Bain Capital may be proving that squeezing day care teachers is profitable.
The Boston private-equity firm brought the Bright Horizons workplace day care chain public yesterday in a successful initial public offering — its shares popping 28.7 percent to close at $28.32 in their debut.
Bain put about $600 million down to buy the business in a $1.3 billion leveraged buyout in 2008.
Its 85 percent stake — Bain did not sell any shares in the IPO — has doubled in value to about $1.4 billion.
At the same time, Bright Horizons teachers are not enjoying the spoils, a New York City Bright Horizons executive told The Post.
There are 46 Bright Horizons centers (out of 773) in New York state, including several for children of Goldman Sachs workers.
The wages for New York City teachers are low, the executive said, averaging $14 an hour over 8.75-hour days — equal to $31,850 a year.
Their peers at public day care centers make 15 percent more, according to the Day Care Council of New York. Besides, “even teachers with masters get the hourly rate,” the executive said.
Bain, since it bought the chain, has reduced the cost of services, mostly teachers’ pay, from 79 percent of revenue in 2009 to 76.9 percent for the six months ended June 30, 2012.
Bain declined comment. Bright Horizons did not return several calls.