Does Private Equity Ownership Make Firms Cleaner? The Role of Environmental Liability Risks

Abstract This paper shows that private equity (PE) ownership, in private-to-private buyouts, leads to a reduction in pollution when the target company faces high potential liabilities for polluting. Conversely, PE-backed firms increase pollution when environmental liability risks are low, as shown by a novel natural experiment that reduced these risks for projects located on federal land. Exploiting specific PE deals within the energy industry, I find that PE governance is the main driver of the results. The results suggest that increasing litigation and regulation-related risks can mitigate the potentially detrimental effects of PE ownership on stakeholders. (JEL K32, G34, G38, Q50)