Although there are a variety of options for raising capital and attracting investors, equity is one of the two most sorts after options. It allows a company to give a share of ownership of its business to an investor in expectation of a return as the business grows. Unlike public equity (stock market) with ownership of shares in a public company, private equity (PE) simply means ownership of shares in a private company. Private equity is a type of capital investment (asset or security) made to (target) companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange. As an alternative form of private financing, private equity allows investors directly invest in companies through which such investors gain an ownership stake in the companies. Investors seek PE funds to earn returns that are considered to be better than those from the public equity markets.