>But why doesn't this happen to restaurants, or super markets or car mechanics?
It DOES happen with car mechanics. Leonard Green LP owns Caliber Collision, Carlyle Group owns Service King, and Icahn Enterprises owns AAMCO, Pep Boys, and Precision Tune Auto Care.
While I don't have a specific example in my head about restaurants and grocery stores, I have to think that there are steps in the value chain that are absolutely owned and influenced by PE. Logistics? Real Estate?
Real Estate is a great example: most commercial real estate is held inside PE portfolios via Real Estate Investment Trusts, and lease rents are an extremely non-trivial portion of business costs for EVERYBODY, espcially grocery stores and restaurants.
But I agree about the many social and regulatory complexities regarding health care specifically. Often that complexity is what makes industries like health care such a lucrative investment for PE as it can be easier to hide incentive structures.
It DOES happen with car mechanics. Leonard Green LP owns Caliber Collision, Carlyle Group owns Service King, and Icahn Enterprises owns AAMCO, Pep Boys, and Precision Tune Auto Care.
While I don't have a specific example in my head about restaurants and grocery stores, I have to think that there are steps in the value chain that are absolutely owned and influenced by PE. Logistics? Real Estate?
Real Estate is a great example: most commercial real estate is held inside PE portfolios via Real Estate Investment Trusts, and lease rents are an extremely non-trivial portion of business costs for EVERYBODY, espcially grocery stores and restaurants.
But I agree about the many social and regulatory complexities regarding health care specifically. Often that complexity is what makes industries like health care such a lucrative investment for PE as it can be easier to hide incentive structures.