Uppsatsens titel: Private Equity ? värdeskapande processer vid buyout-investeringar Seminariedatum: 2008-06-05 Ämne/kurs: FEKK01, Examensarbete kandidatnivå, 15 poäng Författare: Victor Kask, Marcus Löfgren, Petter Werner Handledare: Tore Eriksson Nyckelord: Private Equity, Värdeskapande, LBO, MBO, Corporate Governance Syfte: Syftet är att beskriva och analysera hur Private Equity bolagen arbetar för att skapa värde i sina portföljbolag. Metod: Uppsatsens utformning utgår från en kvalitativ undersökning där informationen baseras på semistrukturerade intervjuer med personer som har olika befattningar inom den svenska Private Equity branschen. Teoriska perspektiv: Det teoretiska ramverket baseras på teorier hämtade från kurslitteratur och relevanta artiklar. Empiri: Det empiriska materialet som är grundläggande för analysen är hämtat från de semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuerna.

Efter att ha studerat och författat en teoretisk grund kring ?Private Equity ? En portföljbolagsstudie? som första delen av två inom en 20-poängsuppsats skrivs denna magisteruppsats som en påbyggnad där en empirisk studie, analys och slutsats genomförs.Private equity-investeringar blir en allt vanligare form för kapitalanskaffning hos entreprenörer och företag. Denna form av investeringar sker i onoterade företag där investeraren håller ett aktivt och tidsbegränsat ägarengagemang. Denna uppsats skrivs på uppdrag av Svenska Riskkapitalföreningen, och syftet är att studera riskkapitalinvesteringar med avseende på hur portföljbolagen utvecklas beträffande tillväxt i sysselsättning och omsättning, efter det att ett private equity-bolag blivit delägare. Undersökningen bygger på kvantitativt insamlande av data där analysen grundats på enkäter och bokslutsdata.Två hypoteser har ställts upp och besvarats.

Funding is essential for companies to function. All companies must relate to the funding issue, whether they are working with it in an active manner or not. Funding can be done in two ways, either through equity or debt and the ratio between these are called capital structure. Already in 1958 Modigliani and Miller concluded that a company?s capital structure does not change the value of the company, thus the company?s debt in relation to equity is irrelevant.

This thesis seeks to explain the effect of private equity ownership on the amount of invest- ments made in a company. We use three capital expenditure based key ratios to determine if there is a tendency for private equity owned firms to invest more or less than comparable companies. Our dataset involve 27 Swedish buyout companies that were sold by a private equity fund between 2001 and 2009. Each buyout is assigned a peer group of two firms in similar size and in the same industry. Firstly, we compare the key ratios to determine potential differences in the level of investment.

This study was performed to examine the performance of an equity based crowdfunding campaign, as well as seeking to describe the risks, complications and the opportunities that this kind of funding brings. The study was conducted by an empirical case study of a company that was about to initiate an equity based crowdfunding campaign.The conclusion is that the planning of an equity based crowdfunding campaign is time consuming and requires knowledge in many different areas. Therefore it is important to identify in which areas skills and resources already are available within the company, and where it must be obtained through a learning process.The report also highlights that equity based crowdfunding, because of legal restrictions surrounding the issue of unlisted shares, can not be marketed as other types of crowdfunding. This leads to the conclusion that those who invest in equity based crowdfunding do not necessarily belong to the crowd that crowdfunding is generally associated with. Arguments can be made that this crowdfunding model rather resemble traditional angel networks.A technical study was also made about the company's products.

This study was performed to examine the performance of an equity based crowdfunding campaign, as well as seeking to describe the risks, complications and the opportunities that this kind of funding brings. The study was conducted by an empirical case study of a company that was about to initiate an equity based crowdfunding campaign.The conclusion is that the planning of an equity based crowdfunding campaign is time consuming and requires knowledge in many different areas. Therefore it is important to identify in which areas skills and resources already are available within the company, and where it must be obtained through a learning process.The report also highlights that equity based crowdfunding, because of legal restrictions surrounding the issue of unlisted shares, can not be marketed as other types of crowdfunding. This leads to the conclusion that those who invest in equity based crowdfunding do not necessarily belong to the crowd that crowdfunding is generally associated with. Arguments can be made that this crowdfunding model rather resemble traditional angel networks.A technical study was also made about the company's products.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to test for the existence of Capital Structure Arbitrage oppertunities in the equity-credit markets. Methodology: The mispricing of Credit Default Swap contracts are calculated and used as input in an Equity-Credit market trading strategy. The returns are then evaluated with a modified Value-at-Risk simulation. Theoretical perspectives: A Merton-based structural model, CreditGrades, is used for credit pricing and a mispricing-convergence trading-strategy between the credit and equity markets is implemented. Empirical foundation: Daily quotes for the Credit Default Swap spread of 37 European firms were collected for a period of two years, as well as equity-prices for the same period and the previous two years, used for model calibration.

