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Understanding the private equity (buyout) model
Traditional private equity buyouts focus on acquiring established businesses, often via leveraged buyouts (LBOs), to drive operational improvement and exit through a sale or IPO. Investors typically take a controlling stake, which offers influence over strategy, capital allocation, leadership, and M&A, but also concentrates operational responsibility and exit risk. Common value-creation levers include margin improvement, pricing and product mix, professionalising finance and reporting, and disciplined add-on acquisitions.
Learn more: Private equity • Leveraged buyout
Hold periods often run 5–7+ years at the asset level (with fund lives of 10–12 years plus extensions). That structure suits families who want clear value-creation plans and measurable outcomes while accepting illiquidity and exposure to exit windows. For larger, cash-generative companies, buyouts remain a proven route to scale, governance, and professionalisation; albeit with higher sensitivity to financing conditions and the business cycle.
Rise of growth equity
Growth equity sits between venture capital and buyout. Rather than control, investors typically take minority positions in profitable, scaling businesses to fund the next chapter (new geographies, product lines, sales expansion, strategic M&A) with lower reliance on debt. For UHNW families, this offers exposure to innovation with a more balanced risk profile than early-stage venture.
Learn more: Growth capital • Venture capital
Return drivers in growth equity skew toward revenue expansion, unit economics, and multiple accretion rather than financial engineering. Investors often negotiate protective minority rights (information, governance, and exit provisions) while leaving day-to-day control with founders and management. Families who know a sector well (software, healthcare, energy transition, consumer) frequently prefer this partnership model, which allows board-level influence without operating the company.
Access and alignment
Access has broadened beyond institutions. Families now participate via specialist funds, co-investments, direct deals, and secondaries, often alongside experienced sponsors. A deliberate mix of buyout and growth equity can diversify stage, sector, and geography—balancing cash-flow stability with upside potential.
Authoritative overview: Bain Global Private Equity Report
At Aument Capital, we see rising interest in growth co-investments as a complement to traditional buyouts—particularly in venture secondaries, private credit, and tech-enabled real assets - where we can pair sponsor discipline with founder empathy. (Explore: Private Markets Access • Private Office.)
Due-diligence focus areas for families typically include:
- Manager selection & alignment: track record by sector and stage; access to co-investments; carry and fee terms.
- Governance & information rights: board representation, reporting cadence, protective provisions.
- Liquidity profile: expected hold periods, exit pathways, and secondary options.
- Risk management: leverage levels, covenant quality, customer and supplier concentration, and FX/interest-rate exposure.
Beyond returns: participation and legacy
For many entrepreneur families, alignment matters as much as IRR. Growth strategies often create space for partnership with management and transparent decision-making, while buyouts suit those who prefer control and operational levers. Both can be powerful tools for next-gen involvement, providing a practical education in value creation, governance, and responsible stewardship. Thoughtfully selected mandates also let families support themes that matter (e.g. energy transition, healthcare access, or enterprise software) without shouldering start-up volatility.
How they fit in a long-horizon portfolio
Most multi-generational portfolios benefit from both approaches:
- Buyout for governance, scale, and operational playbooks, accepting leverage and exit cyclicality.
- Growth equity for compounding with lower debt, strong unit economics, and partnership dynamics.
Allocation should reflect liquidity tolerance, governance appetite, sector familiarity, and the time you want to invest personally. A practical sequence we often discuss with clients: establish a clean cross-border structure (Structuring), build a core manager lineup, add co-investments where conviction and access are strongest, and maintain reporting and governance that the family will actually use.
Bottom line
Buyout and growth equity are complementary tools for patient capital. The craft is matching ambition with patience (hold periods, liquidity) and opportunity with structure (governance, reporting). That is where an execution-led, cross-border platform can make the difference—curating exposure, negotiating alignment, and keeping the admin out of your day.
If you’d like to review how buyouts and growth equity might fit your capital plan or to see our current co-invest pipeline, start a private conversation with the team.
