Marc Leder

Marc J. Leder (born in 1962) is an American businessman who is a co-founder of Sun Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Boca Raton, Florida.[1] He is also a limited partner of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils.

Marc Leder
Born
Marc J. Leder

1962 (age 60–61)
Long Island, New York, U.S.
EducationWharton School (BS)
OccupationInvestor
Title
Spouse
Lisa J. Weisbein
​
​
(m. 1987; div. 2010)​
Children4

Early life and education

Leder was born to a Jewish family and raised in the Long Island suburbs of New York City.[2][1] In 1979, Leder graduated from John L. Miller Great Neck North High School and in 1983, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.[3]

Career

Leder started his career at Financo, LLC.[4] In 1987, he joined Lehman Brothers as an analyst, and over the years he worked his way up to senior vice president. In 1995, he left Lehman with fellow Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni and friend Rodger Krouse to found Sun Capital Partners, Inc.[3]

Sun Capital Partners
Main article: Sun Capital Partners

Sun Capital was founded in 1995 by Leder and Krouse.[5][6] It targets businesses with revenues of $50 million to $1.0 billion for platform investments, and any revenue size for add-ons to existing portfolio companies. Sun Capital focuses on several transaction types, including corporate carve-outs, founder-owned, and sponsor-to-sponsor.[7] In 2009, it laid off 25% of its staff.[8] In 2013, he garnered attention for using the US bankruptcy process to shed legacy pension liabilities.[9]

In 2012, The New York Times wrote that to his critics Leder represented everything that’s wrong with the private equity business, noting that: "In recent years, a large number of the companies that Sun Capital has acquired have run into serious trouble, eliminated jobs or both. Since 2008, some 25 of its companies — roughly one of every five it owns — have filed for bankruptcy. Among the losers was Friendly's, the restaurant chain ... (Sun Capital was accused by a federal agency of pushing Friendly’s into bankruptcy ... to avoid paying pensions to the chain’s employees; Sun disputes that contention.) Another company that sank into bankruptcy was Real Mex, owner of the Chevy’s restaurant chain. In that case, Mr. Leder lost money for his investors not once, but twice."[10][11][12]

Personal investments

Leder was a member of an investment group led by Josh Harris that purchased the Philadelphia 76ers for $280 million in 2011.[13][14][15] Leder was also a limited partner of another group led by Harris that purchased the New Jersey Devils of the NHL and the Prudential Center arena for $320 million in 2013.[16][17][18]

Philanthropy

In 2010, Leder established the Marc J. Leder Foundation, Inc. a non-profit corporation based in Boca Raton that partially funds the Sun Capital Partners Foundation and makes grants to organizations. Past donations have included a $2 million gift to establish the Marc J. Leder Behavior Change for Good Term Fund at the School of Arts and Sciences and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a $1 million gift to endow a curatorial directorship at Penn’s Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), where he sits on the board.[19]

Personal life

Leder was married to Lisa J. Weisbein from 1987 until divorcing in 2010; they have three children.[20] Leder filed for divorce from his wife of 22 years after she cheated on him with their children’s 23-year-old tennis coach, according to filings in court by Leder’s divorce attorney.[4] They engaged in a contentious, messy divorce battle, fighting over the value of Leder’s 50% position in Sun Capital; they finally settled for an undisclosed amount.[8][11][21][4]

In 2012 Leder hosted a $50,000-per-plate fundraising dinner at his Boca Raton home for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.[22] At it, Romney spoke to the attendees and said that 47% of Americans believed that government should take care of them, viewed themselves as victims, and did not pay income tax, and "my job is not to worry about those people -- I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."[12][22] A surreptitious video recording of his statements was made by a bartender, leaked to the press, and became well known.[22][23] Leder threatened to sue the bartender who made the recording.[24][25]

