Seminar – Private equity debt funds: Who wins, who loses?

Florencio Lopez de Silanes, Professor of Finance and Dean of Academic Strategy, SKEMA Business School

We exploit a unique data set to provide the first analysis of the structure, performance and gain distribution of deals financed by the same private equity firm on the equity and debt sides (sponsored deals). Most sponsored deals are carried out by a few large and experienced PE firms. In support of the conflict of interest hypothesis, we document a transfer of value from debt to equity funds in sponsored transactions relative to non-sponsored transactions. Yet, the overall value impact of sponsored deals (debt and equity combined) is positive and investors of PE-affiliated debt funds do not loose overall. Sponsored deals end up generating sizable gains for PE firms, most likely through the better ex-post incentives of these structures.

Lunch will be served outside Lecture Theatre 1 from 12:15

Speaker bio

Florencio Lopez de Silanes is Professor of Finance and Dean of Academic Strategy at SKEMA Business School. His research interests and main publications are in corporate finance, corporate governance, family firms, law and finance, regulation, legal reform, state owned enterprises and privatisation. He has been an adviser on these topics to several governments, international institutions and corporations. He has published in top finance and economics journals and has two books on Investor Protection and on the Benefits of Privatisation. Among other distinctions, he received Harvard’s Wells Prize for the Best Dissertation in Economics, and the Legion of Honor for his academic contribution from the President of France. Before arriving to SKEMA he was a professor at the universities of Harvard, Yale, Amsterdam, EDHEC and the Ecole Normale Superieur in Paris.

For more information, please contact Emily Brown.