Private Equity Portfolio Company Fees

76 Pages Posted: 15 Dec 2015 Last revised: 17 Mar 2016

See all articles by Ludovic Phalippou

Ludovic Phalippou

University of Oxford - Said Business School

Christian Rauch

Umm Al Quwain University

Marc P. Umber

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management

Date Written: April 5, 2016

Abstract

In private equity, General Partners (GPs) may receive fee payments from companies whose board they control. This paper describes the related contracts and shows that these fee payments sum up to $20 billion evenly distributed over the last twenty years, representing over 6% of the equity invested by GPs on behalf of their investors. Fees do not vary according to business cycles, company characteristics, or GP performance. Fees vary significantly across GPs and are persistent within GPs. GPs charging the least raised more capital post financial crisis. GPs that went public distinctively increased their fees prior to that event. We discuss how results can be explained by optimal contracting versus tunneling theories.

Suggested Citation

Phalippou, Ludovic and Rauch, Christian and Umber, Marc P., Private Equity Portfolio Company Fees (April 5, 2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2702938 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2702938

Ludovic Phalippou (Contact Author)

University of Oxford - Said Business School ( email )

Park End Street
Oxford, OX1 1HP
Great Britain

Christian Rauch

Umm Al Quwain University ( email )

Umm Al Quwain
United Arab Emirates

HOME PAGE: http://https://uaqu.ac.ae/

Marc P. Umber

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management ( email )

Adickesallee 32-34
Frankfurt am Main, 60322
Germany

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