$1B Bain Deal Keyed Italy Outrage

If Mitt Romney wins the presidency, he might be in for some awkwardness the first time he runs into Italian politicians at a state dinner. That’s because when he headed Bain Capital 12 years ago, the company was part of a group that bought a telephone-directory company from the Italian government and then flipped it for 25 times more money about two years later, at the height of the tech bubble. Bain evaded taxes on the deal by routing its profits through Luxembourg. After the company’s value collapsed, the deal sparked widespread outrage and various probes in Italy, which has been slammed with economic woes in recent years. Romney himself, however, has little to complain about, as he likely made between $50 million and $60 million on it.