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Forstmann Little & Company is a private equity firm, specializing in leveraged buyouts (LBOs). The company was founded in 1978 by brothers Ted and Nick Forstmann, and Brian Little. With the deaths of Brian Little and Nicholas Forstmann in 2000 and 2001, respectively, Teddy Forstmann is the chief partner.
Forstmann Little has had success in many of its acquisitions, notably companies such as Gulfstream Aerospace, Topps Playing Cards, Dr. Pepper, and General Instrument. The company has usually been successful in making a profit on such purchases, selling Gulfstream to General Dynamics, and General Instrument to Motorola. In the particular case of Gulfstream, the company was suffering financially, and Ted Forstmann took direct control of the company's day-to-day operations in order to improve the company, and thus its attractiveness to a potential acquirer.
The company has also had some flops, such as McLeod USA and XO Communications.
One prominent episode in the life of the company was the 1988 bidding war for RJR Nabisco. Forstmann Little made a serious offer to acquire RJR Nabisco, but the management (chiefly F. Ross Johnson) was not interested in entertaining an offer, instead choosing Shearson Lehman Hutton. In the end, the board of directors chose Forstmann Little's arch-rival, KKR. The episode was popularized in the book, Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco and subsequent film. Forstmann Little's role in the bidding war was somewhat greater than indicated in the movie.
Ted Forstmann has in the past emphasized the difference in management style between his firm and KKR. Forstmann advocates a longer-term, more employee-friendly buyout atmosphere, whereas KKR has followed a path of downsizing and selling off portions of a company piecemeal. The firm has benefitted, with over $5 billion in profit for the company and its clients, and an astonishing 55% annual return on investment.
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