Do most private companies have boards of directors?
Bernstein: Most have boards – not all of them have outside boards. In a typical company with no outside investors, there is a board but it tends to consist solely of existing shareholders and perhaps family members or members of senior management. Wink: Once professional money is put into a private company, the private equity fund as part of that transaction will require a specific number of seats on the board. Concurrent with the professional money investment, a board is usually established. Editor: Management is key in any future sale of a company. What recommendations do you make for management contracts, management succession, benchmarking with other companies? Wink: Usually, in the typical private equity transaction, a private equity fund is as interested in investing in the management team of the company as in the product or services that the company sells. A private equity fund doesn’t want to get involved in the day-to-day management of the company; they want to leave that in t
