A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition where a company's existing managers acquire a large part or all of the company from either the parent company or from the private owners. Management and leveraged buy-outs became phenomena of the 1980s. MBOs originated in US and traversed the Atlantic, spreading first to the U.K. and then throughout Europe. The venture capital industry has played a crucial role in the development of buy-outs in Europe, especially in smaller deals in the U.K., the Netherlands, and France.