Private Equity

Answer 1

With the presidential race heating up in the U.S. and the background of one of the candidates in the private equity sector, I thought it might be a good idea to talk about private equity firms and what type of work they do. I promise, no partisanship or politics; nothing but straight-up finance goodness for you.

Mitt Romney was one of the founders of a private equity firm called Bain Capital. So exactly what does a private equity firm do? Essentially private equity firms invest in private firms. They take an equity stake in the firm, just as you would do if you bought some stock in a publically traded corporation. The difference is that the companies that the private equity firm is dealing with are not publically traded. They can be family businesses or long-term privately held firms.

One thing that is often the case with firms that become part of a private equity dealing is that they have come upon some rough times. Though it’s not always the case, often private equity firms will seek to make an investment in a distressed company and help it turn around.

When a private equity firm takes a stake in a private company it usually places some of its own people on the board or in other leadership roles. They then focus on turning a profit, which benefits the company, its original owners, and the new stakeholders; the private equity firm.

One mistake that some people make is to confuse private equity firms with venture capital firms. There is a difference; though some firms might dabble a little in both, usually PE and VC firms play to their strengths. Both private equity and venture capital firms take an equity stake in a privately-held firm and both seek to turn a profit through their involvement, there is a key difference; private equity firms typically deal with established companies and venture capital firms deal with start-ups.