This paper investigates the financial characteristics and changes in performance of French companies involved in a leveraged buy-out. The empirical study covers a sample of 161 MBOs in France from 1988 to 1994. The acquired firms outperform their counterparts in the same sector of activity before and after the buy-out. However, unlike findings concerning LBOs in the USA and the UK, the performance of French firms falls after the operation is completed. This downturn in performance seems to be less detrimental to former subsidiaries of groups than to former family businesses. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2002.

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