Private Equity Minority Investments: An Attractive Financing Alternative for Family Firms

Private equity minority investments have become an increasingly attractive financing alternative for family firms. However, admitting a private equity investor as a minority shareholder seems to contradict with the objective of the owner family to preserve their continuous and unlimited influence on the businesses since they must at least partially cede control over the firm to the private equity investor. Therefore, the purpose of this book is to identify the primary decision drivers for family firm entrepreneurs in seeking private equity financing despite the therein related partial loss of control. By giving special consideration to the potential cooperation mechanisms between the shareholders, this book goes beyond the scope of previous studies. Cooperation is thereby considered as a prerequisite for the success of minority investments because due to its minority position, the private equity investor is not able to implement its value creation strategy against the will of the family firm entrepreneur.