The paper analyzes the value creation drivers and operational alpha in private equity based on the proprietary data. The paper provides empirical evidence that operational improvements are the key to successful generation of value for investors

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...

We use a proprietary dataset to explore (i) the financial covenant structure and (ii) the determinants of their restrictiveness in leveraged buyouts. With respect to (i) we find that the covenant structure is more standardized in sponsored than in non-sponsored loans: the former show less...

Most of the existing research on value creation drivers in private equity buyouts is restricted to the US and the UK, whereas continental European countries are not included. In addition, most of the generally applied methods for measuring the importance of different value creation drivers do...

In this paper we investigate the returns to venture capital firms from acquisition exits. Starting from M&A literature, we develop three detailed categorizations of acquisitions based on the acquirer's motive and related agency issues. We use a proprietary data set of 2,356 venture...