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Private equity portfolio company fees

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  • Phalippou, Ludovic
  • Rauch, Christian
  • Umber, Marc

Abstract

In private equity, general partners (GPs) receive fee payments from companies whose boards they control. Fees amount to $20 billion evenly distributed over time, representing over 6% of equity invested by GPs. They do not vary with business cycles, company characteristics, or GP performance. Fees vary significantly across GPs and are persistent within GPs, even after accounting for fee rebates to limited partners (LPs). GPs charging the least raise more capital postfinancial crisis and are backed by more skilled LPs. GPs increase fees prior to going public. We discuss how these results could be explained by optimal contracting and tax arbitrage.

Suggested Citation

  • Phalippou, Ludovic & Rauch, Christian & Umber, Marc, 2018. "Private equity portfolio company fees," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(3), pages 559-585.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:129:y:2018:i:3:p:559-585
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2018.05.010
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    2. Bienz, Carsten & Thorburn, Karin & Walz, Uwe, 2019. "Ownership, Wealth, and Risk Taking: Evidence on Private Equity Fund Managers," SAFE Working Paper Series 126, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE, revised 2019.
    3. Begenau, Juliane & Siriwardane, Emil N, 2021. "How do private equity fees vary across public pensions?," CEPR Discussion Papers 15883, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Michael Ewens & Joan Farre-Mensa, 2022. "Private or Public Equity? The Evolving Entrepreneurial Finance Landscape," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 271-293, November.
    5. Eileen Appelbaum & Rosemary Batt, 2016. "Fees, Fees and More Fees: How Private Equity Abuses Its Limited Partners and U.S. Taxpayers," CEPR Reports and Issue Briefs 2016-06, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
    6. Ulrike Schaede, 2022. "The Digital Transformation (DX) and the Financialization of Japan: A Case Study of Private Equity," IMES Discussion Paper Series 22-E-18, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan.
    7. Dyaran Bansraj & Han Smit & Vadym Volosovych, 2020. "Can Private Equity Funds Act as Strategic Buyers? Evidence from Buy-and-Build Strategies," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-041/IV, Tinbergen Institute.
    8. Ivashina, Victoria & Lerner, Josh, 2019. "Pay now or pay later? The economics within the private equity partnership," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(1), pages 61-87.
    9. Niklas Hüther & David T. Robinson & Sönke Sievers & Thomas Hartmann-Wendels, 2020. "Paying for Performance in Private Equity: Evidence from Venture Capital Partnerships," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(4), pages 1756-1782, April.
    10. Braun, Reiner & Jenkinson, Tim & Schemmerl, Christoph, 2020. "Adverse selection and the performance of private equity co-investments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 44-62.
    11. Geczy, Christopher & Jeffers, Jessica S. & Musto, David K. & Tucker, Anne M., 2021. "Contracts with (Social) benefits: The implementation of impact investing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 697-718.
    12. Atul Gupta & Sabrina T Howell & Constantine Yannelis & Abhinav Gupta, 2021. "Does Private Equity Investment in Healthcare Benefit Patients? Evidence from Nursing Homes," Working Papers 2021-20, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Private equity; Monitoring fees; Transaction fees; Compensation; Corporate governance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

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