This paper investigates the relationship between leverage and returns in private equity buyout transactions. In contrast to the predictions of traditional capital structure theory, we find that transactions financed with large amounts of debt are associated higher transaction prices and lower...

Understanding value creation at the transaction level is at the heart of explaining private equity (PE) returns. Taking advantage of a proprietary sample of 2,029 international buyout deals executed between 1984 and 2013 we provide detailed evidence on financial, market and operational value...

Most of the existing research on value creation drivers in private equity buyouts is restricted to the US and the UK, whereas continental European countries are not included. In addition, most of the generally applied methods for measuring the importance of different value creation drivers do...

Using a unique proprietary data set of 1,980 realized and unrealized buyouts completed between 1986 and 2010, we examine entry and exit pricing in buyouts and its influence on private equity (PE) sponsors' returns. We find that besides leverage and operational improvements, EBITDA multiple...

We use a proprietary dataset to explore (i) the financial covenant structure and (ii) the determinants of their restrictiveness in leveraged buyouts. With respect to (i) we find that the covenant structure is more standardized in sponsored than in non-sponsored loans: the former show less...

EV/EBITDA multiple expansion in Private Equity (PE) transactions strongly influences deal returns. As multiple expansion is the result of deal pricing differences between entry and exit, this paper attempts to shed light on how relative deal pricing influences multiple expansion and deal...