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Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis Vol. 46 No. 2 2011

Venture Capital Conflicts of Interest: Evidence from Acquisitions of Venture-Backed Firms

Ronald W. Masulis1,2; Rajarishi Nahata3

1 Australian Institute of Business · 2 UNSW Sydney · 3 Baruch College

open access

Abstract

We analyze the effects of venture capital (VC) backing on profitability of private firm acquisitions. We find that VC backing leads to significantly higher acquirer announcement returns, averaging 3%, even after controlling for deal characteristics and endogeneity of venture funding. This leads us to investigate whether some VCs have interests that conflict with those of other investors. We show that such conflicts arise from VCs having financial relationships with both acquirers and targets, corporate VCs having a dominant strategic focus, and VC funds nearing maturity experiencing pressure to liquidate. Our conclusions follow from examinations of target takeover premia and acquirer announcement returns.

DOI
10.1017/s0022109010000827
Volume
46
Issue
2
Pages
395-430
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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