Pavlick's rent surged by more than 7%. Additional increases followed. She said the unexpected jump forced her and her neighbors, many on fixed incomes and unable to relocate, to sometimes choose between food and medicine.
The 2015 acquisition and subsequent sale of Pavlick's mobile home park is a core business practice for private equity firms such as Carlyle, which buy and restructure private companies to build value for their investors, sometimes cutting jobs and services in the process.
But the deal, one of hundreds Carlyle executed in recent years, could become a political liability for Carlyle's former co-CEO,
“They don’t realize that these are peoples’ homes. We’re not just numbers on a spreadsheet," said Pavlick, now 74 years old. “They have no conscience."
Beyond mobile home parks, Youngkin helped Carlyle make money for investors by targeting nursing homes, auto parts manufacturers, energy companies and even a business that produces “less-lethal” weapons used by governments that have cracked down on democracy advocates. More than 1,000 jobs were moved offshore in recent years as companies were restructured. Hundreds more were laid off after Carlyle instituted a series of cost-cutting measures at a nationwide nursing home chain; complaints of deteriorating service and neglect followed.
There are no allegations of illegality or wrongdoing, but Youngkin's political aspirations have drawn new scrutiny to his dealings at the
Perhaps not since former Republican presidential nominee
Youngkin now faces another wealthy former businessman, former Democratic Gov.
While McAuliffe’s ties to big donors and lobbyists are well-established, Youngkin has only begun to confront difficult questions about his business background. His team declined to address any of Carlyle's specific deals.
“As a young man, Glenn joined a small company and over the next 25 years worked his way up to the top of the company, helping to grow it into a hugely successful enterprise that turned good businesses into great businesses, created tens of thousands of jobs, and funded the retirement pensions of police officers, firefighters, and teachers," said Youngkin spokesman
Youngkin has made his business experience and status as a political outsider central to his pitch to voters. But more often than not, he discusses his career in broad strokes, without mentioning his lofty position or even the name of his former firm.
He leans on the phrase “building business and creating jobs” when talking about his career, typically without specific description of the types of deals he oversaw.
Asked in a February interview with a former state lawmaker that was streamed on social media how he viewed the role of private equity in the economy, Youngkin responded: “We invest in companies, and we try to take good companies and make them great companies. And we do that by helping them expand, to launch new products, to see new futures, to hire new people.”
While creating big profits for the firm's investors, Carlyle's deals sometimes triggered rounds of layoffs, outsourced jobs and complaints from the people directly served by the companies acquired.
The details in some cases may be politically damaging for Youngkin, but the situation is also complicated for his Democratic critics, who have tried to brand Youngkin as too close to former President
The former Democratic governor's public disclosures show no current ties, but records reveal that McAuliffe invested at least
Spokesperson
“Glenn Youngkin’s record is clear: shipping American jobs overseas and harming seniors and homeowners, all for his own profit," Freundlich said. “Virginians deserve better than an extreme, Trump-endorsed job killer with a track record of always putting his own wealth first.”
Carlyle made investments in several companies under Youngkin's leadership that moved at least 1,300 American jobs offshore, according to
They include
After they were restructured, all three companies were sold for hundreds of millions of dollars more than they were acquired for.
Veyance Technologies was among those companies in a larger fund in which McAuliffe had invested; that means he would have profited from the deal.
A representative for Carlyle declined to comment for this story. The company's leadership has struggled to defend some of their decisions at times.
The firm in 2005 acquired a minority stake in
Combined Systems officials said at the time that they could not control how their products were used. But the
By all measures, Carlyle is a behemoth in the world of private equity, with 29 offices spread across five continents staffed by more than 1,800 professionals. The firm raised over
Youngkin joined the firm in 1995 and rose up through the ranks steadily in the subsequent years, becoming head of the industrial sector investment team by 2005. By
Carlyle announced Youngkin's retirement last summer amid speculation that he was interested in running for office. In the announcement, Youngkin said it was the “professional journey of a lifetime and my honor to be part of building Carlyle into the global institution it is today."
Youngkin's annual compensation package in 2019, his last full year at the company, approached
Acquiring higher-end mobile home parks, now referred to as manufactured housing, was part of a broader strategy for Carlyle that included large properties in
Critics, including Sen.
Six years after Carlyle entered Pavlick's life, she is still fighting rent and fee increases, which continued to surge after Carlyle sold her community to another out-of-state investment firm two years ago.
“This park used to be called the park with the heart,” Pavlick said. “They just turned everybody’s happy home upside down.”
Peoples reported from
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