Back at Bain Capital for the rest of the 1990s Business career of Mitt Romney

a brookstone outlet store in kittery, maine

after romney , bain took on brookstone in 1991, replaced brookstone s ceo in 1993, shifted more brookstone-branded items, moved more catalog content onto company s website in 1996, and, instead of selling gifts began offering more practical items. brookstone survived while competitor, sharper image, declared bankruptcy.

in july 1992 (while romney still rescuing bain & company), bain capital acquired ampad mead corporation, had acquired company in 1986. mead, experiencing difficulties integrating ampad s products existing product lines, generated cash gain of $56 million on sale. under bain s ownership, company enjoyed significant growth in sales $106.7 million in 1992 $583.9 million in 1996, when company listed on new york stock exchange. under bain s ownership, company made number of acquisitions, including writing products company scm in july 1994, brand names american trading , production corporation in august 1995, wr acquisition , williamhouse-regency division of delaware, inc. in october, 1995, niagara envelope company, inc. in 1996, , shade/allied, inc. in february 1997. ampad s revenue began decline in 1997 , company laid off employees , closed production facilities maintain profitability. ampad transaction 1 of romney s few regrets bain years.

in 1994, bain capital acquired totes, producer of umbrellas , overshoes. 3 years later, totes, under bain’s ownership, acquired isotoner, producer of leather gloves. totes isotoner largest supplier of umbrellas in world.

bain capital, thomas h. lee partners, acquired experian, consumer credit reporting business of trw, in 1996 more $1 billion. formerly known trw s information systems , services unit, experian 1 of leading providers of credit reports on consumers , businesses in us. company sold great universal stores $1.7 billion months after being acquired.

other notable bain investments of late 1990s included sealy corporation (the manufacturer of mattresses), alliance laundry systems, domino s pizza, , artisan entertainment. sealy , domino s pizza investments have been ranked thestreet.com 2 of 5 romney-era investments bain capital had biggest impact on american consumers; other 3 staples , sports authority in 1980s, , brookstone in 1991. in 1997, when bain invested in sealy, company had 23% share of $4 billion mattress market, , bain decided make parts of mattress in constant flow instead of in batches (thereby producing amount ordered consumers , consequently reducing inventory), while redesigning core mattress; sealy s earnings increased half in 3 years. bain bought 93% of domino s in 1998, , installed personnel substantially boosted profits. bain s purchase of film studio artisan entertainment in late 1990s, romney refused involved it, because of r-rated films.

the exterior of domino s pizza store in spring hill, florida.

much of firm s profits earned relatively small number of deals, bain capital s overall success , failure rate being even. 1 study of 68 deals bain capital made through 1990s found firm lost money or broke on 33 of them. study looked @ eight-year period following 77 deals during same time found in 17 cases company went bankrupt or out of business, , in 6 cases bain capital lost investment. 10 deals successful , represented 70 percent of total profits. bain capital has publicly asserted 80% of 350 companies , 100 start-up investments grew result of bain investments.

romney took leave of absence bain capital november 1993 november 1994 in order run u.s. senate. during time, ampad workers went on strike, , asked romney intervene; bain capital lawyers asked him not involved, although did meet workers tell them had no position of active authority in matter.

romney returned bain capital day after 1994 election, loss had lasting effect; told brother, never want run again unless can win. when father died in 1995, mitt donated inheritance byu s george w. romney institute of public management. joined board, vice-chair, of points of light foundation, had incorporated father s national volunteer center.

in 1994, bain invested in steel dynamics, based in fort wayne, indiana, prosperous steel company has grown fifth largest in u.s.a, employs 6,100 people, , produces carbon steel products 2010 revenues of $6.3 billion on steel shipments of 5.3 million tons. in 1993, bain acquired armco worldwide grinding system steel plant in kansas city, missouri , merged steel plant in georgetown, south carolina form gst steel. kansas city plant had strike in 1997.

bain s investment in dade behring represented significant investment in medical diagnostics industry. in 1994, bain, goldman sachs capital partners completed carveout acquisition of dade international, medical diagnostics division of baxter international in $440 million acquisition. dade s private equity owners merged company dupont s in vitro diagnostics business in may 1996 , subsequently behring diagnostics division of hoechst ag in 1997. aventis, successor of hoechst, acquired 52% of combined company. in 1999, company reported $1.3 billion of revenue , completed $1.25 billion leveraged recapitalization resulted in payout shareholders. dividend, taken other previous shareholder dividends resulted in eightfold return on investment bain capital , goldman sachs.

in july 1996, when partner bob gray’s teenage daughter went missing in new york city, romney shut down boston office , sent 56 employees search her, setting toll-free tip line, , hiring private investigators. search took romney contact runaways on seediest streets of new york, , traced telephone call helped locate daughter, had travelled new jersey concert without telling parents.

in 1998, affiliate of bain capital called brookside capital partners fund bought 6 percent of global tech, chinese appliance-maker. romney sole shareholder, sole director, president , chief executive officer of brookside. obama campaign asserts romney profited , indirectly supported sweatshop conditions @ global tech, although independent fact-checkers there no evidence romney actively sent american jobs china or approved specific investment in global tech.

by end of decade, bain capital on way being 1 of top private equity firms in nation, having increased number of partners 5 18, having 115 employees overall, , having $4 billion under management. firm s average annual return on investments 113 percent. had made between 100 , 150 deals acquired , sold company. bain capital s approach of applying consulting expertise companies invested in became copied within private equity industry.

economist steven kaplan of university of chicago later say, [romney] came model successful , innovative , uses. kaplan argues that, bain capital , romney delivered spectacularly customers, better other [private equity] firms on average outperformed public markets. today, customers include california state teachers’ retirement system , teacher retirement system of texas.

in contrast economist kaplan, author , polemecist matt taibbi of rolling stone magazine paints less favorable portrait of romney s business career (taibbi disparages romney “self-righteously anal, thin-lipped, [and] whitest kids u know”). according taibbi, toward middle of career @ bain capital, romney moved away helping startups, , moved toward leveraged buyouts involved borrowing money take on established companies in order extract value possible targeted companies. taibbi calls “financial piracy”, while acknowledging romney’s leveraged buyouts not hostile takeovers, , conceding of bain’s work not evil (such bain s successful turnaround of experian). taibbi blames u.s. tax code making leveraged buyouts possible allowing companies bain deduct interest on debt use acquire targets, , allowing individuals romney pay less ordinary tax rate on income. however, wall street journal reports romney did not participate in latter tax rate reductions.

romney made fortune @ bain capital 1984 1999, fortune estimated worth between $190 million $250 million.