Private Equity is Not All Hostess Twinkies

The NYT ran a lengthy piece this weekend on how two private equity (PE) firms, Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Company, made a huge return on buying up the rights to Hostess Twinkies and a few of the company’s other brands, following the company’s bankruptcy. There are a couple of issues that deserve somewhat further attention than the article gives them.

First, while the article notes that its bankruptcy occurred under the ownership of Ripplewood Holdings, another PE company,...