American Jobs and the Impact of Private Equity Transactions
13/02/2008. Strong job creation has been a hallmark of the American economy for a half century. From 1960 to 2006, American businesses expanded the U.S. private-sector workforce from some 46 million positions to more than 115 million, adding 12.7 million net new jobs in the 1960s, 15.9 million more jobs in the 1970s, another 15 million in 1980s, and an additional 20.6 million in the 1990s.

Buy-out Track 100
21/02/2007. The Sunday Times Deloitte Buy-out Track 100 league table sheds new light on the private equity industry's investments. The profit growth of investee companies is analysed, rather than the usual focus on deal completion or the private equity investors' internal rate of return.

Early matters: creating value through operations at portfolio companies
04/10/2006. As increasingly large funds bid up the price of private equity transactions, says Knowledge Wharton, firms are becoming actively focused on creating value through operations at portfolio companies to generate the kind of returns partners have come to expect.

Record year for the UK buy-out market in 2005
24/05/2006. KPMG found a 27 per cent increase in value to over £24bn invested in UK buy-outs, while the final quarter of last year showed over £5bn invested for the fifth quarter in a row.

Investigating the current landscape for European buyouts: is high quality dealflow sustainable?
12/10/2005. In this presentation Alan MacKay, senior partner at 3i, analyses various trends that have evolved in and around the buyout market, including return and deal source trends.

UK MBO market kicks off 2005 on a strong note
21/09/2005. The UK buyout market put in a strong performance in the first quarter of 2005, up 28 percent from the same quarter the year before. According to figures released by KPMG’s Private Equity Group (which tracks UK buyouts with value over £10 million) transactions with a total value of £4.78 billion were completed in the UK in Q1 2005. This represents 35 deals at an average value of £137m.

UK buyout market enters 2005 in strong shape
02/03/2005. The rate of investment in the UK MBO market accelerated in the final quarter of 2004. According to figures released by KPMG’s Private Equity Group (which tracks UK buyouts with value over £10 million) 37 transactions with a total value of £5.42 billion were completed in the UK in Q4 2004.

Exit 4
09/02/2005. In the Centre for Management Buy-out Research's latest analysis on buy-out exits, they find that with a healthy economic outlook and relatively good stock market conditions, there are signs of a return of confidence to the M&A market in general. Although secondary buy-outs provided a high proportion of private equity realisations in 2004, there were also some large scale trade sales.

Trends in European / US Private Equity
01/11/2004. Weil, Gotshal & Manges in conjunction with mergermarket look at trends in European/US private equity. In this report, they include a special feature on France, frequently cited as one of the more attractive destinations for private equity investment opportunities, in part due to the reorganisation of large French companies, but also considered one of the more challenging, from a legal and cultural perspective. This special report examines whether those views are still prevalent.

Why more of today's LBOs use ABL
18/06/2003. The US leveraged buy-out market has gathered momentum over the last few months. At the same time, the financing to fuel such transactions has developed rapidly. James G Connolly of Fleet Capital discusses the use of asset-based loans in US leveraged buy-out deals.

LBOs past and present
26/03/2003. While private equity is still a relatively young market in Australia, the leveraged buy-out has been conducted there since the mid-1980s. They have not, argues Andrew Rothery of GS Private Equity, yet reached the levels that were predicted for it in previous years: but the recently-finalised tax reforms brought in by the Australian government at the end of 2002 are likely to increase LBO firms' access to capital from overseas investors. This will encourage a more rapid growth.

Leveraged buy-outs in Italy
28/01/2003. The leveraged buy-out is increasing in importance for the private equity industry in Italy. There are, however, various legal issues for investors to be aware of within the Italian leveraged buy-out structure, as this overview from Zini & Associates shows.

Towards a global LBO market
07/01/2003. Historically, the European and US LBO markets have functioned in very different ways. The US market is more sophisticated and advanced than its European counterpart, which is characterised by small deals. Yet there have been several developments in recent months that have changed the picture considerably, argues Andrea Armanno Pappalardo of Columbia Business School.

Leveraged buy-outs
20/11/2002. Leveraged buy-outs may be becoming increasingly difficult to pull off in more mature private equity markets, but in Central and Eastern Europe they have become a hot topic. However, for many investors the LBO remains a confusing subject. Geoff Perry and Istvan Kovari of CMS Cameron McKenna describe the workings of an LBO transaction.

Jumping on the bandwagon
29/10/2002. A wave of leveraged buy-outs is on the horizon. Private equity firms, investment banks and high-yield investors are rubbing their hands at the prospect. Investment-grade bondholders, on the other hand, fear they will end up paying the price. Lisa Cooper of Credit Magazine assesses the LBO climate.

