The Determinants of Bankruptcies post LBO - A study of North American post LBO bankruptcies 1980-2006 Jonas Granström ♠ Pär Warnström ♣ Master’s Thesis in Finance Stockholm School of Economics This thesis aims to shed light upon the determinants of default amongst leveraged buy out targets. We study 519 North American bankruptcies of leveraged buyout transactions and examine specific characteristics of the private equity sponsor, the target firms and the economic climate at the time of the transaction. We study three main areas, private equity firm characteristics, target firm characteristics and economic climate. We find that young firms are more likely to face bankruptcy and that increasing profitability of the industry the target is active within at the time of the buyout have negative correlation with bankruptcy. Moreover, we find that deals made in boom periods as proxied by periods of low US-yield spread are more likely to default. Keywords: Private Equity, Buyouts, Financial Distress Tutor: Associate Professor Per Strömberg Date: Location: Stockholm School of Economics Discussants: Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Per Strömberg for his valuable support and advice throughout the process of writing this paper. ♠
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[email protected] 0 Contents 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 2 2.Theoretical framework .........................................................................................................