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Encyclopedia > Management buyout

A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition where a company's existing managers acquire a large part or all of the company. Look up acquisition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Management (from Old French ménagement the art of conducting, directing, from Latin manu agere to lead by the hand) characterises the process of leading and directing all or part of an organization, often a business, through the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible). ... The term company may refer to a separate legal entity, as in English law, or may simply refer to a business, as is the common use in the United States. ...

Contents

Management Buyouts

Management buyouts are similar in all major legal aspects to any other acquisition of a company. The particular nature of the MBO lies in the position of the buyers as managers of the company and the practical consequences that follow from that. In particular, the due diligence process is likely to be limited as the buyers already have full knowledge of the company available to them. The seller is also unlikely to give any but the most basic warranties to the management, on the basis that the management know more about the company than the sellers do and therefore the sellers should not have to warrant the state of the company. Lady Justice is a personification of the law. ... Merger redirects here. ... Management (from Old French ménagement the art of conducting, directing, from Latin manu agere to lead by the hand) characterises the process of leading and directing all or part of an organization, often a business, through the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible). ... Due diligence is a term used for a number of concepts involving either the performance of an investigation of a business or person, or the performance of an act with a certain standard of care. ... In business law, a warranty is a promise that something sold is as factually stated or legally implied by the seller. ...


In many cases the company will already be a private company, but if it is public then the management will take it private.



Some concerns about management buyouts are that the asymmetric information possessed by management may offer them unfair advantage relative to current owners. The impending possibility of an MBO may lead to principal-agent problems, moral hazard, and perhaps even the subtle downward manipulation of the stock price prior to sale via adverse information disclosure - including accelerated and aggressive loss recognition, public launching of questionable projects and adverse earning surprizes. Naturally, such corporate governance concerns also exist whenever current senior managment is able to benefit personally from the sale of their company or its assets. This would include, for example, large parting bonuses for CEOs after a takeover or management buyout. In economics, information asymmetry occurs when one party to a transaction has more or better information than the other party. ... The principal-agent problem in economics refers to the difficulties that arise under conditions of incomplete and asymmetric information when a principal hires an agent. ... This section is studied by Argagui monopoli In law and economics, moral hazard is the name given to the risk that one party to a contract can change their behaviour to the detriment of the other party once the contract has been concluded. ... Corporate governance is the set of processes, customs, policies, laws and institutions affecting the way a corporation is directed, administered or controlled. ...


Since corporate valuation is often subject to considerable uncertainty and ambiguity, and since it can be heavily influenced by asymmetric or insider information, some question the validity of MBOs and consider them to potentially represent a form of insider trading. Uncertainty is a term used in subtly different ways in a number of fields, including philosophy, statistics, economics, finance, insurance, psychology, engineering and science. ... Look up ambiguity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Insider trading is a term often used to refer to a practice, which is illegal in many jurisdictions, in which an investor trades securities of a company (, stocks, bonds or stock options) based on material non-public information which was obtained by an officer, manager, or other corporate insider, during...


The mere possibility of an MBO or a substantial parting bonus on sale may create perverse incentives that can reduce the efficiency of a wide range of firms - even if they remain as public companies. This represents a substantial potential negative externality. An externality occurs in economics when a decision (for example, to pollute the atmosphere) causes costs or benefits to individuals or groups other than the person making the decision. ...


The Purpose of an MBO

The purpose of such a buyout from the managers' point of view may be to save their jobs, either if the business has been scheduled for closure or if an outside purchaser would bring in its own management team. They may also want to maximize the financial benefits they receive from the success they bring to the company by taking the profits for themselves. This is often a way to ward off aggressive buyers. Wall Street, Manhattan is the location of the New York Stock Exchange and is often used as a symbol for the world of business. ... A management team is directly responsible for managing the day-to-day operations (and profitability) of a company. ... Profit is what is gained, after costs are accounted for. ...


Financing a Management Buyouts

Debt Financing

The management of a company will not usually have the money available to buy the company outright themselves. They would first seek to borrow from a bank, provided the bank was willing to accept the risk. Management buyouts are frequently seen as too risky for a bank to finance the purchase through a loan. Economics offers various definitions for money, though it is now commonly defined as any good or token that functions as a medium of exchange that is socially and legally accepted in payment for goods and services and in settlement of debts. ... Banker redirects here; see wiktionary:banker for more meanings. ... Banker redirects here; see wiktionary:banker for more meanings. ... The risk that a company will not have adequate cash flow to meet financial obligations. ...


Private Equity Financing

If a bank is unwilling to lend, the management will commonly look to private equity investors to fund the majority of buyout. A high proportion of management buyouts are financed in this way. The private equity investors will invest money in return for a proportion of the shares in the company, though they may also grant a loan to the management. The exact financial structuring will depend on the backer's desire to balance the risk with its return, with debt being less risky but less profitable than capital investment. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... See stock (disambiguation) for other meanings of the term stock A stock, also referred to as a share, is commonly a share of ownership in a corporation. ... A loan is a type of debt. ... For other uses, see Debt (disambiguation). ... Capital has a number of related meanings in economics, finance and accounting. ...


