GP Stakes News was fortunate to receive an exclusive preview of Investcorp’s GP Staking arm’s upcoming white paper, co-authored with Ownership Works (“O.W.”), a non-profit that partners with companies and investors to give all employees the opportunity to build wealth at work — the same organization that Investcorp SCG teamed up with in November 2024.
The white paper translates shared ownership models, first popularized by large-cap private equity firms, into a practical roadmap for middle-market GPs. Drawing from data and case studies spanning more than 160 programs across 15 industries and 20 countries, it illustrates how these initiatives create value for investors and portfolio companies alike — while meaningfully improving wealth-building opportunities for employees.
The 10-page paper covers a wide range of insights, and we won’t spoil it all here (we’ll leave that to the full release). But here are some of our favorite findings that stood out as particularly noteworthy:
“Preliminary analysis from Ownership Works found that deals involving a holistic shared ownership program saw an average MOIC of 1.6x higher than the market median.”
“Employees with equity are more invested in company success”
As one CEO said, “We only want to sell to a PE firm that is a member of O.W. so they can continue the shared ownership model.”
“Shared ownership programs can help a PE firm attract more capital from LP”
“…the long-term net benefit of increased employee engagement and performance, often visible in margin expansion or valuation uplift, can offset the dilution impact”
Stay tuned — the full white paper is set to be published this week.
