An Analysis of the Belgian Private Equity MarketThis Master’s Thesis attempts to give an overview of the most popular beliefs about private equity. The second part is a quantitative analysis of the Belgian private equity business.Private equity (PE) means to investors an alternative to more widespread financial instruments such as stocks or commodities. The four prototypes of portfolio companies owned by a private equity house are family firms, subdivisions/spinoffs from companies, public-to-private transactions and secondary buyouts.