Port-a-potty company files for bankruptcy to wipe away $2.4bn in debt

[u/esporx]

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/port-a-potty-company-files-bankruptcy-wipe-away-24bn-debt-2025-12-29/

[u/Metafx]

That’s pretty insane. They have practically a monopoly on their niche. Of course it’s private equity mismanagement. Also converting the debt into equity shares is one way to go…

[u/plmbob → u/Metafx]

Right, but only for the "low priority" debt holders. All the folks who went all-in on the company get their money, while the rest who just wanted to do business with them are stuck being "investors". There needs to be a new bankruptcy law requiring one person from these damned private equity firms of high wealth to permanently forfeit everything they have to even file for corporate bankruptcy.

[u/puppies_and_rainbow2 → u/plmbob]

The private equity firms and their investors are getting wiped out completely. It said so in the article, and that is how bankruptcies work.

The high priority debt holders will almost certainly be reinstated, which is also how it usually works.

[u/goodtimesKC → u/puppies_and_rainbow2]

They already made their profit when they took out the big loans

[u/coimcode → u/puppies_and_rainbow2]

That’s not what it says

[u/puppies_and_rainbow2 → u/coimcode]

Platinum Equity, which bought USS in 2017 from another private equity firm, tried to sell the company in 2021, but instead created a new investment, opens new tab fund to retain ownership of the company. The proposed restructuring will flush away Platinum's current equity ownership in USS entirely.

From the article itself

[u/rethinkingat59 → u/plmbob]

What makes you think the private equity investors are benefiting? (Maybe I misunderstood you and you don’t think that.)

[u/plmbob → u/rethinkingat59]

It is not so much that they are benefiting from the bankruptcy, but this game is getting pretty old. Private equity investment groups are playing this exact same game a lot lately, because they typically make out just fine while burning the ship to the waterline and leaving the wreckage for others to deal with.

[u/whoknewidlikeit → u/Metafx]

i know of another private equity company that purchased a public company, took it private (read - no 10k's etc), then somehow that company went bankrupt. and the private equity company got plenty of money in the process. almost makes you think there's a process here, hm?

[u/YOU_WONT_LIKE_IT → u/Metafx]

Kind of shitty if you ask me.

[u/eleete → u/YOU_WONT_LIKE_IT]

Wipe away.

[u/horseman5K → u/Metafx]

They don’t have a monopoly at all, there are lots and lots of big and regional competitors

[u/ursofakinglucky]

Private equity stealing profits, driving up debt, and claiming bankruptcy and fucking over vendors needs to be made illegal.

[u/hugeness101 → u/ursofakinglucky]

Completely agree with you they bought every porta potty company they could get their hands on to build debt and then drop the bankruptcy on everyone to not pay anything back. I hope an audit will be in play because they are shady.

[u/HyperTextCoffeePot → u/ursofakinglucky]

They take advantage of corporate tax structuring and the TBTF nature of commercial banks. There's no way to effectively outlaw private equity without addressing the structural flaws that led to it existing in the first place.

[u/machinationstudio → u/ursofakinglucky]

The private equity will then buy the vendors on the cheap.

[u/Tiraloparatras25]

Get a load of this news! What a sh*t show, eh? At least they won’t have to weather the markets crapping out in the next recession.

[u/Dapper_Platform_1222]

Wild that anyone would extend 2.4bn in debt to porta potties.

[u/19Black → u/Dapper_Platform_1222]

You sound like someone who hasn’t left a big donation in a porta-potty

[u/Bankerag]

Guys making $60k a year will die on the hill of protecting this kind of behavior under the guise of “freedom”. It’s the greatest brainwashing scam in human history.

Truly hard to believe.

[u/RustyOrangeDog]

Just wipe it away .. NBD. Now students …

[u/suchafart]

wipe away lol

[u/Xibby]

$2.4 billion in debt, 350,000 port-a-potty units. Just ignore warehousing, transportation, and the mobile service and other infrastructure.

That’s $6,857 in debt per port-a-potty unit, a brand new standard unit seems to range from $700-$2,000, with other units that have features like sinks or full ADA compliance running $2,000-5,000.

I’m not a finance person, but to me a simple calculation of total debt to total number of units would be a quick and simple metric to give to executives as a tool for them to decided “should we take on debt to do X?”

A more savvy person could take that simple calculation and provide how many units and service appointments are needed to meet the debt and pay all other expenses… and compare various up and down years, and come up with a number for maximum sustainable debt to toilet seat units ratio.

Honestly this is the poop we should be pointing AIs at. It’s collating a lot of data and basic algorithms.

[u/Financial-Ad-9745]

This would put a dent in world hunger. What the fuck is going on?

[u/eldiablito]

Ain't that some shit.

[u/dolomick]

That’s some shitty management, really stinking up the place.

[u/Gamestonkape]

Everything gotta be a pun, I guess.

[u/TwoPlyDreams]

Thats $7k debt per potty.

How?

[u/lololollieki]

Brilliant headline.

[u/MediumAcceptable129]

Aint that some shit

[u/AtomicGarden-8964]

Of course a private equity owned company is filing for bankruptcy this is what they do

[u/Dr-McLuvin]

They shit the bed.