Philippe Desbrières

Determinants of required return in venture capital investments: a five-country study

Using two complementary theoretical perspectives, we develop hypotheses regarding the determinants of the return required by venture capitalists and test them on a sample of over 200 venture capital companies (VCCs) located in five countries. Consistent with resource based theory, we find that early stage specialists require a significantly higher return than other VCCs when investing in later stage ventures. Consistent with financial theory, we find that acquisition /buyout specialists require a significantly lower return than other VCCs when investing in expansion companies. Furthermore, in comparison to specialists, highly stage-diversified VCCs require a significantly higher return for early stage investments. Independent VCCs require a higher rate of return than captive or public VCCs. In general, higher required returns are associated with VCCs providing more intensity of involvement, having shorter expected hold-ing period of the investment, and being located in the US or UK (in comparison to those in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands).

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.

Venture capitalists' appraisal of investment projects: an empirical European study

The Investment appraisal and valuation process of venture capitalists includes Information gathering, the assessment of risk and required return, and the choice of a valuation method. This process is empirically studied in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. The Importance of different information sources is equal in the four countries, except that the French venture capitalists Place more emphasis on personal references and the track record of the entrepreneur. The required return is lowest in the Netherlands and Belgium for every development stage of a company, and highest in the UK. The most widely used valuation method in the UK is the multiplication of past or future earnings with some price-earnings ratio. In the Netherlands and Belgium it is the discounting of future cash flows, and in France it is the book value of the net worth.