Although the management may not have resources to buy the company, private equity houses will require that the managers each make as large an investment as they can afford in order to ensure that the management are locked in by an overwhelming vested interest in the success of the company. It is common for the management re-mortgage their houses in order to acquire a small percentage of the company.


Private equity backers are likely to have somewhat different goals to the management. They generally aim to maximise their return and make an exit after 3-5 years while minimising risk to themselves, whereas the management rarely look beyond their careers at the company and will take a long-term view. Private equity is a broad term that refers to any type of equity investment in an asset in which the equity is not freely tradable on a public stock market. ... For other uses, see Risk (disambiguation). ...


While certain aims do coincide - in particular the primary aim of profitability - certain tensions can arise. The backers will invariably impose the same warranties on the management in relation to the company that the sellers will have refused to give the management. This "warranty gap" means that the management will bear all the risk of any defects in the company that affects its value. Profit is what is gained, after costs are accounted for. ... In business law, a warranty is a promise that something sold is as factually stated or legally implied by the seller. ...


As a condition of their investment, the backers will also impose numerous terms on the management concerning the way that the company is run. The purpose is to ensure that the management run the company in a way that will maximise the returns during the term of the backers' investment, whereas the management might have hoped to build the company for long-term gains. Though the two aims are not always incompatible, the management may feel restricted. A contract is any promise or set of promises made by one party to another for the breach of which the law provides a remedy. ...


Vendor Financing

In certain circumstances it may be possible for the management and the original owner of the company to agree a deal whereby the seller finances the buyout. The price paid at the time of sale will be nominal, with the real price being paid over the following years out of the profits of the company. The timescale for the payment is typically 3-7 years.


This represents a disadvantage for the vendor, which must wait to receive its money after it has lost control of the company. It is also dependent on the returned profits being increased significantly following the acquisition, in order for the deal to represent a gain to the seller in comparison to the situation pre-sale. This will usually only happen in very particulat circumstances.


The vendor may nevertheless agree to vendor financing for tax reasons, as the consideration will be classified as income rather than a capital gain. It may also receive some other benefit such as a higher overall purchase price than would be obtained by a normal purchase. Consideration is something that is done or promised in return for a contractual promise. ...


The advantage for the management is that they do not need to become involved with private equity or a bank and will be left in control of the company once the consideration has been paid.


Examples of MBOs

A classic example of an MBO involved Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation, a former plant in Springfield, Missouri owned by Navistar (at that time, International Harvester) which was in danger of being closed or sold to outside parties until its managers purchased the company. Springfield is the third largest city in Missouri. ... Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV) is the parent company of International Truck and Engine Corporation, a leading producer of mid-range diesel engines, medium trucks, heavy trucks, severe service vehicles, and parts and service sold under the International® brand. ... Navistar (formerly International Harvester) started in Chicago, United States, which produced agricultural machinery, construction equipment and vehicles. ...


In the UK, New Look was the subject of a management buyout in 2004 by Tom Singh, the founder of the company who had floated it in 1998. He was backed by private equity houses Apax and Permira, who now own 60% of the company. New Look is a chain of high street shops in Britain, popular at first with girls in the 12-24 age bracket but has recently diversified into mens clothing. ... Tom Singh (b. ... Apax Partners is a private equity and venture capital firm which operates in the United Kingdom, United States, Europe, and Israel. ... Permira is an international, private equity firm based in the United Kingdom. ...


See also

A buyout is an investment transaction by which the entire stock of a company is sold. ... A takeover in business refers to one company (the acquirer, or bidder) purchasing another (the target). ... A management buy-in (MBI) occurs a manager or a management team from outside the company raises the necessary finance, buys it, and becomes the companys new management. ... A leveraged buyout (or LBO, or highly-leveraged transaction (HLT), or bootstrap transaction) occurs when a financial sponsor gains control of a majority of a target companys equity through the use of borrowed money or debt. ...

External links

  • Definition of management buyout

  Results from FactBites:
 
Are You Management Buyout Material? - - CFO.com (1151 words)
In the past couple of weeks alone, Xerox Corp. reportedly has met with at least three leveraged buyout (LBO) firms to discuss the disposal of certain assets as it attempts to raise as much as $4 billion to reduce its debt load.
Last year, buyout firms participated in 283 deals worth approximately $39 billion worth of controlled transactions (the firm acquiring at least 50 percent of the company), according to Buyouts, a New York City-based newsletter.
Then, it is sold, taken public, or recapitalized, often resulting in a big payday for the company's top management and the buyout principals as well as limited partners of the buyout firm's fund, if there is one.
Management buyout - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (193 words)
A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition where a company's existing managers buy or acquire a large part of the company.
A classic example of an MBO involved Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation, a former plant in Springfield, Missouri owned by Navistar (at that time, International Harvester) which was in danger of being closed or sold to outside parties until its managers purchased the company.
The goals of such a buyout may be to strengthen the managers' interest in the success of the company, or just as often to save their jobs (the plant may have been scheduled for simple closure, or an outside purchaser may bring in its own management team, leaving the prior managers unemployed).
  More results at FactBites »


 

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