In addition to having to deal with the credit crunch, now the buyers of Sallie Mae must also contend with the Service Employees International Union, a critic of private equity buyouts, which is organizing college students to oppose the purchase of the lender.
SEIU has launched “1000 Voices in 1000 Hours,” a Web-based campaign to recruit college students and their parents to demand that J.C. Flowers & Co. and its partners Bank of America Corp. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. cap interest rates on Sallie Mae loans, provide additional money for debt forgiveness, provide more transparent loan terms and swear off what the union says are “aggressive” debt collection practices. Students “are saddled with high interest and the prospect of crushing debt burdens that could get worse under a profit-driven private equity buyout," SEIU said.
SEIU is also campaigning for student loan reform legislation that Sallie Mae's prospective buyers say could hurt future profits. —Bill McConnell
See Behind the Buyouts blog from the SEIU
See Behind the Buyouts: Sallie Mae blog from the SEIU
See the deal's announcement from TheDeal.com
See Charting the Take Privates from Dealscape
Tags: Service Employees International Union, SEIU, Sallie Mae, politics, private+equity, LBO
