Private Equity, or PE, is a collective term for all types of investment in the equity of unlisted companies (corporates). PE funds, which are managed by asset managers, collect capital from investors and then successively invest it in individual target companies. The role of asset managers is to identify suitable transactions, analyse them, negotiate and conclude contracts with the target companies and, as a rule, also to support the management of the target company. This support can help to optimise the financed company in organisational and structural terms. When investing in PE, a distinction is made between different investment phases and investment structures, each of which is subject to specific return and risk aspects. Venture capital is considered one of the forms of PE.