Secondary buyouts (SBOs) can be viewed as an oxymoron: Booming SBO activity meets public and investor´s perception of this investments as “lemons”, claiming that first round buyers in the primary buyout (PBO) leave no potential for further value creation on the table. Using a unique back to...

How do private equity (PE) investors affect firms' borrowing constraints, debt structure, and leverage dynamics? In this paper, we examine this central question by analyzing a large and novel database of PE-backed, bank-reliant, small and middle market firms in the U.S. using administrative...

I study a model of blockholder short-termism, where each blockholder (e.g., activist shareholder) has a stake in a different firm and can sell before the impact of his actions on firm value is realized. I find that the existence of value-destroying blockholders can increase average firm value,...

B&B strategies are increasingly popular, with past studies showing them to achieve superior returns. The question of how exactly B&B strategies create value is, however, still a "black box". Relying on a unique and proprietary sample of 161 B&B buyouts with valuation details on related add-on...

This paper investigates the compensation and growth dynamics of private equity firms. Using proprietary data, I estimate that about half of their revenue is performance-related and find that current fund performance also has indirect effects on firms’ future revenue. The dynamics of these...

We examine whether coverage by analysts affiliated with lenders affects loan contracting. We find that loans to borrowers covered by affiliated analysts have lower spreads but more covenants based on financial information. Further analyses suggest the results are driven mostly by ex post...

We study the pace at which socially responsible investors can induce firms to reduce negative externalities in private capital markets. Investors with broad preferences, who care about firm externalities independent of their ownership in the firm, value acquiring firms with high production...

(VF)Cet article étudie l’incidence des opérations de leveraged buyout (LBO) sur la défaillance des entreprises cibles françaises. Selon la théorie de l’agence, l’augmentation du risque de défaillance, induit par la hausse du niveau d’endettement, doit être compensée par le...

We study whether Chinese CEOs with financial experience engage in more earnings management or less earnings management than those without such experience. In doing so, we distinguish between accrual-based earnings management and real earnings management. Overall, we find that CEOs with financial...