奧巴馬痛批私募股權后出席黑石集團晚宴惹爭議
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????周一晚間，美國奧巴馬總統出席了黑石集團（Blackstone Group）總裁托尼?詹姆斯在紐約公園大道公寓內舉行的晚宴，席間他極力鼓動這些華爾街人士，向每位到場者募集了35,800美元。盡管幾個小時前，他的競選團隊剛剛就米特?羅姆尼經營貝恩資本（Bain Capital）的經歷發起了首輪正式抨擊——貝恩資本也是一家私募股權公司，與黑石沒有什么大不同。真是尷尬！ ????雖然奧巴馬的一位女發言人謹慎地表示“沒人……質疑整個私募股權行業”，但也指出“有理由質疑這樣的價值觀就是美國人希望在總統身上看到的嗎？”是的，私募股權公司，奧巴馬沒有質疑你們賺錢的權利。他質疑的是你們是否堅守美國式價值觀。 ????幸好，奧巴馬對貝恩的指責至少是在此次晚宴之前。他本來不可能回避那些依賴舉債收購公司的支持者們的提問（有些被收購公司最終倒閉，造成裁員等等）。 ????但問題是一位消息人士告訴我說，奧巴馬在預先準備好的講稿中沒有具體提到私募股權，問答環節中也沒有與會者問到這個問題。 ????沒搞錯？ ????我同意奧巴馬對于私募股權行業一些普遍做法的指責（特別是舉債派息，藉此私募股權公司可以在它們幫助搞垮的公司身上賺錢）。但他周一早間的一些說法很有問題，周一晚間有機會提問者卻避而不談。 ????即使這種緘默是出于不想和貴賓起爭執，這樣的遷就只會讓奧巴馬在今秋成為比羅姆尼更強有力的候選人。或者，這些私募股權人士只是被奧巴馬的善變驚呆了：上一刻奧巴馬還在嚴厲批評他們，下一刻就向他們伸手要錢。這有點像吸引一家公司接受杠桿收購時的甜言蜜語，結果可能會讓公司分文不名。 ????無論怎樣，已錯失良機。對于任何人，都是如此。 ????譯者：早稻米 |
????President Obama last night spent time at the Park Avenue apartment of Blackstone Group (BX) president Tony James, to press the Wall Street flesh and collect $35,800 per plate. It came just hours after his campaign launched its first formal attack on Mitt Romney's record running Bain Capital -- a private equity firm not terribly dissimilar from Blackstone. Talk about awkward! ????While an Obama spokeswoman had been careful to say "no one is... questioning private equity as a whole," she also added that "it's legitimate to question whether those are the values America needs in a president." That's right private equiteers: Obama isn't questioning your right to make money. He's questioning your adherence to American values. ????To his credit, at least Obama's Bain bomb came before the dinner. That way, he wouldn't be able to avoid questions from supporters who happen to make their living by using massive amounts of debt to acquire companies (some of which fail, causing layoffs, etc.). ????But here's the thing: A source tells me that not only did Obama not specifically mention private equity during his prepared remarks, but none of the attendees asked about it during a question-and-answer session. ????Seriously? ????Look, I agree with some of Obama's broader critiques of private equity (particularly of dividend recaps, whereby PE firms can profit on companies they help destroy). But he made some very questionable claims yesterday morning, and no one called him on it when given the chance last night. ????Even if such reticence was born of not wanting to fight with the guest of honor, such give-and-take could only make Obama a stronger candidate vs. Romney come the fall. Or maybe the private equity faithful were simply awe-struck by how Obama could bash them one moment, and take their money the next. Kind of like sweet-talking a company into a leveraged buyout that might later leave it penniless. ????Either way, it was an opportunity lost. For everybody. |
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