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Why are Buyouts Levered: The Financial Structure of Private Equity Funds

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Author Info
Ulf Axelson
Per Stromberg
Michael S. Weisbach

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Abstract

This paper presents a model of the financial structure of private equity firms. In the model, the general partner of the firm encounters a sequence of deals over time where the exact quality of each deal cannot be credibly communicated to investors. We show that the optimal financing arrangement is consistent with a number of characteristics of the private equity industry. First, the firm should be financed by a combination of fund capital raised before deals are encountered, and capital that is raised to finance a specific deal. Second, the fund investors' claim on fund cash flow is a combination of debt and levered equity, while the general partner receives a claim similar to the carry contracts received by real-world practitioners. Third, the fund will be set up in a manner similar to that observed in practice, with investments pooled within a fund, decision rights over investments held by the general partner, and limits set in partnership agreements on the size of particular investments. Fourth, the model suggests that incentives will lead to overinvestment in good states of the world and underinvestment in bad states, so that the natural industry cycles will be multiplied. Fifth, investments made in recessions will on average outperform investments made in booms.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 12826.

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Date of creation: Jan 2007
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12826

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Investment Policy
G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Capital and Ownership Structure

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Ulf Axelson & Per Stromberg & Michael S. Weisbach, 2007. "Why are Buyouts Levered: The Financial Structure of Private Equity Funds," NBER Working Papers 12826, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicolás S., 1945-, 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Working papers 1523-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management. [Downloadable!]
  3. Stein, Jeremy C, 1997. " Internal Capital Markets and the Competition for Corporate Resources," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 111-33, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Nachman, David C & Noe, Thomas H, 1994. "Optimal Design of Securities under Asymmetric Information," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(1), pages 1-44. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Kaplan, Steven & Strömberg, Per Johan, 2002. "Characteristics, Contracts and Actions: Evidence from Venture Capitalist Analyses," CEPR Discussion Papers 3243, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Lerner, Josh, 1995. " Venture Capitalists and the Oversight of Private Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(1), pages 301-18, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Geir H. Bjønnes & Steinar Holden & Dagfinn Rime & Haakon O.Aa. Solheim, 2005. "“Large” vs. “small” players: A closer look at the dynamics of speculative attacks," Working Paper 2005/13, Norges Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Lerner, Joshua & Schoar, Antoinette, 2003. "The Illiquidity Puzzle: Theory and Evidence from Private Equity," Working papers 4378-02, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Kaplan, Steven & Sensoy, Berk A. & Strömberg, Per Johan, 2005. "What are Firms? Evolution from Birth to Public Companies," CEPR Discussion Papers 5224, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Kaplan, Steve & Schoar, Antoinette, 2004. "Private Equity Performance: Returns, Persistence and Capital Flows," Working papers 4446-03, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management. [Downloadable!]
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  13. Jeremy C. Stein, 2005. "Why are most Funds Open-end? Competition and the Limits of Arbitrage," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 120(1), pages 247-272, January.
  14. Innes, Robert D., 1990. "Limited liability and incentive contracting with ex-ante action choices," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 45-67, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Gompers, Paul & Lerner, Josh, 1996. "The Use of Covenants: An Empirical Analysis of Venture Partnership Agreements," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(2), pages 463-98, October.
  16. Jensen, Michael C, 1988. "Takeovers: Their Causes and Consequences," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 21-48, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Gompers, Paul & Lerner, Josh, 1999. "An analysis of compensation in the U.S. venture capital partnership1," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 3-44, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Josh Lerner & Antoinette Schoar & Wan Wong, 2005. "Smart Institutions, Foolish Choices? The Limited Partner Performance Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 11136, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Sundaram, Rangarajan K. & Yermack, David, 2006. "Pay Me Later: Inside Debt and Its Role in Managerial Compensation," SIFR Research Report Series 43, Swedish Institute for Financial Research. [Downloadable!]
  20. Sahlman, William A., 1990. "The structure and governance of venture-capital organizations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 473-521, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Laux, Christian, 2001. "Limited-Liability and Incentive Contracting with Multiple Projects," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 32(3), pages 514-26, Autumn.
  22. Bortolotti, Bernardo & de Jong, Frank & Nicodano, Giovanna & Schindele, Ibolya, 2004. "Privatization and Stock Market Liquidity," CEPR Discussion Papers 4449, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Axelson, Ulf & Strömberg, Per & Weisbach, Michael S., 2007. "Why are Buyouts Levered? The Financial Structure of Private Equity Funds," SIFR Research Report Series 49, Swedish Institute for Financial Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Axelson, Ulf & Baliga, Sandeep, 2007. "Liquidity and Manipulation of Executive Compensation Schemes," SIFR Research Report Series 54, Swedish Institute for Financial Research. [Downloadable!]
  3. Fedyk, Yuriy & Walden, Johan, 2007. "High-Speed Natural Selection in Financial Markets with Large State Spaces," SIFR Research Report Series 52, Swedish Institute for Financial Research. [Downloadable!]
  4. Bottazzi, L. & Da Rin, M. & Hellmann, T., 2008. "What is the Role of Legal Systems in Financial Intermediation? Theory and Evidence," Discussion Paper 2008-30, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Ayako Yasuda & Andrew Metrick, 2007. "The economics of private equity funds," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Oct. [Downloadable!]
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