SEATTLE, June 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With Washington Mutual
(WaMu) shareholders set to vote on a $7 billion deal that will give private
equity buy-out firm Texas Pacific Group (TPG) and a select group of
investors more than half the thrift institution's stock shares,
Seattle-area residents and workers are protesting the deal's potentially
"toxic" impact on consumers and the economy today. Wearing HazMat suits and
carrying signs, protesters are calling attention to the deal's potential to
expose consumers, taxpayers, and the economy to unacceptably high levels of
risk--including through increased fees, credit card interest rates, and
questionable regulatory and business practices.
"This deal partners some of the worst practices by our nation's largest
banking institutions and the titans of the private equity world at the
worst possible time for our economy," said Stephen Lerner, director of the
SEIU Private Equity Project. "Taxpayers, consumers, and shareholders
shouldn't have to pay twice--once for Washington Mutual's record of harmful
banking practices and again for a deal that will encourage risky behavior
and more abusive practices in the future."
A Track Record of Harmful Banking Practices, Private Equity Funds in
Jeopardy
An affirmative vote today by shareholders would give TPG and its
partners a stake of shares equivalent to 50.2 percent of WaMu's outstanding
shares (Source: "Approve This Deal, or Else," New York Times, Gretchen
Morgenson, June 15, 2008), however the deal raises serious questions about
combining a major financial institution with a track record of harmful
banking practices with a private equity firm linked with its own share of
troubles. For the amount private equity giant TPG received in transaction
fees as part of the WaMu deal--$50 million--WaMu could have waived mortgage
payments for thousands of mortgage holders currently in foreclosure for
eight months, approximately 3,259 struggling homeowners nationally.
As the nation's largest thrift -- 19.8 million people and businesses
have WaMu bank accounts -- WaMu has come under fire for leading the market
in risky subprime loans and pay-[1] [2] [3] 下一页
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