Managing private equity buyouts

  • A Mercuri Urval Survey

By University Colleague London & Mercuri Urval

In this joint research project by University College London and MU set out to answer the question; Private equity players tend to outperform trade buyers in M&A activity. Why is this?

Merger and Acquisition activity has shot up in recent decades. Next to trade or industry buyers, an increased share of M&As are conducted by private equity players. Most reseach into private equity investment to date has focused on financial performance. Less is known about the management and human dynamics of the buyout process.

MU and University College London joined forces to explore whether buyout management and its human dynamics represent the private equity sector´s 'magic bullet´ or its Achilles heel.

We spend too little time on people issues compared to the amount of time we spend on numbers." Senior private equity professional



Read about our findings in the full report.


  • Merger & Acquisition
  • Private Equity
  • M&A