Private Equity Glossary

Development Fundventure Capital Funds Focused On Investing In Later Stage Companies In Need Of Expansion Capital

private equity glossary

With Nonparticipating Preferred Stock, the holders of Preferred Stock must choose either to receive their Liquidation Preference or to receive the same distribution holders of Common Stock receive. A holder of Participating Preferred Stock doesn’t have to choose and receives both. The ability of an asset to be freely transferred with minimal interference from the issuer.

Before we can discuss the important ratios used in private equity, we must first explain some of the basic terms. Some of these terms are strictly used in private equity while others may be familiar depending on your exposure to alternative asset classes, such as hedge funds. The amount of capital invested is often substantial and provided by accredited or institutional investors. Because of the non-public nature of private equity, it can be difficult to understand the lingo used by insiders. Private placement of shares of a publicly listed company to selected investors. A fee charged by a PE fund’s investment manager to cover day-to-day expenses of the fund, including salaries, office rent and costs related to deal sourcing and monitoring portfolio investments.

The right of the investor to require the company to repurchase the investor’s stock for a price specified in the corporate charter. Redemption rights usually are not exercisable until five years or longer after the investment. Redemption rights are rarely exercised, but they give investors leverage to ensure their investment will eventually become liquid private equity glossary through sale of the company if an IPO hasn’t occurred by a specified date. Pro-rata investment rights give an investor in a company the right to participate in a subsequent round of funding to maintain their level of percentage ownership in the company. This becomes a way for investors to continue to invest in companies that they want to put more into.

  • Technically, a leverage ratio measures how much a company has borrowed versus how much its shares are worth.
  • Leverage can be simply thought of as “borrowing.” A company that is highly leveraged has borrowed a lot of money to fund its operations – and must eventually pay that money back.
  • A term defined by federal securities law to denote an investor permitted to invest in certain types of higher-risk investments, such as private equity limited partnerships.
  • It is, therefore, possible for owners of the stock to be left with nothing – while debt investors can at least take the companies belongings and try to sell them for cash .
  • Currently this definition includes individual investors holding assets of at least $5 million.
  • With highly leveraged companies, investors that own the stock can be in trouble because investors that are owed the money have a priority claim on the things the company owns if the company can’t pay back their debt.

Carried interest is normally expressed as a percentage of the total profits of the fund. The fund manager will normally therefore receive 20 per cent of the profits generated by the fund and distribute the remaining 80 per cent of the profits to investors.

Limited Partners (lps)

A further round of equity financing where investors pay a lower price per share than the previous round of financing. The DPI measures the cumulative distributions returned to investors as a proportion of the cumulative paid-in capital. This is a relative measure of the fund’s “realized” return on investment.

Senior Debt

Usually applied to a company with no revenues, to give a metric of financial health and fundraising needs. A company with a low burn rate can theoretically operate longer without new injection of capital. A loan given to a startup by investors that serves to fund the company until the next round of financing. The bridge loan is private equity glossary usually converted into equity at the next equity financing of the company. Contractual clause that protects an investor from having their investment as a percentage of ownership significantly reduced in subsequent rounds of fundraising. Cumulative return is the total change in the price of an investment over a set time period.

It typically ranges from 1 to 2.5% depending on the size and strategy of the fund and the bargaining power of the private equity glossary PE firm during fundraising. The time period during which a fund can draw down LP commitments to make investments.

The short-term savings rate at which a return can be earned without investors running any risk of loss private equity glossary of the investment. Initial Public Offering of shares listing for the first time on a stock exchang.

Money Markets

private equity glossary

The current market standard for vesting schedules is 4 years with a one-year “cliff”. Typically, this means that 25% of the grant will vest after one year, and the balance will vest in equal monthly installments over the following 36 months. A SAFE is an agreement that can be used between a company and an investor. In exchange for the money, with a SAFE, the investor receives the right to purchase stock in a future equity round subject to certain parameters set in advance in the SAFE. A common transfer restriction that gives companies / issuers the right to purchase the stock at the same price, before allowing a shareholder to transfer it to a third party. Large investors in companies are also often granted a ROFR prior to transfers or sales. There are three general types of registration rights Demand; Piggybacks; and S-3.

A round of financing where previous investors, the founders, and management suffer significant dilution. The new investor in a washout round will typically gain majority ownership and control of the company. Generally, when something that is promised is delivered and ownership is officially private equity glossary granted to the recipient. For employees, shares generally vest according a predetermined schedule. Vesting effectively means that employees only receive their equity compensation after a period of employment to ensure alignment of interest between the company and the employee.

To balance risk and reward, asset allocation is determined by investment goals, risk tolerance and time. When a private equity firm acquires a company to add onto an existing portfolio company. In add-on deals, the existing portfolio company is called the platform and the private equity firm is called the sponsor. Preferred Equity Financing Preferred equity shares are a type of hybrid investment that hold characteristics of both bonds and common shares. Interim Internal Rate of Returns are used to help disperse profits on a yearly or annual basis to preferred and common investors. Final IRR is calculated at project completion after all investments have been returned to investors.

Primary Market

Captive firm– A private equity firm that is tied to a larger organisation, typically a bank, insurance company or corporate. BIMBO ‘buy-in management buy-out’– A BIMBO enables a company to re-shuffle its allocation of share capital to bring about a change in management. Internally, a group of managers will acquire enough share capital to ‘buy out’ the company from within. An outside team of managers will simultaneously ‘buy in’ to the company management. Both parties may require financial assistance from venture capitalists in order to achieve this end. A state-owned investment fund designed to protect and/or grow a range of financial assets, including stocks, bonds and natural resources.

private equity glossary

It typically lasts for three to five years from the date of the fund’s first closing. A fund’s GP is wholly responsible for all aspects related to managing a fund and has a fiduciary duty to act solely in the interest of the fund’s investors. A GP will issue capital calls to LPs and make all investment and divestment decisions for the fund in line with the mandate set out in the limited partnership agreement . Common equity is the most junior instrument in a company’s capital structure and provides a residual claim on cash flows and company assets after claims of all other capital providers are satisfied. If initiated by the firm’s incumbent management it’s called a management buyout, if driven by an external management a management buy-in and if by the PE firm then an institutional buyout.

The use of debt in an investment, including acquisitions and capital expenditures. With leverage, general partners can expedite improvements to portfolio companies and amplify returns. At the beginning of a fund’s lifecycle, performance private equity glossary and cash flows are negative because the fund is investing and not yet yielding returns. As the fund starts exiting investments, performance and cash flows increase. The first time a private company’s stock is available to the public.