has accepted an amicus brief arguing that syndicated loans are risky debt instruments that pose “significant economic implications for families and communities” and must be regulated as securities, according to Americans for Financial Reform.
The explosion of low-quality lending has brought debt loads in corporate America to record highs, a development that is likely to bring, in the coming years, a wave of defaults, slower growth, future job losses, and potential instability stemming from the utter opacity of this business. Despite the exponential growth in subprime corporate debt, our laws and regulations have not kept up, leaving policymakers and regulators in the dark as to the exact size of this market and where various risks may exist that could affect other financial institutions, companies, and their workers.
A corporate tax break that could give some of Wall Street’s wealthiest people a $200 billion gift over ten years is under consideration as part of the omnibus budget negotiations underway in Congress this month. At issue are provisions of the 2017 Trump tax bill that took effect this year, and the private equity’s lobbying effort to overturn the parts of the law that limit a key tax break.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Labor’s final rule takes an important step to safeguard the savings of millions of workers who participate in private-sector employee benefit plans by allowing workers’ private retirement plans and pensions to consider sustainability factors like climate change, workers’ rights, racial, economic and environmental justice, and corporate governance when investing and voting proxies.
Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity owner of Albertsons grocery stores, is quickly moving to extract an unusually large amount of money from the grocer that would leave Albertsons in a much worse position to repay the massive debt load put on by its private equity owners. This move puts many of Albertsons’ workers and their pensions at risk.
The Carlyle Group, Warburg Pincus, and KKR are the top three offenders on climate among private equity firms, continuing to invest in polluting industries and exposing investors to significant climate-related risk, according to a new scorecard developed by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF).
Washington, D.C. — Americans for Financial Reform applauds the House Financial Services Committee’s passage of Rep. Maloney’s long-standing bill, the Overdraft Protection Act, which passed by a vote of 27-22.
AFR joined a letter from a partner organization, Take Medicine Back, to the North Carolina attorney general about the role of private equity in the corporate practice of emergency medicine.
At long last, private equity is getting the attention it deserves from antitrust authorities as a force for consolidation, higher prices, and less consumer choice.
Private equity firms have become some of the country’s biggest corporate landlords. Americans for Financial Reform estimated that as of June 2022, at a minimum, private equity firms owned real estate rented by around 1.6 million families.