The Debt Trap (Student Edition)

Private equity plays a crucial role in modern economies. What Sebastien Canderle explains is that the sector's performance depends on a very specific set of value triggers, first among them the optimal use of leverage. Get the mix wrong, however, and as the book's well-researched case studies demonstrate, even the most experienced fund managers can come to regret their foray into leveraged buyouts. The Debt Trap is filled with grounded analysis and is an authoritative book for PE practitioners and scholars alike.Franklin Allen, Nippon Life Professor of Finance and Economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Brevan Howard Centre director at Imperial College in London

The Debt Trap dissects the dealmaking that undergirds leveraged buyouts and provides an essential road map to the many ways that this has changed since the 2008 financial crisis. Detailed examinations of high-profile buyouts demystify the excessively risky and opaque means that PE firms use to acquire companies.Eileen Appelbaum, Senior Economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and author of Private Equity at Work

Sebastien Canderle has written a genuinely compelling book that raises crucial questions about modern-day PE investment practices. The Debt Trap is a thoughtful and stimulating work that helps to frame the debate on value creation in the world of alternative finance.Pablo Fernandez, Professor of Financial Management and PricewaterhouseCoopers Chair of Corporate Finance at IESE Business School

Not only does the book offer plenty of warning for private investors about investing in IPOs where the company floating is backed by a PE house, but also offers institutional investors plenty of evidence of what can go wrong with companies saddled with theexorbitant debt an LBO can bring...What I most like about this book is its broad scope in explaining the social effects of this kind of financial engineering.Owen Jones, Fidelity