Current Status on Portuguese Private Equity

Although private equity transactions may date back to the beginning of the 20th century, private equity would not gain its true form until after World War II, when venture capital and private equity firms American Research and Development Corporation and J.H. Whitney & Company were incorporated in 1946 in the United States. These firms were known for their investments in the buyouts of Digital Equipment Corporation and Florida Foods Company (which developed the Minute Maid orange juice), respectively, which created massive returns for their investors.
In Portugal the first private equity legal framework was enacted in the mid-1980s to facilitate alternate forms of financing of small and medium companies (SMEs) as opposed to traditional bank loans – this piece of legislation created the private equity companies (sociedades de capital de risco – SCRs) as a vehicle for private equity investment.

ALMEIDA, Francisco Xavier de; RODRIGUES, Vasco, “Current Status on Portuguese Private Equity”, Private Equity, Worldwatch, Financier Worldwide, Agosto 2010

The PDF file is available to download in this page.