There are certain Orwellian terms that are thrown around in the world of finance that are meant to confuse the uninitiated, and to some extent even the experts. One of those terms is “leverage,” as in “leveraged buyout”. Leverage is a whitewashed term for debt. Or risk. Or “You pay a little money now but you owe a lot more later.” The term “leverage” brings to mind loosening a nut with a torque wrench, or something else totally benign in people’s minds. “Heavy debt” though, people know is risky, so big moves are not described that way. It would take out too much of the sexiness.
But imagine if, instead of the term “leveraged buyout,” finance buffs used the term “very risky debt-filled buyout”. That might add a sense of realism to the current connotation of the term leveraged buyout, which is “a huge deal just happened and a lot of money is involved, think of torque wrenches, so invest.”
As long as interest rates remain low and business is good, or in other words as long as you execute a debt-filled deal wrought with risk during the boom phase of the business cycle, you’re good. You can pass on the debt to someone else as long as you can pay it off during the boom phase. But if you don’t understand the boom-bust business cycle and what causes it and you execute a “leveraged buyout” right on the cusp of a bust, you’re pretty much screwed.
In so many words, that’s exactly what happened to Station Casinos in 2009. Lorenzo Fertitta executed a $3.5B leveraged buyout of Station Casinos, filled with debt in November 2007 of all times, just in time for the financial collapse. At the time of its bankruptcy in July 2009, Station had $6.5B in debt on its balance sheet, $3B more than the actual cost of the buyout. That’s “leverage” for you. One month after the bankruptcy, Frank Fertitta Jr., founder of Station Casinos and head of the Fertitta family, died of a heart attack.
