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Concept
Private equity
Summary
In the field of finance, private equity (PE) is an investment fund, usually a limited partnership, which invests in and restructures private companies. A private-equity fund is both a type of ownership of assets (financial equity) and is a class of assets (debt securities and equity securities), which function as modes of financial management for operating private companies that are not publicly traded in a stock exchange.
Private-equity capital is invested into a target company either by an investment management company (private equity firm), a venture capital fund, or an angel investor; each category of investor has specific financial goals, management preferences, and investment strategies for profiting from their investments. Each category of investor provides working capital to the target company to finance the expansion of the company with the development of new products and services, the restructuring of operations, management, and formal control and ownership of the company.
As a financial product, the private-equity fund is a type of private capital for financing a long-term investment strategy in an illiquid business enterprise. Since the 1980s, the financial press describe "private equity fund" investment as the superficial rebranding of investment management companies who specialized in the leveraged buyout of financially weak companies.
The typical structure / features of private-equity investment include:
An investment manager (the private equity investor) raises money from institutional investors (e.g., hedge funds, pension funds, university endowments, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals) to pursue a particular investment strategy.
The fundraise proceeds are placed into an investment fund, in which the investment manager acts as a General Partner (GP) and the institutional investors act as Limited Partners (LPs).
The investment manager then purchases equity ownership stakes in companies using a combination of equity and debt financing, with the goal of generating returns on the equity invested, including any subsequent equity investments into the target companies, over a target horizon based on the particular investment fund and strategy (typically 4–7 years).
Official source
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