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European Financial Management, 2012 doi: 10.1111/j.1468-036X.2012.00644.x Private Equity Lemons? Evidence on Value Creation in Secondary Buyouts Ann-Kristin Achleitner and Christian Figge ¨ ¨ Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies; Technische Universitat Munchen, TUM Business School; Arcisstr. 21, 80333 Munich, Germany E-mails: ann-kristin.achleitner@wi.tum.de; christian.figge@wi.tum.de Abstract This paper analyses whether secondary buyouts have a value creation profile and offer equity returns different from those of primary buyouts. Using a sample of 2,456 buyout transactions (including 448 secondary buyouts), we find no evidence that secondary buyouts generate lower equity returns or offer fundamentally lower operational value creation potential. However, we can show that secondary buyouts obtain 28–30% more leverage than primary buyouts, even after controlling for debt market conditions. Furthermore, we find evidence that secondary buyouts are 6–9% more expensive than other buyouts. Keywords: secondary buyouts, private equity , value creation JEL classification: G11, G24, G34 1. Introduction Since Akerlof’s (1970) seminal paper on the impact of asymmetric information on the market for used cars, the term lemon has been associated with a defective used car. This paper addresses the question of whether the private equity market has its very own lemon problem. ‘Used’ private equity deals, commonly known as secondary buyouts (SBOs), denote the situation where both the buyer and seller are financial sponsors. Data on the evolution of the worldwide private equity market from Kaplan and Stromberg (2009) ¨ show that SBOs have grown from 2% of total enterprise value (EV) in the first boom phase of pri