We are able to shed light on the black box of restructuring tools private equity investors use to improve the operational performance of their portfolio companies. By building on previous work considering performance evaluation of PE backed companies, we analyze whether private equity improves...

This study investigates the transition from being a listed company with a dispersed ownership structure to being a privately held company with a concentrated ownership structure. We consider a sample of private equity backed portfolio companies to evaluate the consequences of the corporate...

This study analyses the role of private equity investors in solving asymmetric information problems and the relationship to underpricing, wealth loss for pre-existing shareholders and the cost of going public. According to certification theory, companies backed by private equity investors are...

Are private equity investors able to reduce the overall costs of going public? This hypothesis was tested, for the Italian market, on a sample of 155 Ipos (54 Vb and 101 Nvb) during the period 1999-2007. For each company we estimated the direct and indirect costs of listing. The main results are...

Inmitten der internationalen Finanzkrise hat die Bundesregierung im Herbst 2007 das Risikobegrenzungsgesetz verabschiedet. Nun wird der Bundestag über das Gesetz entscheiden. Die einheimischen Private-Equity-/Buy-Out-Anbieter, die bislang nicht unter die Bankenaufsicht fallen, gehören zu den...

In the midst of the international financial crisis, the German federal government passed the Risk Limitation Act in autumn 2007. In spring 2008 the Bundestag has finally decided on the law. The domestic private equity/buyout providers, which have not previously been subject to banking...

The current downturn in the American and Western European economies, combined with increasing regulatory pressure on private equity throughout the developed world, made emerging markets an attractive destination for private equity. As part of the emerging markets, Central and Eastern Europe's...

Private equity owned firms have more leverage, more intense compensation contracts, and higher productivity than comparable firms. We develop a theory of buyouts in oligopolistic markets that explains these facts. Private equity firms are more aggressive in inducing restructuring compared to...

This paper presents a model of the financial structure of private equity firms. In the model, the general partner of the firm encounters a sequence of deals over time where the exact quality of each deal cannot be credibly communicated to investors. We show that the optimal financing arrangement...

We apply control rights theory to explain the structure and determinants of financial covenants in private equity backed leveraged buyouts. We analyze 130 German transactions from 2000 to 2008, covering about 40 percent of the LBO market during this period. We consider Germany to be a superior...