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Venture Capital Exit Rights

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  • Carsten Bienz
  • Uwe Walz

Abstract

We investigate when and how venture capital contracts use exit rights such as drag‐along and tag‐along rights. Utilizing a data set of venture capital contracts from Germany, we find that almost all contracts allocate exit rights to the venture capitalist (VC) rather than to the entrepreneur. In our data set, the vast majority of exit rights deal with the sale of the entire company to a strategic investors rather than with initial public offerings (IPOs). We show that venture capital contracts include exit rights to mitigate potential hold‐up problems of the VC in the case of exit.

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  • Carsten Bienz & Uwe Walz, 2010. "Venture Capital Exit Rights," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 1071-1116, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jemstr:v:19:y:2010:i:4:p:1071-1116
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1530-9134.2010.00278.x
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    Cited by:

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    2. Jens Burchardt & Ulrich Hommel & Dzidziso Samuel Kamuriwo & Carolina Billitteri, 2016. "Venture Capital Contracting in Theory and Practice: Implications for Entrepreneurship Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(1), pages 25-48, January.
    3. Ann-Kristin Achleitner & Reiner Braun & Eva Lutz & Uwe Reiner, 2014. "Industry relatedness in trade sales and venture capital investment returns," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 621-637, October.
    4. Gill, Andrej & Walz, Uwe, 2016. "Are VC-backed IPOs delayed trade sales?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 356-374.
    5. 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.
    6. Maria do Rosario Correia & Raquel F. Ch. Meneses, 2019. "Venture Capital and the Use of Convertible Securities and Control Rights Covenants: A Fuzzy Set Approach," European Journal of Business Science and Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics, vol. 5(1), pages 5-20.
    7. Roberto Pinheiro, 2018. "Venture capital and underpricing: capacity constraints and early sales," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-47, February.
    8. Patrick Herbst & Uwe Walz, 2017. "The Design of Vertical R&D Collaborations," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 84(333), pages 54-77, January.
    9. Yanzhao Li & Ju'e Guo & Yongwu Li & Xu Zhang, 2021. "Optimal exit decision of venture capital under time-inconsistent preferences," Papers 2103.11557, arXiv.org.
    10. Julia Hirsch & Uwe Walz, 2013. "Why do contracts differ between venture capital types?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 511-525, April.
    11. Yanzhao Li & Ju-e Guo & Shaolong Sun & Yongwu Li, 2022. "How time-inconsistent preferences influence venture capital exit decisions? A new perspective for grandstanding," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-24, December.
    12. Lukas, Elmar & Mölls, Sascha & Welling, Andreas, 2016. "Venture capital, staged financing and optimal funding policies under uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 250(1), pages 305-313.
    13. Chircop, Justin & Johan, Sofia & Tarsalewska, Monika, 2020. "Does religiosity influence venture capital investment decisions?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    14. Groh, Alexander P. & Liechtenstein, Heinrich & Lieser, Karsten, 2008. "The European venture capital and private equity country attractiveness index(es)," IESE Research Papers D/773, IESE Business School.
    15. Krivogorsky, Victoria & Joh, Gun-Ho & DeBoskey, D.G., 2018. "The influence of supply side factors on firm's borrowing decisions: European evidence," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 202-222.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General

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