Uma Análise do Mercado de Capital de Risco Português: Saídas Parciais Versus Saídas Totais

This article analyzes Portuguese venture capital exits, investigating the relation between the type of exit and the corresponding asymmetry of information. The main hypothesis being tested is that the occurrence of partial exits is associated with signalling of the investment quality and with the reduction of the degree of asymmetric information.
The data resulted from a study done by Small Business Investment, S.A. and Price WaterHouse Coopers, for APCRI, by questionnaire sent to resident Portuguese venture capital companies.
Logit models have been used, in which the dependent variable is a dummy indicating if a partial exit occurred and the independent variables are: one dummy indicating if the investment was of the start-up type; one dummy indicating if the investment was of the expansion type; one dummy indicating if the investment was of the late stage type; one dummy indicating if the investment was of the high-tech type; one dummy indicating if the exit was of the acquisition type; one dummy indicating if the exit was of IPO type; one dummy indicating if the exit was of write-off type; and one dummy indicating if the exit was of trade sale type.
We conclude that in the case of IPO’s, Expansion Investments and High-tech Investments there exists a higher probability of partial exits while in case of Acquisitions there is a higher probability of total exit. Finally, we conclude that the longer is the duration the smaller is the probability of a partial exit.