Critical Analysis of Private Equity-Investments within Small and Mid-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 1,3, University of applied sciences, Düsseldorf, language: English, abstract: This work focuses on the private equity (PE) investments within SMEs. Fundamentals of private equity investments are reviewed in the second chapter. This includes definition and product categories of private equity and how PE business is organized as well as the history of PE market in Germany. The third chapter analyses the process of the PE deals including the different phases as well as the exit strategies. The last chapter critically analyse the PE deals from the point of view of the investor and the targeted company before closing with the outlook and conclusion.

In the last decades, the private equity market in Germany has witnessed waves of rise and fall. But it surpassed, by the end of 2017, all the records of German PE history. According to Deutsche Beteiligungs (DBAG), the amount of transactions in the mid-sized businesses in the German market dramatically increased and hit EUR4.4 billion in 2017 which was the highest during the last 15 years.

But in contrast, the competition in the German market has been recently high with a steady number of companies which led to high prices and overvalued companies. PE firms target the mid-sized businesses since they are more likely to accept financial investors than bank loans or credit lines. However, this problem can now be countered with the help of PE in the context of alternative corporate financing.

It should be noted that PE business has been a concern of German politics and businesses since the 1960s where the financial system was basically based on banks which is not appropriate for the development of PE industry. The government intervention was the base to build a stronger PE industry away from bank-based financial systems. Recently, the stock market segment was a key driver for the dynamic development of PE market. The price falls and the collapse of the overheated and overvalued companies were also clearly felt in the PE segment and generated a great deal over scepticism on the capital markets.