Problem formulation: This paper will examine how the capital structure of firms affects their market valuation by applying the Modigliani-Miller theory on Swedish listed companies in a boom and a recession. The study will examine whether it is possible to draw any conclusions as to whether companies with high debt to equity ratios are valued lower in a recession, in comparison to companies with low debt to equity ratios.Purpose: To empirically test the Modigliani-Miller theory of capital structure in a boom and a recession in order to see if the companies? market value is affected differently depending on whether they have a high or a low debt to equity ratios.Methodology: The essay has a deductive and a quantitative methodological approach. Data analysis was done through a correlation analysis, a regression analysis and a hypothesis testing.Theory: The Modigliani-Miller theory of capital structure with taxes states that companies with a high debt to equity ratios has a higher value. One of the risks with a high level of debt could be that during a financial downturn companies have more difficulty realizing capital and are thus more likely to go bankrupt.Conclusions: The study shows results that are contrary to the Modigliani-Miller's theory; all the correlation analyses between debt to equity ratios and market value are negative.

The purpose of this research was to examine what motivates and influences an individual to invest in a project or company through equity-based crowdfunding. The intention was therefore to identify internal and external motivation factors and examine how external social factors such as the Internet, other individuals? investment decisions and interaction in social groups affect an individual when he or she invests through equity-based crowdfunding. The results showed that both internal and external motivation factors are important components of an investment through equity-based crowdfunding. External motivators proved to be for example yields and helping entrepreneurs.

This thesis studies private equity firms' implementation of management control systems in their portfolio companies and whether the systems are affected by cross-national differences. A comparative case study examines five different private equity firms to derive if there are any differences between the private equity firms' management control systems in the United States, Europe and China. The empirical observations are categorized according to the framework developed by Merchant (1985) and further developed by Merchant and Van der Stede (2003). Theory on the effect of multinationality on management control systems, also developed by Merchant and Van der Stede (2003), are used to explain possible findings. The applied theory includes the cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede (1984) and Hofstede and Bond (1988).

Title: The implementation of valuation of tangible and financial assets to fair value ? and its effects on the creditor protectionCourse: Bachelor theses in business accounting, 10 Swedish creditsAuthor: Sam EspelandAdvisor: Ogi ChunKey words: IAS 16, 39, 40, fair value, creditor protection, equityPurpose: The purpose with the essay is to examine how the implementation of the IAS standards that regard valuation to fair value, effects the equity and how the effects on equity affects the creditor protection.Methodology: The essay is using both a quantitative and a qualitative approach in which the quantitative part constitutes of data collection from annual reports and the qualitative part constitutes of interviews.Theoretical perspective: The theory gives a thorough understanding in how the IAS standards are designed, furthermore the procedure at liquidation and lack of capital is being treated, moreover some relevant terms and concepts are being treated.Empirical foundation: This chapter is divided into two parts, in one part the results from the quantitative approach is being presented in diagram form, and in the other part the interviews are being presented.Conclusions: The implementation will give a higher equity for most real estate companies, but likely also for example the mining industry. The creditor protection will likely be worsened among the industries that experience an increase in equity since their activities may proceed for a longer time before they have to be liquidated..

Private equity bolag som skapar värde genom leveraged buyout har under de senaste åren fått ökad konkurrens inom den process vilken syftar till att finna attraktiva investeringar som kan generera avkastning enligt uppsatta avkastningskrav. Processen som karaktäriseras av informationsasymmetri och kallas för deal sourcing har därmed blivit ett svårare moment för dagens private equity bolag. Denna empiriska fallstudie undersöker hur svenska private equity bolag inom kategorin leveraged buyout i praktiken arbetar med deal sourcing och vilka drivkrafter som processen utformas efter i syfte att finna potentiella investeringar. Detta undersöks i ljuset av den akademiska forskning som tidigare gjorts på området. Studien utgår ifrån tio intervjuer med företagsrepresentanter vilka har insyn i och är delaktiga i processen med att finna bolag.

Private equity-investeringar innebär kapitalsatsningar i onoterade företag med ett aktivt och tidsbegränsat ägarengagemang. Detta kan indelas beroende på tidpunkten och kapitalbehovet för investeringen och benämns: affärsänglar, venture capital och buyout. Det finns en allmän uppfattning att dessa bolag agerar som affärspirater, vilka suger ut tillgångarna i företag för att sedan sälja av det utan att tänka på konsekvenserna. Det finns en ovetskap om vad som egentligen tillför värde och på vilket sätt detta sker. På uppdrag av Svenska Riskkapitalföreningen skrivs därför denna uppsats.

This thesis describes and examines a new line of business, CleanTech. CleanTech comprises a wide range of different types of companies and is not yet well defined. In this thesis only the Swedish market is considered, and a variety of players on the market are included to give the most extensive picture of the current situation. Recent research shows that a gap has arisen between governmental financing and private equity-investments in CleanTech-companies. This gap occurs mainly in companies in expansive phases and causes problems both for the companies and for the line of business as a whole. To investigate this gap the Swedish CleanTech-business is described in terms of earlier and existing financing, age and size of the companies and their turnover and profit.

Denna studie underso?ker huruvida Private Equity-bolag lyckas skapa besta?ende operationellt va?rde i fo?rva?rvade portfo?ljbolag. Studien beaktar ma?tt som reflekterar utvecklingen fo?r olika intressentgrupper i syfte att a?ska?dliggo?ra Private Equity-bolagens sammantagna bidrag till va?rdeskapande. Underso?kningen a?r av kvantitativ karakta?r och a?r baserad pa? ett urval av 19 svenska bolag som under a?ren 1999-2008 fo?rva?rvats och avyttrats av ett Private Equity-bolag.