Private equity

With private equity buyouts and acquisitions on the rise, we turned to Harvard Business School professor Josh Lerner, a longtime observer and researcher...

When getting a company ready to sell in the short term, it turns out, PE firms employ many of the best strategy practices--use debt aggressively, focus...

As the dust settles on the recent frenzy of private equity deals (including transactions topping $20 billion), what lessons can companies glean? Directors...

A few months back I wrote about micro-decisions and how they can add up to macro money. But as a student of decision-making I would be remiss if I didn't...

Here’s how.

Higher interest rates and competition have changed the nature of the business. Now the industry must find a new approach to developing leaders.

Critics charge that in today's heavily traded capital markets, executives are increasingly incentivized to manage in tiny, short-term windows, with an...

A new study of private equity buyouts shows that, on average, U.S. acquisitions made in "red" (Republican) states deliver significantly higher returns...

Whatever its other educational benefits, the race for the Republican presidential nomination has served to introduce legions of hitherto oblivious Americans to the joys and sorrows of private equity. Informed would-be voters now have a basic grasp of how the process works. A firm — let’s call it Bain Capital — raises a large amount […]

They don’t use the financial tools they learned in B-school.

A study of 42 leveraged buyouts produced surprising findings that should guide policy reforms.

It prioritizes short-term profits over patients’ health.

If you want to be successful, you have to harness the talent. The top private equity firms have a genius for hiring superior talent. All organizations need great people, but PE measures talent with one test only: performance. It’s not that private equity firms are heartless. Rather, their three- to five-year time horizon doesn’t allow […]

Doing business starts with building mutual trust and respect.

Private equity fund performance is most often reported in a way that exaggerates the truth. A modified calculation gives a more accurate read of performance...

A year ago, most of us couldn't name a single asset in the Cerberus Capital Management portfolio. Today, we know them as the private equity firm that...

Instead of casting a wide net, try a more strategic approach.

Twelve years ago, in 2010, the private equity firm New Mountain Capital acquired a little-known Wisconsin software company, RedPrairie, for $565 million....

In good times and bad, the top private equity firms have outperformed most businesses over the past forty years–even during down cycles. Clearly, PE firms have had to adjust their deal flow but the way that leading players operate their portfolio companies serves as a model for public firms, especially during an economic squeeze. That’s […]

Times change and markets transform themselves overnight. The half-life of common wisdom is shorter than ever. But top private equity firms have distilled a set of institutional habits that boost the likelihood of their success. What’s critical to this success? Attitude. PE leaders take pains to foster a “results-oriented mind-set”. In short, that means creating […]