The Big Whatever should think long and hard about letting PE into its operations. On the surface, it sounds great. Oh boy! PE firms are going to invest BILLIONS in our conference! But, if the revenue is not as projected, and the first tranche of investment loans come due, what will be the consequences if there is a default?
And keep in mind, the PE firms assemble multi-billion dollar investors (in some case, university endowments) to participate in each venture. It's about dollars and cents. And again, make no mistake, the PE firms and their underlying investors only care about one thing... return on investment. Profiteering.
According to the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, private equity firms were involved in 70% of the largest 2024 US corporate bankruptcies.
They have pretty well played out the retail industry having driven a number of retail stores into bankruptcy.
PE firms investment in mental health has been devastating. Mental health treatment centers, which used to employ medical doctors as employees, now employ them as part time independent contractors leading to worsened treatment outcomes. Staffs are slashed. In the past year alone, I know of at least 5 eating disorder residential treatment centers which have closed. They simply could not generate a large enough profit.
So, the PE sharks will come in ... will get the universities and conference to waive any sovereign immunity defenses they may have and when the defaults start to happen ... will the property on which the universities sit be auctioned off?
Look at what PE has done to nursing homes ... https://pestakeholder.org/news/new-pesp-report-reveals-private-equity-continues-to-acquire-and-bankrupt-nursing-homes/
The Big Whatever Conference would be well advised to steer clear.