Repeated LBOs - The Case of Multiple LBO Transactions

Firms that undergo a second LBO transaction are unique because they have a second experience in the capital markets after being privately held. Motivations for repeated LBOs may differ from first-time LBOs--because of the past experience, the market may be able to better distinguish the competing motivations that have been suggested in the literature. We find that for repeated LBOs, the market response is more strongly positive than that typically found for first-time LBOs. The market reaction is also strongly related to a variant of Tobin' Q, implying that the timing of the LBO may coincide with a low perception in market value. It is not surprising that the majority of the repeated LBOs were performed following the 1987 stock market crash. It appears that the instigators of the LBO believed the price was undervalued and their experience let them act accordingly

Public-to-Private Transactions: LBOs, MBOs, MBIs and IBOs

This paper shows that a vibrant and economically important public-to-private market has reemerged in the US, UK and Continental Europe, since the second half of the 1990s.The paper shows recent trends and investigates the motives for public-to-private and LBO transactions.The reasons for the potential sources of shareholder wealth effects during the transaction period are examined: a distinction is made between tax benefits, incentive realignment, transaction costs savings, stakeholder expropriation, takeover defenses and corporate undervaluation.The paper also attempts to relate these value drivers to the post-transaction value and to the duration of the private status.Finally, the paper draws some conclusions about whether or not public-to-private transactions are useful devices for corporate restructuring.

Leveraged Buyouts: A Survey of the Literature

This paper provides an exhaustive literature review of the motives for public-to-private LBO transactions. First, the paper develops the theoretical framework for the potential sources of value creation from going private: a distinction is made between the reduction in agency costs, stakeholder wealth transfers, tax benefits, transaction costs savings, takeover defense strategies, and corporate undervaluation. The paper then reviews and summarizes whether and how these theories have been empirically verified in the four different strands of literature in LBO research. These strands of literature are categorized by phase in the LBO transaction: Intent (of a buyout), Impact (of the LBO on the various stakeholders), Process (of restructuring after the leveraged buyout) and Duration (of retaining the private status). Then, the paper shows that in the first half of the 2000s, a public-to-private LBO wave re-emerged in the US, UK and Continental Europe, whose value vastly exceeded that of the 1980s US LBO wave. Finally, the paper provides suggestions for further research