Do buyouts still have an operating impact?

Sammanfattning: Using a dataset of 55 Swedish leveraged buyouts, we examine the change in operating performance relative to appropriate control groups in the decade following the financial crisis of 2008. Considering the differentia of this decade, the aim of this paper is to evaluate whether the value generating mechanisms of the private equity industry have changed and serve as reference point in the discussion about the societal role of the industry. Controlling for pre-event performances, we find a relative improvement in the return on assets but not in the EBITDA-margin, and that both operating statistics deteriorated for the control groups. We conclude that the leveraged buyouts of this decade still have an operating impact, outweighing a decline in industry operating performance