IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/jecper/v23y2009i1p147-66.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Beware of Venturing into Private Equity

Author

Listed:
  • Ludovic Phalippou

Abstract

As a step towards understanding whether a private equity governance structure reduces overall agency conflicts relative to a public equity governance structure (as is often argued), this paper describes the contracts between private equity funds and investors, and the returns earned by investors. The paper sets the stage with a puzzle: the average performance of private equity funds is above that of the Standard and Poor's 500 - the main public stock market index - before fees are charged, but below that benchmark after fees are charged. Why are the payments to private equity buyout funds so large? Why does the marginal investor invest in buyout funds? I explore one potential answer (and probably the most controversial): that some investors are fooled. I show that the fee contracts for these funds are opaque. Considering this and the way that compensation contracts bury, in details, costly provisions that are difficult to justify on the basis of proper incentive alignment, it would be premature to assert that the agency conflicts are lower in private equity than in public equity.

Suggested Citation

  • Ludovic Phalippou, 2009. "Beware of Venturing into Private Equity," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 147-166, Winter.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:23:y:2009:i:1:p:147-66
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jep.23.1.147
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.23.1.147
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Driessen, Joost & Lin, Tse-Chun & Phalippou, Ludovic, 2012. "A New Method to Estimate Risk and Return of Nontraded Assets from Cash Flows: The Case of Private Equity Funds," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(3), pages 511-535, June.
    2. Xavier Gabaix & David Laibson, 2018. "Shrouded attributes, consumer myopia and information suppression in competitive markets," Chapters, in: Victor J. Tremblay & Elizabeth Schroeder & Carol Horton Tremblay (ed.), Handbook of Behavioral Industrial Organization, chapter 3, pages 40-74, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Steven N. Kaplan & Antoinette Schoar, 2005. "Private Equity Performance: Returns, Persistence, and Capital Flows," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(4), pages 1791-1823, August.
    4. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    5. Alexander Ljungqvist & Matthew Richardson, 2003. "The cash flow, return and risk characteristics of private equity," NBER Working Papers 9454, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Eric Zitzewitz, 2006. "How Widespread Was Late Trading in Mutual Funds?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 284-289, May.
    7. José‐Miguel Gaspar & Massimo Massa & Pedro Matos, 2006. "Favoritism in Mutual Fund Families? Evidence on Strategic Cross‐Fund Subsidization," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 73-104, February.
    8. William Fung & David A. Hsieh & Narayan Y. Naik & Tarun Ramadorai, 2008. "Hedge Funds: Performance, Risk, and Capital Formation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1777-1803, August.
    9. Lee, Peggy M. & Wahal, Sunil, 2004. "Grandstanding, certification and the underpricing of venture capital backed IPOs," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 375-407, August.
    10. Malkiel, Burton G, 1995. "Returns from Investing in Equity Mutual Funds 1971 to 1991," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(2), pages 549-572, June.
    11. Jennifer S. Conrad & Kevin M. Johnson & Sunil Wahal, 2001. "Institutional Trading and Soft Dollars," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(1), pages 397-416, February.
    12. Josh Lerner & Antoinette Schoar & Wan Wongsunwai, 2007. "Smart Institutions, Foolish Choices: The Limited Partner Performance Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(2), pages 731-764, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rin, Marco Da & Hellmann, Thomas & Puri, Manju, 2013. "A Survey of Venture Capital Research," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 573-648, Elsevier.
    2. Korteweg, Arthur & Sorensen, Morten, 2017. "Skill and luck in private equity performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 535-562.
    3. Arpit Gupta & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2021. "Valuing Private Equity Investments Strip by Strip," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(6), pages 3255-3307, December.
    4. Robinson, David T. & Sensoy, Berk A., 2016. "Cyclicality, performance measurement, and cash flow liquidity in private equity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 521-543.
    5. Arthur Korteweg & Stefan Nagel, 2016. "Risk‐Adjusting the Returns to Venture Capital," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(3), pages 1437-1470, June.
    6. Agarwal, Vikas & Barber, Brad M. & Cheng, Si & Hameed, Allaudeen & Yasuda, Ayako, 2021. "Private company valuations by mutual funds," CFR Working Papers 21-09, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    7. Valkama, Petri & Maula, Markku & Nikoskelainen, Erkki & Wright, Mike, 2013. "Drivers of holding period firm-level returns in private equity-backed buyouts," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 2378-2391.
    8. Arpit Gupta & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2019. "Valuing Private Equity Strip by Strip," NBER Working Papers 26514, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Brian H. Boyer & Taylor D. Nadauld & Keith P. Vorkink & Michael S. Weisbach, 2023. "Discount‐Rate Risk in Private Equity: Evidence from Secondary Market Transactions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 78(2), pages 835-885, April.
    10. Agarwal, Vikas & Barber, Brad M. & Cheng, Si & Hameed, Allaudeen & Shanker, Harshini & Yasuda, Ayako, 2023. "Do investors overvalue startups? Evidence from the junior stakes of mutual funds," CFR Working Papers 23-04, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    11. Andrew Metrick & Ayako Yasuda, 2011. "Venture Capital and Other Private Equity: a Survey," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 17(4), pages 619-654, September.
    12. Brown, Gregory & Harris, Robert & Hu, Wendy & Jenkinson, Tim & Kaplan, Steven N. & Robinson, David T., 2021. "Can investors time their exposure to private equity?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(2), pages 561-577.
    13. Nadauld, Taylor D. & Sensoy, Berk A. & Vorkink, Keith & Weisbach, Michael S., 2019. "The liquidity cost of private equity investments: Evidence from secondary market transactions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(3), pages 158-181.
    14. Espenlaub, Susanne & Khurshed, Arif & Mohamed, Abdulkadir, 2014. "Does cross-border syndication affect venture capital risk and return?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 13-24.
    15. Kasper Meisner Nielsen, 2011. "The Return to Direct Investment in Private Firms: New Evidence on the Private Equity Premium Puzzle," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 17(3), pages 436-463, June.
    16. Boyan Jovanovic & Balàzs Szentes, 2007. "On the Return to Venture Capital," NBER Working Papers 12874, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Ludovic Phalippou & Oliver Gottschalg, 2009. "The Performance of Private Equity Funds," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(4), pages 1747-1776, April.
    18. Harris, Robert S. & Jenkinson, Tim & Kaplan, Steven N. & Stucke, Ruediger, 2018. "Financial intermediation in private equity: How well do funds of funds perform?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(2), pages 287-305.
    19. Brown, Gregory W. & Gredil, Oleg R. & Kaplan, Steven N., 2019. "Do private equity funds manipulate reported returns?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(2), pages 267-297.
    20. Ron Bird & Harry Liem & Susan Thorp, 2011. "Private Equity: Strategies for Improving Performance," Working Paper Series 12, The Paul Woolley Centre for Capital Market Dysfunctionality, University of Technology, Sydney.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:23:y:2009:i:1:p:147-66. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.