Corporate Governance in Private Equity : Do Boards Really Matter? An empirical study of Norwegian private equity

Abstract

We examine how private equity funds affect corporate governance in Norwegian portfolio companies. We find that general partners do not prioritize the board as long as every thing is going according to plan. We also find that when a company is taken private CEO turnover during the first year after the buyout is a matter of control change. Key factors of keeping the sitting CEO is thus highly based on information not directly tied to performance. Moving past this period into the monitoring period we find that performance becomes important. However, general partners do not seem to influence decisions about the CEO directly from the board. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the board is being neglected and interaction between general partners and management is conducted in alternative ways.