The Differences Between Private Equity and Other Companies

As with any firm, each has a personality and while they are subject to economic incentives, much of their behavior is actually driven by personality. In my past life, I was a mergerist and acquisitions lawyer; often involves private equity firms. For example, I had signed a letter of intent,. an agreement to agree, to sell my company to one private equity company last July. It took me 30 seconds to kill the deal, and I never spoke to them again. But other firms have different personalities. Soon enough, a bidder that had earlier dropped out, came back to the table, offering an even higher price, and quickly closed the deal.