Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2008.

74 ABSTRACT This thesis deals with the private equity industry. Its aim is to coherently introduce private equity as a distinctive and integral part of today's economy, to provide relevant insight on the principles of functioning of private equity business model, and to analyse the mechanism of the most commonly used private equity transaction type. The thesis is structured into three chapters with each chapter being dedicated to one of the sub-aims. First chapter defines the notion of private equity and discusses the history of the industry and its economic performance. Private equity encompasses all types of equity investments into non-publicly traded companies. The industry itself has been gaining on significance since its emersion in the 1980s, mainly due to the fact that private equity investments have been consistently outperforming public markets in terms of realized returns. Second chapter is dedicated to the business model of private equity funds, their structure and lifecycle, as well as the investment process itself. Private equity funds take on the limited partnership legal form, which is managed by a professional private equity house while the investors' involvement consists solely in the provision of capital. A fund's lifetime is usually limited by a period of ten years and its lifecycle is...

The capital structure of leveraged buyout (LBO) companies often differs dramatically from that of other companies. What factors drive the amount of leverage in LBO transactions are often contrasted by two different views in previous research. The first view, based on the trade-off theory and the pecking order theory, states that leverage is driven by traditional firm characteristics. The second view, based on the market timing theory, instead states that leverage in LBOs foremost is driven by whether or not conditions in the credit market are favorable. Previous research that has investigated LBO companies' leverage in particular has voiced concerns that the first view that stems from classic capital structure theories may not be completely applicable on LBO companies.  The purpose of this paper is to examine what drives leverage in Swedish LBOs between the years of 2001 and 2021. To do this, a univariate analysis has been conducted to investigate patterns in leverage in different states of the credit market. Furthermore, an econometric approach was taken in a multivariate analysis to analyze which factors drive leverage in Swedish LBOs. The results contradict previous LBO research to some extent as leverage in Swedish LBOs is not driven by credit market conditions nor firm specific characteristics, except for tangibility which has a positive impact on leverage in one setting.

The aim of this thesis is description and understanding of private equity industry as a part of alternative asset class. In the first part, we describe the basic concepts of private equity industry and characteristics of individual subjects present in this sector. Analysis of the industry and basic comparison of private equity in Europe and United States is the theme of the second part of this paper. The base of knowledge created in the previous parts supports the analysis of buyouts and their value creation strategies. On the example of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, pre-eminent private equity firm, we show how private equity works in practice and what current trends in the industry are. In the end, we estimate the subjective value of one unit of ownership in KKR and list that risks could affect the company and the industry.

This paper examines the main drivers of leverage levels in private equity-sponsored leveraged buyouts (LBOs). In order to find out what drives LBO leverage, we analyse deal financing of 71 European LBO deals completed between 2005 and 2015. By conducting univariate t-test and multiple regression analysis, we analyse the predictive power of a number of classical capital structure determinants (i.e. firm-specific factors) on levels of debt financing in LBOs. In addition, the state of the credit market is considered as a potential determinant of LBO leverage. We find that credit market conditions have a significant effect on levels of debt financing in LBOs and suggest that the market timing theory can explain LBO leverage better than classical leverage determinants, i.e. firm specific factors derived from classical capital structure theories. The results also indicate a negative relationship between target firms’ tax rate and LBO leverage. We also find that target firms’ free cash flow prior to buyout has no significant impact on leverage in LBOs, something that contradicts much previous research.

<p>During the eighties a new type of financial transaction started to emerge on an increasing basis. It was the so called “leveraged buyout” also known as the LBO. In the US private equity firms made it to the headlines in financial media from engaging in leveraged buyouts with small equity investments and large amounts of borrowed capital, their targets where large solid multinational corporations. Much has happened since the eighties. Back then leveraged buyouts where often associated with terms such as “Slash and Burn” or “Buy, Flip and Strip” often meaning hostile takeovers and huge layoffs. Today private equity firms focus more on active ownership, fast decisions without the bureaucracy of the stock market and long term value creation in order to profit from their buyouts.</p><p>As private equity firms today invest tremendous amounts of capital through their private equity funds. Leveraged buyouts have become one of the major areas within investment banking. Even though the LBO is a common transaction it is often hard to find models used for valuation of such a deal. Private equity funds and investment banks all have their own valuation models but these are regarded as strictly confidential and seldom revealed to the public. Therefore the creation and publication of an LBO valuation model should be of great interest for everyone aiming at a future career within private equity, corporate finance or investment banking.</p><p>This thesis derives a complete LBO valuation model including a framework for finding a suitable LBO target. The LBO valuation model is created in cooperation with the debt capital markets department at one of the leading investment banks in the Nordic region. The framework is based on a qualitative study conducted on seven of the most distinguished private equity firms active in Sweden. In order to show how the LBO valuation model and the framework works, both are applied on the retail company Björn Borg listed on NASDAQ OMX. To verify the accuracy of the framework, calculated return from the model is analyzed and compared to the indications given by the framework.</p>

