Public versus Private Equity
Fisher College of Business Working Paper No. 2019-03-027
Charles A. Dice Center Working Paper No. 2019-27
European Corporate Governance Institute – Finance Working Paper No. 640/2019
32 Pages Posted: 14 Nov 2019 Last revised: 24 Nov 2019
Date Written: November 12, 2019
Abstract
The last twenty years or so have seen a sharp decline in public equity. I present a framework that explains the forces that cause the listing propensity of firms to change over time. This framework highlights the benefits and costs of a public listing compared to the benefits and costs of financing with private equity. With this framework, the decline in public equity is explained by the increased supply of funds for private equity and changes in the nature of firms. The increase in the importance of intangible assets makes it costlier for young firms to be public when the alternative is funding through private equity from investors who have specialized knowledge that enables them to better understand the business model of young firms and contribute to the development of that business model in contrast to passive public equity investors.
Keywords: public equity, private equity, listing, agency costs, IPO, intangible assets
JEL Classification: G17, G18, G12, G32, K22
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation