The past decade has seen the number of public companies shrink, while the ranks of businesses owned by private market investors have swelled. What’s driving this trend – and does it matter?

A roundtable discussion with CD&R Operating Partner Roberto Quarta was featured in Private Equity Findings, a publication of the Coller Research Institute produced in collaboration with Professor Josh Lerner of Harvard Business School. The roundtable discussion convened leading investors and academics to discuss the drivers and implications of the diminishing number of public companies and rise in private market-backed companies. 

“I have a foot in both public markets and private equity, and my view is that there is a time for entrepreneurship, a time for companies to be held privately, and a time for companies to go public. […] I think having a healthy public market matters because, ultimately, PE has to exit,” Mr. Quarta said.  

Read more from Roberto and the other contributors in the article below.

This article was prepared by certain third parties, and not by CD&R, and CD&R makes no representations as to its accuracy. CD&R did not sponsor this article and did not have editorial control over it (except with respect to the quotations from CD&R partner Roberto Quarta) or provide editorial comment. Certain parties involved in producing the article have business ties to CD&R and/or to its funds.