Privata försäljningar kontra börsintroduktioner -En studie av prisskillnader mellan privata bolagsförsäljningar och börsintroduktioner under perioden 1998-2005

Abstract

There are many different reasons why companies are sold; regardless the reason a seller faces the question: how shall the company be sold in order to make as much profit as possible? To simplify the answer there are mainly two options, you either sell to a private company or person or to the public via an introduction on the stock market. Each year there are about ten public sales on Stockholmsbörsen (the Swedish main stock market) and above these are smaller companies continuously introduced on other Swedish stock markets like for example Aktietorget. When it comes to private acquisitions there are hundreds of deals taking place each year. By a study of, principally, historical P/E-ratios we look for answers on the question: Is there any way in which sellers can foresee where he will receive the highest price for his company? The purpose is that this thesis can be of use in decision-making regarding the selling of companies. The thesis is mainly based on large quantities of data from both private acquisitions as well as stock exchange quotations which has been put together in diagrams, where P/E-ratios have been studied in a time series analysis. There are many ways in which the main question above can be penetrated. We start out from the P/E-ratio, preferably since it brings with it the possibility to compare acquisitions with each other, regardless of differences in scale and due to the fact that the amount of information gets manageable under present circumstances. The results of the thesis shows, after analyzed, that differences in prices do exist between private acquisitions and stock exchange quotations. There is, however, no consequent difference whereas it differs pretty much over time. A connection between other variables and the development of the P/E-ratios (and their relative distance) can be seen in the result diagrams. The study shows that GNP-growth together with the number of buyouts from the stock market can be used to prognosticate general price levels for private acquisitions versus stock exchange quotations and the relative distance in price.