Hans Bruining

Venture capitalists' decision to syndicate

Financial theory, access to deal flow, selection, and monitoring skills are used to explain syndication in venture capital firms in six European countries. In contrast with U.S. findings, portfolio management motives are more important for syndication than individual deal management motives. Risk sharing, portfolio diversification, and access to larger deals are more important than selection and monitoring of deals. This holds for later stage and for early stage investors. Value adding is a stronger motive for syndication for early stage investors than for later stage investors, however. Nonlead investors join syndicates for the selection and value–adding skills of the syndicate partners.

Entrepreneurial orientation in management buy-outs and the contribution of venture capital

This paper focuses on the development of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) after a management buy-out (MBO) and on the role played by venture capital firms in enhancing EO. It presents results of two exploratory case studies of divisional buy-outs with regard to their EO and the areas where the venture capital (VC) firm has been of greatest help. Their contribution to elements of the EO of the buy-out firm are discussed. The key output is expected to be a better understanding of the functioning and operations of the VC with regard to their contribution to the EO of the firm after an MBO. This will also benefit the management team that seeks venture capital support to improve the firms economic performance by using its upside potential.

Strategic Changes in Family Firms Post-Management Buyout: Ownership and Governance Issues

When no suitable family successor can be identified, private family firm owners may select a management buyout (MBO) or a management buyin (MBI) exit route. After a private equity backed MBO/I, new owners may select strategies that encourage superior firm performance. We explore the strategic orientation of former private family firms pre- and post-MBO/Is. Ownership and governance issues are considered. Following insights from agency and stewardship theory, several hypotheses are derived and tested with reference to a representative sample of 104 MBO/ Is located across Europe. Univariate analysis suggests greater scope for efficiency gains and growth in cases where the founder was present at time of buyout, where no managers with equity stakes or non-executive directors were employed pre-buyout, and where the private equity investor and management were involved in succession planning. Multinomial logistic regression suggests efficiency gains in firms with no equity holding non-family managers pre-buyout. Conclusions and implications are discussed.

The impact of business ownership change on employee relations: buy-outs in the UK and the Netherlands

A buy-out is a fundamental change in the structure of ownership that may affect the way employee relations develop within an organization. Little is known about the impact of buy-outs upon employee relations. This paper aims to address this gap. We focus on two main questions. First, what are the effects of a buy-out on employee relations in an organization? Second, does the national institutional context affect the impact of buy-outs on employee relations? The paper reports changes to employee relations in buy-outs in the contrasting institutional environments of the UK and the Netherlands. Overall, we find that buy-outs positively affect HR practices with increases in training, employee involvement, the number of employees and pay levels. The positive effects appear to be significantly stronger in a less institutionalized environment like the UK than in the more institutionalized environment of the Netherlands. Buy-outs raised HRM practices in the UK to a level closer to, although still below, that of Dutch buy-outs.

The effects of private equity and buy-outs on HRM in the UK and the Netherlands

Regulatory authorities, politicians and trade unions across Europe have recently accused private equity institutions of improving the performance of buy-outs merely by reducing employment costs with negative implications for jobs, working conditions and training investments. These claims are assessed by analysing high commitment management practices and changes in these practices in private-equity backed and non-private equity backed buy-outs in the UK and the Netherlands using a large-scale representative sample that combines both questionnaire and archival data. We find that both private equity backed buy-outs compared to non-private equity backed buy-outs, and Dutch buy-outs compared to UK buy-outs, are less likely to report introducing new high commitment management practices but do not on average reduce high commitment management practices. The findings suggest private equity backed buy-outs represent only a limited adaptation of the European social model.

Family-Firm Buyouts, Private Equity, and Strategic Change

Abstract When no suitable family successor can be identified, private family firm owners may opt for a MBO or MBI. We explore the strategic orientation of former private family firms pre- and post-MBO/I. We utilize a unique hand-collected representative sample of 104 MBO/Is located across Europe. Greater scope for efficiency gains and growth/expansion was found in cases where the founder was present at time of buy-out, where no managers with equity stakes or non-executive directors were employed pre-buy-out and where the private equity investor and management were involved in succession planning.

Industry specialization of private equity firms: a source of buy-out performance heterogeneity

Abstract This study sheds new light on the industry specialization of private equity (PE) firms as a source of buy-outs’ performance and on the conditions under which these firms can add value to the buy-outs in which they invest. Advantages to specialization are based on specific resources and capabilities that confer the PE funds advantages both in the pre- and post-transaction phases. We argue that the magnitude of the advantages to industry specialization will depend on the criticality of these specific resources for buy-outs’ performance improvements. Industry specialization will confer advantages when the target company is weakly or strongly performing before the buy-out because, in that context, performance improvements are more difficult to reach. The analysis is based on a sample of 217 PE-backed buy-outs completed in France between 2001 and 2007. The results show that relative specialization in the industry of the buy-out company results in profit increases of 7.5% greater than buy-outs backed by non-industry-specialized PE firms. Industry specialization also contributes to target company growth, especially when performance improvements are difficult to reach. Besides, the magnitude of the positive industry specialization effect varies between PE firms. This result emphasizes industry specialization as a strategic variable by illustrating heterogeneity in the ability to construct a competitive advantage.

Loan covenants, relationship banking and management buy-outs in default: a comparative study of the UK and Holland

This book presents up-to-date evidence on the issues facing financiers and intermediaries involved in venture capital and management buy-outs. It provides a comprehensive review of existing literature and an analysis of international trends in market development as well as a global comparison of the major issues.