Yucaipa Companies

The Yucaipa Companies, LLC is an American private equity firm founded in 1986 by Ronald Burkle.[1] It specializes in private equity and venture capital, with a focus on middle-market companies, growth capital, industry consolidation, leveraged buyouts, and turnaround investments. It generally invests $25–$300 million in companies with $300–$500 million in revenues.[2]

The Yucaipa Companies
TypePrivate
IndustryPrivate equity
Founded1986 (1986)
FounderRonald Burkle
HeadquartersLos Angeles, California, United States
ProductsLeveraged buyout
Websiteyucaipaco.com

Yucaipa has a history of leveraged buyouts in supermarket and grocery chains, beginning with Jurgensen's Markets in 1986. After several standalone investments in the late 1980s, it went on to lead the consolidation of West Coast retail that occurred during the 1990s due in part to the rise of discount centers like Wal-Mart.[3][4] In October 2014, The Yucaipa Companies acquired British retailer Tesco's Fresh & Easy chain five years after it had entered the U.S. market.

Its investments include Relativity.[5]

History
Yucaipa Boeing 757-200 bizjet

Aloha Airlines purchase

In February 2006, Aloha Airlines was taken into private ownership by Yucaipa Companies and Aloha Investment Group, LLC head by Ramy El-Batrawi. After 61 years in business, passenger operations shut down on March 31, 2008, due to rising fuel prices, new competition for inter-island travel, a tightening credit market, and dwindling interest by investors in the airline industry.

In January 2011 Yucaipa won federal Bankruptcy Court approval to buy the Aloha name and other intellectual property for $1.5 million with a stipulation that it not resell the name to Mesa Air Group, the parent of go! Mokulele. It is unknown at this time what the future plans are for the Aloha name.

Caught in the pink slime controversy and with interim chief executive Ron Allen citing "ongoing media attention" that has "dramatically reduced the demand for all ground beef products" in 2012, Yucaipa's AFA declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, AFA at the time the controversy broke had about 850 employees and annual revenues of $958 million.[13][14]

Controversy

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, a close friend of founder Ron Burkle, was an advisor to Yucaipa.[15] From 2003 to 2006, Bill and Hillary Clintons' tax returns show total Yucaipa partnership income of $12.5 million. According to the 2007 summary provided by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, the Clintons earned $2.75 million from the Yucaipa partnership.[16]

References
  1. "Yucaipa Cos. History". Funding Universe. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  2. "Company Overview of The Yucaipa Companies, LLC". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  3. Phil R. Kaufman (May–August 2000). "Grocery Retailers Demonstrate Urge To Merge". FoodReview. 23 (2): 29–34. doi:10.22004/ag.econ.205543.
  4. Roane, Kit R. (September 15, 1994). "California Grocery Deal: Yucaipa to Buy Ralphs". New York Times.
  5. "Relativity Media". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  6. "Pathmark-Yucaipa Deal OKd". Los Angeles Times. June 10, 2005. Retrieved 2013-09-11.
  7. Canada, Hillary (September 4, 2012). "Yucaipa Returns to Market With $1.65 Billion Target". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2013-09-11.
  8. "Burkle's Yucaipa Divests B&N Stake". Wall Street Journal. June 5, 2012. Retrieved 2013-09-11.
  9. Sage, Alexandria (2009-11-13). "Burkle ups Barnes & Noble stake, cites concerns". Reuters. Retrieved 2013-09-11.
  10. "A&P wins exit financing, files plan". The Deal Pipeline. Retrieved 2013-09-11.
  11. Archived 2012-09-10 at Archive.today
  12. "Tesco offloads loss making Fresh & Easy chain". bbc.co.uk. 2013-09-10. Retrieved 2013-09-10.
  13. Milford, Phil, and Shruti Date Singh, "AFA Foods Files for Bankruptcy Citing 'Pink Slime' Coverage", April 2, 2012, Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2012-04-02.
  14. Lewis, Al, “Dude, people just don’t want to eat pink slime”, MarketWatch, April 4, 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
  15. John R. Emshwiller (March 16, 2009). "Bill Clinton Leaves Yucaipa Business Partnerships". Wall Street Journal.
  16. McIntire, Mike (April 5, 2008). "Clintons Made $109 Million in Last 8 Years". New York Times.
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