The banking market for leveraged buy-outs - seeds of hope
30/07/2002. There has been continued equity market weakness in the US and Europe in recent months, with investors increasingly cautious following accounting concerns, political issues and fears over the pace of economic recovery. Ernst & Young discuss how this has undermined the LBO market and resulted in a shortage of completed transactions, although a few signs of renewed optimism are beginning to show.

Value-creation in buy-outs
12/06/2002. It may take up to five years for a private equity investment to mature and even then it can only be realised on exit. So, asks Jon Moulton of Alchemy, what can fund managers do in the interim period to add value to their portfolios and ensure the best exit price?

The managing directors of management buy-outs: a comparison with corporate executives
15/03/2002. As a number of companies come under pressure from banks or look to restructure, 2002 could well be a vintage year for private equity buyers looking to acquire quality businesses with strong management teams, say 3i and INSEAD.

Leveraged buy-outs in Spain
12/02/2002. Legal and regulatory hurdles are often cited as the largest obstacle to growth of LBOs in Spain. But, argue Jose Maria Alvarez and Estibaliz Aranburu of Gomez Acebo & Pombo, other countries have managed to overcome similar hurdles. The main barrier must be cultural, they say, offering an outline of how Spanish LBOs may be structured.

Latest KPMG MBO statistics
15/01/2002. Activity at the larger end of the management buy-out market slowed dramatically in the fourth quarter of 2001 with 22 deals worth £1.4bn – the lowest number of transactions since 1995. The prospects for the year ahead however look more promising, according to the latest figures from KPMG Corporate Finance.

The banking market for leveraged buy-outs: continued uncertainty
15/01/2002. The economic slowdown and the events of 11 September have made debt lenders much more cautious as they wait to see what the full impact on the economy will be. This Ernst & Young survey presents the current thinking of the market's leading lenders.

Management shrugged: the case for leveraged buy-outs
07/01/2002. More than a decade has passed since corporate raiders, junk bonds and the power of Drexel Burnham dominated the pages of the financial press and the agendas of major corporate boards of directors across the US. Yet, the impulse to improve financial performance through ‘re-engineering' operations, ‘restructuring' portfolios and balance sheets or ‘rethinking' strategy and organisation is still the dominating theme of corporate life. Donald Gogel from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice discusses the case for leveraged buy-outs.

Leveraged management buy-outs at KKR: Historical perspectives on private equity, debt disciplines, and LBO governance
14/11/2001. As with all forms of private equity investing, leveraged buy-outs require close evaluation, sophisticated financing, diligent oversight and patience. What makes the LBO distinctive is that it employs high leverage in the initial financing, and that it is normally a rehabilitative acquisition strategy undertaken in mature sectors of industry where under-performing companies are ripe for rejuvenation. It was in its formative stages, and remains, a highly specialised technique for acquiring assets and improving their value. What makes it historically important is that its impact - the lessons it has to teach about incentives for management and corporate governance - have spread to the wider corporate world. George Baker, Harvard Business School and George Smith, Stern School of Business discuss.

The M&A trap for utilities
31/08/2001. European utilities are off on a buying spree - and sometimes pay more than 100 per cent of the value of the assets they acquire. This article from McKinsey Quarterly seeks to understand how asset prices move in a newly deregulated market and why this should help utilities make smarter purchases.

The Cinven Index - Private equity and European M&A: future expectations
18/07/2001. The outlook is good for European private equity as a segment of mergers and acquisitions activity, according to this survey by Cinven and Mergermarket. The vast majority of respondents (78 per cent) said that they believed private equity participation within the M&A market would increase this year.

The banking market for leveraged buy-outs:uncertain times ahead
08/06/2001. This report from Ernst & Young looks at the trends and expectations in the LBO market over the next 12 months. Deal volume is reducing but the average size of transactions continues to climb, while mezzanine finance is expected to play a more prominent role in the structure of deals.

Top-end MBO activity hits all-time high in the UK
29/05/2001. The top end of the UK buy-out sector had a record-breaking year in 2000, according to this short report from KPMG Corporate Finance. Despite the broader economic downturn, the figures suggest the outlook for the private equity market is far from bleak.

Private equity's involvement within the pan-European mergers and acquisitions market.
29/05/2001. M&A activity is increasingly becoming a good indicator of how healthy the private equity market is, says this report by buy-out house Cinven. And the good news is that private equity-funded M&A is set to grow even more.

The alchemy of LBOs
29/05/2001. How can investment bankers achieve better results in chemicals companies than engineers and chemists do? No, it isn't black magic. Here, McKinsey looks at the market issues.

Private equity finance - feeling the squeeze
29/05/2001. What's happening in Europe? What do the experts think of the events of 2000? And where will deal flow hail from in the coming year? Zephus Corporate Finance asks the private equity specialists.

Deals that create value
29/05/2001. The market is sceptical about M&A but, as McKinsey explains, it is a lot more receptive to some kinds of deals than to others. Inquire before you acquire.