PRIVATE EQUITY BACKED COMPANIES: CRESCITA O INSUCCESSO? ANALISI COMPARATA DELLE PERFORMANCE

The work carries out a comparative analysis of the performance of private equity backed companies. The purpose of this research is to explore the impact of private equity investments on variables of profitability, financial and dimensional growth for target companies. After reviewing the main characteristics of private equity - investment, operators, stages and the Italian and European market - we studied the performance of private equity backed companies through the use of statistical Probit and OLS models. We conducted the analysis taking as benchmark the private equity backed companies located in Italy, so we created a database of Italian companies that have being subject to investments in the period 2006-2011 and we compare this sample with other companies. The analysis was ran on three levels. In the first one we compared the sample formed by Italian private equity backed companies with a sample of non private equity backed companies with similar characteristics in terms of industry, size and geographic area. In the second level we compared the performance of Italian private equity backed companies with a sample of private equity backed companies located in the first eight European countries for number of investments. In the last level we compared the sample of Italian private equity backed companies with a sample of operators that manage private equity investments. The results of the analysis suggest that private equity investments have, on average, a positive effect on target companies in terms of dimensional growth in comparison to non invested companies. In the first post investment years, private equity operators act to improve the growth of private equity backed companies, even decreasing profitability, so preferring long-term results. The results observed in the European market are in line with the ones observed in the Italian market. Moreover, the analyses suggests that managers of private equity investments achieved higher performance than invested companies.