The Private Equity Council today issued the following statement on
new research on private equity conducted for the World Economic Forum
by a team of researchers led by Josh Lerner, the Jacob H. Schiff
Professor of Investment Banking at Harvard Business School. The
studies are available on the WEF web site at www.weforum.org. The
statement should be attributed to Douglas Lowenstein, president of the
Private Equity Council.
"The WEF studies represent a significant new contribution to the
body of research on private equity investment. Professor Lerner, his
team and the WEF are to be congratulated for their effort.
"The WEF studies further validate what we´ve been saying all
along: private equity firms invest for the long term and build
stronger, more innovative, and more competitive companies.
"The studies affirm that private equity-owned companies pursue
more economically important innovations than companies that are not
owned by PE investors.
"The studies directly contradict critics´ assertions that PE
owners starve investment and R&D. In fact, the researchers said PE
firms maintain a comparable level of cutting edge research at the
companies they acquire.
"The studies demonstrate that PE firms are job savers and job
growers. Firms acquired by PE on average are losing jobs at a faster
clip than their peers when purchased - but over time, as the business
is stabilized and refocused by PE investors, the employment trend
rises to match the industry average at old facilities and exceeds
average industry-wide job creation at new facilities.
"The WEF results in this regard are consistent with a study done
for the Private Equity Council by Dr. Robert Shapiro, a former Under
Secretary of Commerce. Shapiro found in a study of 26 large U.S. PE
acquisitions that after a period of initial job losses, PE firms over
time were net job growers.
"The WEF researchers put to bed the myth of "strip and flip." They
report that private equity owners are long-term investors of five
years or more. "Quick flip" transactions of two years or less
represented less than 12 percent of all the transactions studied.
"The study confirms that private equity investors are active
owners that take a direct role in managing the companies they acquire
long after the acquisition closes."
About The Private Equity Council
The Private Equity Council, based in Washington DC, is an
advocacy, communications and research organization that develops,
analyzes and distributes information about the domestic and
international private equity industry. Its members are: Apax Partners;
Apollo Global Management LLC; Bain Capital; The Blackstone Group; The
Carlyle Group; Hellman & Friedman LLC; Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.;
Providence Equity Partners; Silver Lake Partners; THL Partners and TPG
Capital (formerly Texas Pacific Group).