From time to time, a private equity firm or other financial sponsor (directly or through a fund that it manages) may find itself owning a significant stake, perhaps even a controlling stake, in a publicly-traded company. For instance, the sponsor might have bought shares of the company in the open market, invested privately in a “PIPE” transaction, or simply retained shares in a portfolio company that it has taken public. A sponsor that wishes to acquire the outstanding public float of a company in which it already owns a meaningful stake is said to engage in a “going-private” transaction.