We survey 79 private equity (PE) investors with combined assets under management of more than $750 billion about their practices in firm valuation, capital structure, governance, and value creation. Investors rely primarily on internal rates of return and multiples to evaluate investments. Their...

This paper studies the influence of the private benefits of control on the capital structure and the growth of private companies. It is argued that companies in which existing owners would lose more control if they expanded, have smaller equity increases, are more highly levered and grow more...

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...

This paper attempts to assist fellow leveraged buyout researchers understand nuanced details of corporate finance and leveraged buyouts, in particular. Given Haque, Jang, and Mayer (2022) is produced by esteemed colleagues at prestigious intuitions (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve...

This article aims to analyze the evolution of private equity over the last decade in terms of valuation (asset prices), determinants of private equity returns and the role that leverage and corporate governance plays in the success of private equity. The years 2005-2007 were characterized by a...

Over the last two decades, the number (enterprise value) of leveraged buyout transactions involving privately held targets totals more than 10,000 (over $850 billion), accounting for 46% (21%) of the worldwide leveraged buyout market. Yet the vast majority of academic studies focus on the...

In this paper we address the magnitude of debt-related tax shields employing a proprietary data set of 56 German leveraged buyouts (LBOs) completed between 1997 and 2011. In particular we examine the relevance and performance contribution of tax shields under different financing policies, and...

Using nationally representative Norwegian data we show family-owned workplaces are less likely to close than observationally similar non-family-owned workplaces. But this changed during the Crisis when the family businesses' closure hazard soared. This hike in 2009 was not related to performance...