In this paper, we investigate the role of educational ties in private equity. Although we cannot observe all the funds that bid for a target company, we construct the set of potential bidders based upon their size and investment cycle, as well as the location and sector of their target...

Financial advisors play an important role in M&A transactions. Private equity (PE) firms, in turn, are highly sought-after clients for financial advisors as they promise lucrative business due to their frequent engagements in acquisitions. We find that PE firms pay, on average, less for...

Based on a sample of 114,098 investments committed by 12,258 limited partners into 20,473 private equity funds, we study an international home bias in fund manager selection in private equity. We find that limited partners overweigh their investments with fund managers domiciled in the same...

When investors commit capital to a private equity fund, the money is not immediately invested but is called by the fund manager throughout an investment period of up to five years. This business model allows private equity fund managers to invest the committed capital at their own discretion,...

We assess the pricing of transactions undertaken by private equity (PE) funds in comparison to the transactions of strategic acquirers and sellers and focus on synergy gains as an explanatory factor. Controlling for company and deal characteristics, we show that PE funds pay 20% less, on...