In January 2012, Leder had another daughter with his girlfriend at the time. In 2012, New York Magazine described him as "better known as the sex-party-loving hedge fund guy...," and Daily Kos described him as "The Famous Orgy Guy".[26][27][4][28] In 2012 the Miami New Times reported that a friend of his said: "So many girls think they're dating him. There are least three [girlfriends] that I know of."[29][30]

References
  1. Foroohar, Kambiz (October 1, 2008). "Blackstone, Apollo Outshone as Sun Capital Buys Boston Market". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020.
  2. Guttman, Nathan (September 18, 2012). "Romney Trashes Two-State Solution in Video". The Jewish Daily Forward. Archived from the original on October 21, 2020.
  3. "Stocks". Bloomberg. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  4. "Spotlight on Romney fundraising host Leder". Reuters. September 22, 2012.
  5. Creswell, Julie (January 21, 2012). "In a Romney Believer, Private Equity's Risks and Rewards". The New York Times. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  6. "Interview With Sun Capital's Rodger Krouse". Privcap. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  7. "Investment Focus". Sun Capital Partners. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  8. "Clouds Hanging Over Sun Capital". DealBook. July 27, 2009.
  9. Fleischer, Victor (August 1, 2013). "Sun Capital Court Ruling Threatens Structure of Private Equity". DealBook.
  10. Timothy Spangler (2016). One Step Ahead; Private Equity and Hedge Funds After the Global Financial Crisis
  11. "In a Romney Believer, Private Equity's Risks and Rewards (Published 2012)". The New York Times. January 21, 2012.
  12. "Romney "47 Percent" Fundraiser Host: Hedge Fund Manager Who Likes Sex Parties".
  13. Fagan, Kate (July 13, 2011). "76ers sale deal is done". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  14. Fagan, Kate (August 2, 2011). "Those who know him say Joshua Harris, soon-to-be Sixers owner, lives for competition and success". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013.
  15. "Group Led by Joshua Harris Completes Purchase of Sixers" (Press release). Philadelphia 76ers. October 18, 2011. Archived from the original on March 18, 2018.
  16. "NJ Devils Partners and Senior Leadership". New Jersey Devils.
  17. "Josh Harris Buys The New Jersey Devils". KYW-TV. Associated Press. August 15, 2013. Archived from the original on September 24, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  18. Golden, Jessica (March 24, 2020). "76ers, Devils reverse decision to cut salaries up to 20% due to coronavirus hiatus". CNBC. Archived from the original on April 19, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  19. "$2 Million Gift from Marc J. Leder for Behavior Change for Good Initiative". almanac.upenn.edu. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  20. Ostrowski, Jeff (July 10, 2009). "Sun Capital co-founder worth more than $400 million, wife says". The Palm Beach Post. Archived from the original on December 27, 2013.
  21. Frank, Robert (September 20, 2012). "Romney Fundraiser Host Used Controversial Tax Strategy". CNBC.
  22. B. Dan Wood, Soren Jordan (2017). Party Polarization in America; The War Over Two Social Contracts
  23. Dan Balz, James Silberman (2013). Collision 2012; Obama Vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America
  24. "Bartender Behind The Romney 47% Video Gives First Interview, Says He Isn't A Democrat". Gothamist. March 14, 2013.
  25. Wyler, Grace. "The Person Who Leaked The Mitt Romney Video Thinks They're About To Be Sued". Business Insider.
  26. Mark Halperin, John Heilemann (2013). Double Down; Game Change 2012
  27. Roose, Kevin (November 19, 2012). "Your New Twinkies May Come From Mitt Romney's '47 Percent' Fund-raiser Friend [Updated]". Intelligencer.
  28. "Meet Mitt Romney's 'old friend,' wealthy fundraising sex-partier Marc Leder". Daily Kos.
  29. Elfrink, Tim. "Romney Video Leak: Party Host Was Florida Private Equity "Party Boy" Marc Leder". Miami New Times.
  30. Brendan Ballou (2023). Plunder; Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America

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