Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Private equity definition

What does Private equity mean? Private equity describes investment by professional funds in unlisted (unquoted) companies to obtain minority or controlling stakes, financing growth, management buy-outs/ins, recapitalisations or turnarounds, often alongside acquisition debt. The shares acquired are not admitted to trading on a stock exchange, so are less marketable and less liquid than public (quoted) equity. The term is not defined in legislation or case law; it is a market description used consistently across England & Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland. Transactions are privately negotiated and typically documented through investment and shareholders’ agreements, amended articles, preference shares or loan notes, management incentive arrangements (such as...

UK private equity pre-transaction guide for lawyers: business plans and IMs, data rooms, financial promotion compliance, confidentiality, exclusivity and heads of terms

Published by a LexisNexis Corporate expert

Practice notes

The key preliminaries to tackle before a contemplated Private equity deal moves into the transaction Execution phase are largely consistent across investment types, irrespective of whether the proposal concerns venture capital, a management Buyout or buy-in, or development capital.

Information about the business

After deciding to sell or to pursue private equity funding, a comprehensive document must be produced that sets out, in detail, information about the business and articulates the wish and rationale for investment.

In the context of a venture capital or development capital proposal, this document is most often presented as a business plan prepared by the management team; the same holds true for a buyout or buy-in where the investor or buyer has already been identified.

In an auction process (that is, where the investor or buyer has not yet been identified), the equivalent document will typically take the form of an information memorandum (IM).

See Precedent: Information Memorandum...

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Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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