Romney, who created buyout firm Bain Capital LLC in 1984, has brought unprecedented attention to the long-secretive private-equity industry during his campaign for the White House. Republican primary opponents Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry assailed Romney over his private-equity past, and the Obama campaign has criticized the former buyout manager for outsourcing jobs and closing factories.
Fixing Companies
Private-equity firms raise money from investors such as public pensions, foundations and endowments and pair that money with debt to finance the purchase and amplify returns when they sell. Once a cottage industry, private equity has grown to manage an estimated $3 trillion in assets worldwide, according to researcher Preqin Ltd.
Leder started Sun Capital with Rodger Krouse, an investment banking colleague at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. whom Leder met at Wharton. They opted to locate the firm in Florida and planned to buy small companies in the Southeast, Leder said in a 2008 interview with Bloomberg Markets magazine.
When the regional strategy failed, the pair turned initially to consulting and eventually to buying troubled companies they could fix and eventually sell for a profit. The firm has gone on to invest in more than 305 companies with combined sales of more than $45 billion, according to its website.
Friendly's Bankruptcy
Sun last year agreed to retain ownership of Friendly Ice Cream Corp., the restaurant company created in 1935 and commonly known as "Friendly's," after taking the chain through bankruptcy. Friendly's closed 63 locations as part of the filing, while keeping 424 sites open.
Sun has a reputation for focusing on smaller, difficult deals where it can deploy a team of operating experts to cut costs or jump-start growth. Sun earlier this month agreed to buy closely held S&N Communications, a company that services utilities and telecommunications companies.
"S&N Communications is a niche business overlooked by many buyers, but has attractive cash flow characteristics," Leder said in a statement announcing the deal.
Leder was among a small group of private-equity investors who joined together to personally buy the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team. Others in the consortium, led by Apollo's Joshua Harris, include Blackstone Group LP's David Blitzer.