Professor Vesa Pursiainen will present the paper “Retail Customer Reactions to Private Equity Acquisitions”

Abstract
Acquisition announcements by private equity funds are associated with significant reductions in customer visits to target firm outlets, measured using aggregated mobile phone data. These reductions occur in primary but not in secondary buyouts. The
decrease is unlikely to be due to operational changes, as it takes place at announcement and is reversed following deal completion. The decrease is larger for deals that are larger and have more newspaper coverage, as well as for outlets facing more competition, and smaller in areas with higher income, stock market participation, and self-employment rates. Customer and employee reviews do not become more negative.