Publications

2011
Other Unpublished Work

Do Public and Private Firms Behave Differently? An Examination of Investment in the Chemical Industry

By: Albert W. Sheen

I compare the capacity expansion decisions of U.S. public and private producers of seven commodity chemicals from 1989-2006. I find that private firms invest differently, and more efficiently, than public firms. Specifically, private firms are more likely than public... View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; Chemicals; Investment; Public Ownership; Chemical Industry; United States

Read Now

August 2021
Teaching Note

Yale University Investments Office: November 2020

By: Josh Lerner

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 821-074. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; University Endowment; Asset Allocation; Connecticut

2011
Working Paper

Leviathan as a Minority Shareholder: A Study of Equity Purchases by the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES), 1995-2003

By: Sergio G. Lazzarini and Aldo Musacchio

There is a growing literature comparing the performance of private vs. state-owned companies. Yet, there is little work examining the effects of having the government as a minority shareholder of private companies. We conduct such a study using data for 296 publicly... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Ownership Stake; State Ownership; Private Ownership; Performance Evaluation; Business and Government Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations; Banking Industry; Brazil

Read Now

June 2014
Supplement

ISS/AS The Buyout—spreadsheet supplement

By: Lucy White

Keywords: LBO; Private Equity; Contracts; Global Business; International Business; Finance; Ethics; Law; Service Industry; European Union

24 Mar 2002
Lessons from the Classroom

Case Study: A Lesson in Private Venture Financing

security services to companies in South Africa, other African countries, and parts of Europe. In the case, Gray has recently undergone a financial restructuring with the help of private equity firm Brait... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

March 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Brazos Partners and the Tri-Northern Exit

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Nathaniel Burbank

Randall Fojtasek, a partner at the Dallas-based Brazos Private Equity Partners, must decide whether now is the time to sell his firm's investment in Tri-Northern Distribution. Brazos, a middle-market leveraged buyout group, created the company two years earlier through... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity Exit; LBO; Leveraged Buyout Transaction; Texas; Security; Brazos; Tri-Northern; Tri-Ed; Northern Video; Private Equity; Partners and Partnerships; Distribution; Leveraged Buyouts; Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment Funds; Financial Services Industry; Distribution Industry; Texas

May 2021
Article

Private and Social Returns to R&D: Drug Development and Demographics

By: Efraim Benmelech, Janice Eberly, Dimitris Papanikolaou and Joshua Krieger

Investment in intangible capital such as R&D has increased dramatically since the 1990s. However, productivity growth remains sluggish in recent years. One potential reason is that a significant share of the increase in intangible investment is geared toward consumer... View Details

Keywords: Drug Development; Research and Development; Investment Return; Demographics; Pharmaceutical Industry

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

2001
Manual

Venture Capital and Private Equity: An Instructor's Manual

By: Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Information

January 2019
Teaching Note

Innova Capital: The Transition

By: Josh Lerner, Nori Gerardo Lietz and Terrence Shu

Teaching Note for HBS No. 813-064. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Succession Planning; Finance; Eastern Europe; Poland

May 2012
Supplement

Brennan Warranty Corporation (B)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Keywords: Private Equity; Corporate Finance; Entrepreneurial Finance; Mergers And Acquisitions

October 2013
Supplement

HgCapital and the Visma Transaction (A) Courseware

By: Paul A. Gompers

This courseware is to be used with HgCapital and the Visma Transaction (A), HBS No. 214018. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Management Buyout; Deal Structuring; Negotiations; Finance; Valuation; Europe

August 2013
Supplement

HgCapital and the Visma Transaction (B-1): Nic Humphries

By: Paul A. Gompers, Karol Misztal and Joris Van Gool

Keywords: Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Management Buyout; Deal Structuring; Negotiations; Finance; Valuation; Europe

March 2014 (Revised September 2015)
Case

ACA and the Union Bank Acquisition

By: Josh Lerner and Nathaniel Burbank

Okey Enelamah is the CEO of the African Capital Alliance (ACA), a private equity firm based in Nigeria. ACA has spent more than a year arranging a $500 million consortium bid to acquire and recapitalize Union Bank, Nigeria's sixth largest bank. Several weeks before the... View Details

Keywords: Nigeria; African Capital Alliance; Africa; Bank Capital; ACA; Union Bank; Development Finance Institutions; Capital Alliance Private Equity; Private Equity; Central Banking; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Nigeria; Africa

September 2012 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Martin Smith: July 2012

By: Josh Lerner and Felda Hardymon

Martin Smith, a recently hired general partner at a Brazil-based venture capital firm, must decide among three deal opportunities. Each has different strengths (management, market, and technology) but each has its own weaknesses as well. He must also consider each deal... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Deal Choice; Venture Capital; Investments; Career Management; Management Teams; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cost vs Benefits; Personal Development and Career; Financial Services Industry; Brazil

September 2012
Supplement

United Capital Partners (B)

By: Paul A. Gompers, J. Daniel Kim and Vladimir Mukharlyamov

This case continues the discussion started in the (A) case about a proposed growth equity investor in a Russian fashion retail chain. View Details

Keywords: Fashion; Growth Equity; Private Equity; Fashion Industry; Financial Services Industry; Retail Industry; Russia

October 2019 (Revised June 2022)
Case

Toys 'R' Us: Come Buy My Toys

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz, Erica Segall, Alejandro Botto and Terrence Shu

Keywords: Private Equity; Retail; Finance; Leveraged Buyout; Leverage; Leveraged Buyouts; Bankruptcy

September 2020
Case

Summit Partners: Independent Vetcare

By: Victoria Ivashina and Terrence Shu

This case follows Summit Partners, a leading growth equity firm, as it evaluates an investment opportunity in IVC, a veterinary care group in the U.K. market. The case allows students to articulate and evaluate the investment thesis of this transaction. Additionally,... View Details

Keywords: Growth Equity; Investment Evaluation; Private Equity; Investment; Decision Making; Valuation

2014
Working Paper

Putting Skin in the Game: Managerial Ownership and Bank Risk-Taking

By: Jan Bouwens and Arnt Verriest

This paper examines the relation between managerial ownership and bank risk exposure for a large sample of international financial institutions. We seek empirical evidence suggested by theories concerning conflicts between managers and owners over risk-taking. We argue... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Equity Ownership; Financial Risk; Banks; Motivation and Incentives; Risk Management; Employee Ownership; Corporate Governance; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

Read Now

September 2016
Article

Disproportional Control Rights and the Bonding Role of Debt

By: Aiyesha Dey, Valeri Nikolaev and Xue Wang

We examine the governance role of debt in the context of U.S.-based dual class ownership structures. We hypothesize that the use of debt alleviates the conflict between shareholder classes by balancing the power of controlling insiders. We document that dual class... View Details

Keywords: Dual Class; Private Debt; Debt Covenants; Bonding Mechanisms; Ownership Type; Capital Structure; Borrowing and Debt