Buy-outs in Family Businesses

In recent years, buy-outs have become an increasingly frequent solution to succession problems in family businesses. Despite a dramatic surge in the number and total volume of these transactions, their consequences for the bought-out companies are yet poorly understood.

Considering this background, Oliver Klöckner investigates the changes resulting from buy-outs in family businesses in the areas of corporate governance, instruments of managerial control, and financial practices. A comprehensive literature review contrasts the characteristics of family businesses with those of non-family businesses after a buy-out. This theoretical discussion is complemented by an in-depth analysis of 17 bought-out family businesses in Germany. The detailed analysis reveals a multitude of changes, which can be subsumed under three main effects: First, companies are professionalized. Second, corporate processes are more directed towards economic goals, i.e. economized. Third, agency conflicts arising from the separation of ownership and management are reduced.

Auteur
Dr. Oliver Klöckner promovierte als wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am KfW-Stiftungslehrstuhl für Entrepreneurial Finance bei Prof. Dr. Dr. Ann-Kristin Achleitner. Er arbeitet heute in der Strategieabteilung von Telefonica o2 Germany.

Contenu
Theoretical foundation.- Empirical foundation.- Background of buy-out transactions.- Changes in corporate governance.- Changes in instruments of managerial control.- Changes in financial practices.- Conclusion, implications and outlook.