Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, typically known in the marketplace as ‘SPACs’, are publicly listed companies established with the aim of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more...

This paper provides an introduction to buyouts and the academic literature about them. Buyouts are initiated by “buyout funds”, which are limited partnerships raised from mostly institutional investors. The funds earn returns for their investors by improving the operations of the firms they...

By holding assets longer and increasingly focusing on growth strategies private equity firms enter the territory of strategic buyers. In one such strategy, a private equity firm buys a company and then builds on that "platform" through add-on acquisitions. We ask whether such serial...

Empirical analysis of a sample of companies with private equity (PE) ownership in the UK shows that PE firms act as deep-pocket investors for their portfolio companies, rescuing them if they fall in financial distress. In contrast, external financing is expensive for companies without...

"This is a much-needed work in the financial literature, and it is the first book ever to analyse the use of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) from a theoretical and practical perspective. By the end of 2020, more than 240 SPACs listed in the U.S. (on NASDAQ or the NYSE), raising a...

We document the implications of an LBO for the target firm's peers in terms of follow-on acquisitions, alliances, investment, and governance changes. LBOs tend to lead overall merger activity, predicting both more LBOs and strategic acquisitions in the industry. LBOs predict significant changes...

"Structured Finance is a textbook focusing on non-recourse financial techniques and asset-based lending. It explains the main structured finance techniques used today (LBO, project finance, asset finance and securitization) and how they compare. The book also outlines the reasons why these...

"This workbook is designed for use both as a companion to our book, Investment Banking: Valuation, LBOs, M&A, and IPOs, Third Edition, as well as on a standalone basis. Investment Banking focuses on the primary valuation methodologies currently used on Wall Street-namely, comparable companies...

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...

The objective of this paper is to illustrate the main theories and survey the empirical evidence on the impact of private equity leveraged buyouts (LBOs) on innovative activity at target companies. I illustrate how the theoretical lenses through which LBOs are described have adapted to the...

We study the global competition among private equity (PE) buyout firms. Using a detailed data set of PE firm characteristics, we investigate how PE firm heterogeneity across strategy and performance affects the volume of cross-border acquisitions. A one-standard-deviation increase in performance...

Private equity fund managers are typically required to invest their own money alongside the fund. We examine how this coinvestment affects the acquisition strategy of leveraged buyout funds. In a simple model, where the investment and capital structure decisions are made simultaneously, we show...

The economics of partnerships have been of enduring interest to economists, yet it is not clear what profit sharing within a private partnership should look like. We examine over seven hundred private equity partnerships, and show that the allocation of fund economics to individual partners...

The paper analyses the impact of private equity (PE) backed leveraged buyouts (LBOs) on innovation output (patenting). Using a sample of 407 UK deals we find that LBOs have a positive causal effect on patent stock and quality-adjusted patent stock. Our results imply a 6% increase in...

An overwhelmingly large number of research studies in corporate Finance span the basis formed by chiefly three corporate policies - Financial policy (leverage), dividend policy, and investment policy. The two most oft-cited frictions, agency issues and asymmetric information, add complexities to...

We review the theory and evidence on venture capital (VC) and other private equity: why professional private equity exists, what private equity managers do with their portfolio companies, what returns they earn, who earns more and why, what determines the design of contracts signed between (i)...