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What Private Equity Firms Actually Do With the Companies They Buy

Beginner Investing • 6 min

When a private equity firm buys a company in a leveraged buyout, it typically doesn't pay for most of it with its own cash — it borrows a significant share of the purchase price, using debt the ACQUIRED COMPANY itself becomes responsible for repaying. This is fundamentally different from a normal stock purchase.After the acquisition, PE firms typically work over a multi-year holding period (often 3-7 years) to…

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