Opening the Black Box: Power in Buyout Negotiations and the Moderating Role of Private Equity Specialization
研究了私募股权公司与出售企业的所有者之间收购谈判中的感知议价能力，识别了竞争、专业知识和时间压力三个关键前因，并考察了私募股权公司行业和规模专业化的调节作用。
The management buyout is an important exit strategy for small business owners. Negotiations of buyout deals have received little research attention to date. This is surprising given buyout negotiations' complexity giving rise to multiple issues that require consideration and often conflicting interests of deal parties. This paper examines perceived bargaining power in buyout negotiations between private equity (PE) firms and current owners who sell their business. We identify competition, expertise, and time pressure as key antecedents of PE firms’ perceived bargaining power and examine the moderating effect of PE firms' industry and size specialization in buyout negotiations. We use a sample of 176 respondents who each report on a particular buyout deal for a PE firm. The majority of respondents are seasoned PE professionals who held managing director or investment director positions.