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Comment by gpresot | Hacker News Reader

Being owned by a Private Equity fund can really not be described as being "independent". Such funds have a typical investment horizon of 5-7 years, with potential exits being an IPO, a strategic sale (to a bigger company) or a sale to another PE fund, with the strategic sale probably more typical. In the mean time the fund will impose strict growth targets and strong cost cuts.

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Im working for a company that was bought by a private equity in 2015 and taken off the stock market. Then introduced to the market again about two years later.

They left us mostly alone, and most things actually turned to the better. Maybe not having to answer to thousands of shareholders gave management the possibility to implement some needed changes. One example was a new salary/bonus/retirement structure giving a huge boost to most of us. So YMMV.

good point - there is far less reporting and PE has a much longer time frame than the 2 quarters everyone but Warren Buffet cares about

Yeah, I'm not sure how anyone can call private equity "independent". Our whole last year had selling the company as our top priority. Not something I'd choose in a truly independent position.

Being independent doesn't mean "without owners". That the owner is PE is actually quite a good position to be in, as others have already commented. So yes, "independent" is the right word here.

I think it really depends on a couple of important variables, including cash flows and company management. Our private equity overlords care mostly about the macro goals that are generally well defined in advance (sales targets, M&A budgets, bonus pool) and our CEO has done this a few times so he has a track record of predictable returns, which is primarily what a PE fund wants, vs the hockey stick growth of VC money.

In this economic climate and especially outside of the US, PE gives you a lot of the benefits of going public without the extra scrutiny and reporting. I've seen several established companies in my industry forgo going public and unlock liquidity via private equity or sovereign wealth funds.

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