Clawback

In venture and private equity circles, a clawback obligation represents the general partner's promise that the managers will not receive a greater share of the fund's distributions than they bargained for. This means that the general partner is not entitled to keep distributions representing more than a specified percentage of the fund's cumulative profits by reason of the 20% interest. The clawback requires that the general partner return to the fund an amount equal to what is determined to be "excess" distributions.