During the eighties a new type of financial transaction started to emerge on an increasing basis. It was the so called “leveraged buyout” also known as the LBO. In the US private equity firms made it to the headlines in financial media from engaging in leveraged buyouts with small equity investments and large amounts of borrowed capital, their targets where large solid multinational corporations. Much has happened since the eighties. Back then leveraged buyouts where often associated with terms such as “Slash and Burn” or “Buy, Flip and Strip” often meaning hostile takeovers and huge layoffs. Today private equity firms focus more on active ownership, fast decisions without the bureaucracy of the stock market and long term value creation in order to profit from their buyouts. As private equity firms today invest tremendous amounts of capital through their private equity funds. Leveraged buyouts have become one of the major areas within investment banking. Even though the LBO is a common transaction it is often hard to find models used for valuation of such a deal. Private equity funds and investment banks all have their own valuation models but these are regarded as strictly confidential and seldom revealed to the public. Therefore the creation and publication of an LBO valuation model should be of great interest for everyone aiming at a future career within private equity, corporate finance or investment banking. This thesis derives a complete LBO valuation model including a framework for finding a suitable LBO target. The LBO valuation model is created in cooperation with the debt capital markets department at one of the leading investment banks in the Nordic region. The framework is based on a qualitative study conducted on seven of the most distinguished private equity firms active in Sweden. In order to show how the LBO valuation model and the framework works, both are applied on the retail company Björn Borg listed on NASDAQ OMX. To verify the accuracy of the framework, calculated return from the model is analyzed and compared to the indications given by the framework.

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2007.

This diploma thesis deals with the acquisition of companies by means of the Leveraged Buyout (LBO) method. This method differs in many respects from the standards M&A. This work examines the specific features of the given business transactions from the viewpoint of the target companies, procedures and entities involved in these transactions. As the key element of the LBO method is the debt financing of the acquisition, the work also deals with this aspect and evaluates the positions of the creditors from the viewpoint of the influence on the stability of the financial system. The thesis further analyses the question whether the LBO method has an effect leading to an increased effectiveness of processes in a company, or whether, conversely, the proceeds of acquisition investors are a consequence of a transfer of values from other entities. The text is based on available theoretical and empirical sources which are supplemented by the author's analyses.

L’objet de cette recherche est d’identifier et analyser les facteurs déterminants de l’évolution du capital-investissement dans l’Europe de l’Est. De plus, notre travail compare les déterminants de LBO, respectivement de l’activité de VC dans les pays d’Europe de l’Est. Le modèle empirique comprend de nombreux déterminants déjà testés dans des études précédentes ainsi que de nouvelles variables telles que la productivité et l’indice de corruption, que nous considérons comme des facteurs importants pour expliquer l’évolution des investissements en capital-investissement en Europe de l’Est. Nos résultats confirment les hypothèses existantes concernant l’importance de certains déterminants sur l’évolution des investissements en capital-investissement en Europe de l’Est. Cependant, dans le contexte de la dernière crise, de nouveaux facteurs sont apparus comme importants pour le marché du capital investissement en Europe, tels que la productivité ou la corruption. La dernière partie de cette recherche montrent que les sociétés de capital-investissement en Europe de l’Est préfèrent les sorties à travers des fusions et acquisitions, suivies des introductions en bourse. De plus, nous validons une relation d'équilibre à long terme entre les investissements en capital-investissement, les introductions en bourse et les fusions et acquisitions. Le test de causalité de Granger montre l'existence d'une causalité unidirectionnelle du nombre de fusions et acquisitions par rapport au volume des investissements en capital-investissement en Europe de l'Est. / The purpose of this research is to identify and analyze the determinants of the evolution of private equity in Eastern Europe. Additionally, this paper compares the determinants of leveraged buyout activity, respectively venture capital activity in Eastern European countries. The empirical model of the first two sections includes many of the determinants already tested in previous studies and also new variables such as productivity and corruption index which we consider important factors in explaining the evolution of private equity investments in Europe. Our results confirm existing hypotheses regarding the importance of some determinants on the evolution of private equity investments in Europe. However, in the context of the last crisis new factors emerged as important for the private equity market in Europe such as productivity or corruption. The last section of this work tests the existence of a causal link between the evolution of private equity and the number of divestments of private equity funds in Eastern Europe during the financial crisis. Our results show that Eastern European private equity firms prefer M&A exits followed by IPOs. Furthermore, we validate a long-term equilibrium relationship between private equity investments, IPO and M&A. The Granger causality test shows the existence of a unidirectional causality of the number of M&A to the volume of private equity investments in Eastern Europe.