The Performance of Secondary Buyouts

The Performance of Secondary Buyouts

François Degeorge, Jens Martin, Ludovic Phalippou

Series number :

Serial Number: 
384/2013

Date posted :

October 01 2013

Last revised :

October 28 2013
SSRN Share

Keywords

  • private equity • 
  • buyouts • 
  • performance • 
  • secondary buyouts

Buyout funds increasingly sell their portfolio companies to other buyout funds. These secondary buyouts (SBOs) underperform primary buyouts. Yet, only SBOs made late in the investment period underperform, consistent with funds using SBOs to sometimes ?go for broke?. After a fund invests in late SBOs, investors appear to shun the follow-on fund. Differences in risk do not explain these results.

SBOs bought by specialized funds and those bought from a fund-raising seller perform better. Some companies seem better suited to private equity ownership as we find persistence in both returns and exit channels between successive buyout transactions.

Published in

Published in: 
Publication Title: 
Journal of Financial Economics
Description: 
2016, vol. 120, issue 1, 124-145

Authors

Real name:
Jens Martin
Real name:
Ludovic Phalippou