Private Equity, Liquidity, Initial Public Offering (IPO)

Private Equity’s Plan B: Navigating the Exit Drought with Continuation Funds

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on 7/14/2025

In a typical bull market, private equity sponsors exit out of portfolio assets through IPOs, strategic sales and sponsor-to-sponsor buyouts. But the 2025 deal market has proven to be neither typical nor robust....more

Founder Secondary Sales: A Primer

Pillsbury - Propel on 6/24/2025

Increasingly, founders desire liquidity with respect to a portion of their equity stake before the company goes public or completes a complete exit event (like an M&A sale). Liquidity is desired for many reasons, including...more

Eyes on the exit: Selling PE portfolio companies in complex markets

White & Case LLP on 3/19/2025

Sluggish M&A and IPO markets have put the brakes on private equity exit activity across Europe, but as pressure builds to clear the backlog of unsold portfolio companies, firms are taking innovative approaches to selling...more

Stretching and Flexing - Part 1 Addressing Longer Hold Periods

Goodwin on 9/13/2024

Patience is proving to be a virtue for a private equity industry that began 2024 sitting on more than 28,000 portfolio companies valued at more than $3 trillion, according to a report by Bain & Company, as average hold...more

To Roll or Not to Roll: Equity Roll Issues in Private Company M&A Deals

Whiteford on 8/29/2024

This article is the first in a series on common issues of critical importance to sellers in private company M&A- An equity roll is an agreement between a Buyer and a Seller in an M&A deal where the Seller (typically a...more

Challenging Exit and Debt Conditions Prompt Financial Sponsors To Adopt Workarounds

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP on 6/26/2024

The challenges facing financial sponsors in the past couple of years have been widely discussed. Their funds have amassed over $1 trillion in dry powder that they are competing to deploy in a weak exit market....more