Sunday, July 15, 2012

Dear Mr. Romney, What About Global Tech?

OK, let's say Romney had nothing to do with Bain after 99'. Well, what about this?

On April 17, 1998, Brookside Capital Partners Fund, a Bain Capital affiliate, filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission noting that it had acquired 6.13 percent of Hong Kong-based Global-Tech Appliances, which manufactured household appliances in a production facility in the industrial city of Dongguan, China. That August, according to another SEC filing, Brookside upped its interest in Global-Tech to 10.3 percent. Both SEC filings identified Romney as the person in control of this investment: "Mr. W. Mitt Romney is the sole shareholder, sole director, President and Chief Executive Officer of Brookside Inc. and thus is the controlling person of Brookside Inc." Each of these documents was signed by Domenic Ferrante, a managing director of Brookside and Bain.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/bain-capital-mitt-romney-outsourcing-china-global-tech

Would that be profiting from outsourcing American jobs?

Oops.... March 25, 1999?
Some excerpts from an SEC filing:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1028348/0000927016-99-001166.txt

This filing is also being made by Sankaty High Yield Asset Partners, L.P. (the "Sankaty Fund"). Together, Brookside Capital Partners Fund, L.P. and Sankaty Fund own 1,101,000 shares, or 9.11%, of the Common Stock of Global-Tech Appliances, Inc.



*snicker*



As of the close of business on March 25, 1999, the Brookside Fund owned 1,053,000 shares of Common Stock of the Company.  The Brookside Fund has the sole power to vote and dispose of the shares of Common Stock. The Brookside Fund acts by and through its general partner, Brookside Investors.  Brookside Investors acts by and through its general partner, Brookside Inc. Mr. W. Mitt Romney is the sole shareholder, sole director, President and Chief Executive Officer of Brookside Inc. and thus is the controlling person of Brookside Inc. No person other than the respective owner referred to herein of shares of Common Stock is known to have the right to receive or the power to direct the receipt of dividends from or the proceeds from the sale of such shares of Common Stock.

                                  Page 5 of 8


As of the close of business on March 25, 1999, the Sankaty Fund owned 48,000 shares of Common Stock of the Company. The Sankaty Fund has the sole power to vote and dispose of the shares of Common Stock. The Sankaty Fund acts by and through its general partner, Sankaty Investors. Sankaty Investors acts by and through its managing member, Sankaty Ltd. Mr. W. Mitt Romney is the sole shareholder, a director, and President of Sankaty Ltd. and thus is the controlling person of Sankaty Ltd. No person other than the respective owner referred to herein of shares of Common Stock is known to have the right to receive or the power to direct the receipt of dividends from or the proceeds from the sale of such shares of Common Stock.

EDIT:: 09/21/2012

Does anyone wonder if this is Global-Tech that Romney is talking about?

"When I was back in my private equity days, we went to China to buy a factory there. It employed about 20,000 people. And they were almost all young women between the ages of about 18 and 22 or 23. They were saving for potentially becoming married. And they work in these huge factories, they made various small appliances. And as we were walking through this facility, seeing them work, the number of hours they worked per day, the pittance they earned, living in dormitories with little bathrooms at the end of maybe 10 rooms. And the rooms, they had 12 girls per room, three bunk beds on top of each other. You’ve seen, you’ve seen them? And around this factory was a fence, a huge fence with barbed wire and guard towers. And we said gosh, I can’t believe that you, you know, keep these girls in. And they said, no, no, no. This is to keep other people from coming in. Because people want so badly to work in this factory that we have to keep them out. " 

Mediate and Ben LaBolt seem to think so:

Over the weekend, Obama For America Press Secretary Ben LaBolt released this statement, pegged to the Globe‘s reporting and the video:
“As Mitt Romney tries to convince Americans he is a modern day trade warrior, it’s clear that his hypocrisy knows no bounds.  Before Mitt Romney started claiming he’d stand up to China and its unfair trade practices, he was profiting off of them.  Governor Romney even maintained his investment in a Chinese manufacturing company that relied on outsourcing American jobs after seeing its poor work conditions, which he described as surrounded by barbed wire and packed with 12 women per dormitory room.  When our competitors started a global race to the bottom, rather than placing a premium on creating American jobs and lifting the middle class, Mitt Romney dove in head first.”
 

4 comments:

  1. Romney says his time at Bain qualifies him to be President. Well, let's look at a time when he 'says' he was at Bain. In 1998 he held a considerable interest in Global-Tech. He held it in his Sankaty fund and the Brookside Capital Partners Fund. he invested in this company as it was touting itself as a company pioneering the offshoring of American jobs to China. Ask Romney: "Dear Mr. Romney, What About Global Tech?"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sankaty and Brookside Capital Partners Fund bought into them in 1998.

    Sankaty is Mitt Romney's private high yield fund and Brookside is a Bain affiliate.

    1998? How is this being missed?
    SEC filing?
    http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1028348/0000927016-98-003294.txt
    Brookside Investors


    Page 4 of 6


    acts by and through its general partner, Brookside Inc. Mr. W. Mitt Romney is
    the sole shareholder, sole director, President and Chief Executive Officer of
    Brookside Inc. and thus is the controlling person of Brookside Inc. No person
    other than the respective owner referred to herein of shares of Common Stock is
    known to have the right to receive or the power to direct the receipt of
    dividends from or the proceeds from the sale of such shares of Common Stock.

    The Brookside Fund owns 10.3% of shares of the Common Stock outstanding of
    the Company. The aggregate percentage of shares of Common Stock reported owned
    by the Brookside Fund is based upon 12,830,000 shares outstanding, which is the
    total number of shares of Common Stock outstanding as of June 30, 1998 based on
    representations made in the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the
    Securities and Exchange Commission on June 30, 1998.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Don't take my word.
    Google it:

    April 17, 1998 Global-Tech Mitt Romney

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mitt Romney touted his business acumen as a reason that we should vote for him. Well let's take a look at what he did. He put a little money into a company, borrowed tremendous amounts, and then took out 2-3 times what he put in and left that company in heavy debt.

    As well as that... he was a pioneer in outsourcing American jobs.

    And you think that is what this country needs? More debt and less jobs? Really?

    ReplyDelete