Private Equity Repellent

摘要

Three Weeks Before Home Depot Inc. CEO Robert L. Nardelli resigned, Standard & Poor's downgraded the company's credit rating, citing the retailer's "more aggressive" financial policy. In the past year Home Depot had taken on $5 billion in new debt and tapped two-thirds of its cash reserves to buy back shares and increase dividends. The moves were a sop to angry shareholders who had been pestering Home Depot to boost the stock price.