Typological analysis of investors involved in the financing of a business buy-out by its owner: An exploratory study
Our study aims to identify, in a theoretical framework articulating the juridico-financial and cognitive approaches of governance, the typical profile of the investors participating in an owner buy out (OBO) operation. Based on capital investment explanatory factors in OBO operations, we conducted a two-steps cluster analysis. Our results, obtained from a survey of a sample of 42 specialized financial investors operating in France, revealed two categories of investors with clearly differentiated characteristics. The difference between the two classes is of a disciplinary and cognitive nature and essentially concerns the investors’ perception of the strategic stakes of an OBO operation and the nature of the indicators leading to the mastery of the risk/profitability couple characterizing such an assembly.