What Do Private Equity Firms Say They Do?
Harvard Business School Finance Working Paper No. 15-081
Harvard Business School Entrepreneurial Management Working Paper No. 15-081
66 Pages Posted: 1 May 2015
There are 3 versions of this paper
What Do Private Equity Firms Say They Do?
What Do Private Equity Firms Say They Do?
What Do Private Equity Firms Say They Do?
Date Written: April 27, 2015
Abstract
We survey 79 private equity investors with combined AUM of over $750B about their practices in firm valuation, capital structure, governance, and value creation. Investors rely primarily on IRR and multiples to evaluate investments. Their LPs focus more on absolute performance. Capital structure choice is based equally on optimal trade-off and market timing considerations. PE investors anticipate adding value to portfolio companies, with a greater focus on increasing growth than on reducing costs. We also explore how the actions that PE managers say they take group into specific firm strategies and how those strategies are related to firm founder characteristics.
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