Ask Ropes & Gray chairman R. Bradford Malt when he first thought that W. Mitt Romney could be president of the United States, and Malt will say that that impression was formed at one of their early meetings, 22 years ago.
In 1990 Bain & Co. looked ready to become a casualty of a stagnant economy and its founding partners’ hubris. Five years earlier, the eight founding partners had sold 30 percent of the consulting company to an employee stock option plan for $200 million. The plan borrowed from four banks to fund the buyout. Then a recession and a scandal involving Bain & Co. client Guinness p.l.c. struck, and the consulting firm ran into trouble repaying the loans. Consultants were fleeing from the sinking ship.
