A new promotional video from the Private Equity Growth Capital Council contains all the familiar cues that evoke the softer side of the buyout industry.
Private equity executives wearing hard hats while touring around a construction site? Check. Car-commercial soundtrack? Check. Portfolio company executive gushing, “The private equity partners have been great for us” and other breathless encomiums? Yep, it has that too.
The new video — the latest entry in the lobbying group’s month-long multimedia effort, “Private Equity at Work” — focuses on an investment in Rockwood Holdings made by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the giant buyout firm. Rockwood, which makes the components of the lithium-ion batteries used in phones, computers and hybrid cars, was formed in 2000, after K.K.R. acquired chemical product lines from Laport for a hair over $1 billion.
With 30-plus percent gains in its stock price this year, Rockwood is apparently doing well enough to star in the private equity industry’s image rehab campaign. Its relationship with K.K.R. is certainly less fraught than the ties between the private equity firm and the Sealy Corporation, another of K.K.R.’s portfolio companies. In recent weeks, a number of Sealy investors have challenged K.K.R.’s “dominance” of Sealy’s board, alleging that the private equity firm oversaw a period of decline at the mattress maker and failed to work with other investors cooperatively to address problems at Sealy.
In the new video, K.K.R. and Rockwood appear to have none of the tension circling Sealy. Rockwood’s executives extol the benefits of private equity ownership, including increased access to capital and the capability for expansion.
The company is building new facilities and has raised its headcount considerably since K.K.R. took over "“ data points that are clearly central to the lobbying group’s effort to reverse the political narrative on private equity, which has been damaged by attacks on Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital.
“We expect the conversation about private equity to increase in the coming months” as the presidential race intensifies, Ken Spain, a spokesman for the group, said on Wednesday. “Therefore, we have a responsibility to tell our side of the story.”
The industry group plans to roll out four or five more case-study videos in the coming months in addition to the four already on the “Private Equity at Work” site, according to Mr. Spain. Which means that whether or not you believe private equity creates jobs on the whole, its lobby group has certainly provided steady work for at least a few videographers.
Mario Draghi acknowledged the backlash against austerity measures even as data showed the European economy is far from recovery, but he rejected calls for more deficit spending.
Official figures indicated that the British economy shrank in the first quarter, pushing the country into its second recession since the financial crisis.
Standard & Poor's now says the country has at least a 1-in-3 chance of seeing its debt downgraded to junk status.
The engineer was charged with destroying evidence about the oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico.
Two M.I.T. students generate an interactive map that helps users understand energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions in urban environments.
The growth of red oak seedlings in northern Central Park far outpaced that of trees planted in the suburbs or rural areas of New York, largely because of higher temperatures, a study says.
Speaking before an inquiry on Wednesday, the News Corporation chief, Rupert Murdoch, sought to deflect suggestions that he wielded influence with British officials to further his corporate interests.
The inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission is focused on at least three studios and creates a potential roadblock for the industry's plans to expand in one of the world's largest markets.
The National Endowment for the Arts made sweeping cuts in its support of established PBS shows under the 2012 Arts in Media grants which were announced Wednesday morning.
Sales in China helped lift overall iPhone sales by 88 percent over the same quarter a year ago, dispelling fears that sales would lag in nations with lower annual incomes.
Recent privacy controversies for Google and other Internet companies show the pains of an industry intent on changing the world.
As data usage multiplies on mobile devices, carriers say they need more spectrum, but scientists and engineers say newer technologies can improve efficiency.
One of the United States' largest medical debt-collection companies is under fire in Minnesota for placing employees in hospitals and demanding patients pay before receiving treatment, documents show.
Disability insurance takes too many workers out of the job market prematurely. It reduces their lifetime income and, to top it off, slows economic growth.
After compiling a database of customary rates for medical procedures, many insurance companies switched to a calculation based on Medicare rates, meaning higher costs for patients.
Sign up for the DealBook Newsletter, delivered every morning and afternoon, and receive breaking news alerts throughout the day.
Subscribe
Follow DealBook Anywhere DealBook E-Mail NewsletterSign up for the latest financial news delivered every morning and afternoon.
When your need to know is right now.
Download for quick access to up-to-the minute financial news.
YouTube
RSS
Read Full Article »