Title: Acquisitions by family businesses in continental Europe and their differences compared to private equity investors

Authors: Philipp Schüler; Mark Mietzner; Dirk Schiereck

Addresses: Brunswick Group GmbH, Thurn-und-Taxis-Platz 6, 60313 Frankfurt, Germany ' Zeppelin Universität, Am Seemoser Horn 20, 88045 Friedrichshafen, Germany ' Technische Universität Darmstadt, Hochschulstr, 1, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany

Abstract: This study explores whether family business investors and private equity investors in continental Europe significantly differ from their investment approach and performance. Therefore, we analyse 126 acquisitions of listed Continental European firms by family business investors or private equity firms from the years 2002 to 2012. Although most of the performance differences between both investor groups are not statistically significant, the results fit with the existing evidence on shareholder activism of institutional investors like private equity funds and corporate raiders. However, there are some significant differences with respect to target firm characteristics. Consequently, we suggest to increasingly consider family business investors in the research on shareholder activism in Continental Europe.

Keywords: minority stake acquisition; shareholder activism; family business; private equity; PE; corporate governance; agency conflicts; Europe.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEV.2019.098781

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2019 Vol.11 No.2, pp.142 - 163

Received: 08 Oct 2016
Accepted: 14 Nov 2017
Published online: 02 Apr 2019 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article