On the record · Other
Guitar Center
Bain's $2.1B LBO loaded $1.75B in debt. Filed Chapter 11 in 2020 but survived after eliminating $800M in debt.
Research depth
Outcomes researched
Reviewed operating findings or a classified operating outcome are available.
Record updated Sept. 4, 2026
Current ownership
Current owner not established
This record does not identify a current owner. That absence is a gap in the record, not a conclusion about ownership.
1 ownership record has an unresolved current/former status.
Ownership and transaction history
Chronology from recorded ownership periods, transactions and reviewed outcome events. Event order does not imply causation.
Date not recorded
What happened under and after ownership
Operating outcome
Operating through distress or restructuring
Guitar Center, controlled by Ares Management since a 2014 debt-for-equity conversion of a Bain Capital-era leveraged buyout, filed Chapter 11 in November 2020; stores stayed open throughout, and the company exited bankruptcy about a month later after cutting nearly $800 million of debt.
As of October 2023, owned by funds managed by Ares, The Carlyle Group and Brigade Capital Management, the group formed in the 2020 restructuring.
- Founded
- 1959
- Sponsor at closure
- Ares Management
- Retail Dive · Chapter 11 filing in November 2020, plan to refinance debt and exit before year-end, stores continuing to operate
- Retail Dive · exit from Chapter 11 after reducing debt by nearly $800 million
- PR Newswire (company primary) · 2023 · current ownership by funds managed by Ares Private Equity Group, The Carlyle Group and Brigade Capital Management
What we do not know
These are gaps in the public record, not findings about the organization.
- No current public ownership assessment has been published.
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