Publications

November 1998 (Revised July 2000)
Case

Deere & Company: Sustaining Value

By: Malcolm S. Salter and Marlowe Dayley

The question facing Deere & Co. is whether or not to adopt some of the organizational technologies of private equity investors (decentralized equity holdings, use of leverage to control the disposition of cash flows, the externalization of the capital budgeting... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cash Flow; Private Equity; Wealth; Adoption; Manufacturing Industry

September 1998 (Revised May 2011)
Background Note

Note on Private Equity Information Sources

By: Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Provides an overview of key information sources about venture capital and private equity. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Investment; Knowledge Acquisition

August 1998
Case

Record Masters

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Laurence E. Katz

Kent Dauten, a former general partner at the Chicago private equity firm of Madison Dearborn Partners, has engaged in a search to personally sponsor a buyout in which he can play an active management role. He has received a selling memorandum for Record Masters, a... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Leveraged Buyouts; Valuation; Negotiation Deal; Investment

March 1998 (Revised December 1998)
Case

BCI Growth III: May 1993

A Vermont solid-waste company seeks mezzanine financing to finance its strategy of acquiring and consolidating local competitors. The mezzanine private equity group must decide whether this investment offers an attractive risk-return tradeoff. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Business Growth and Maturation; Consolidation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Acquisition; Service Industry; Vermont

March 1998 (Revised June 1998)
Case

BCI Growth III: November 1993

Supplements BCI Growth III: May 1993. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Business Growth and Maturation; Consolidation; Acquisition; Wastes and Waste Processing; Service Industry; United States

March 1998
Case

Bumper Acquisition (A1), A: Confidential Information for Thermo-Impact, Inc.

By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen

Located in Mundelein, IL, Thermo-Impact, Inc. is a rapidly growing, private firm that manufactures automotive bumpers. In 1995, a number of large automotive supply companies and a private equity investment firm offer to buy Thermo-Impact. The cases in this series focus... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Valuation; Negotiation Participants; Decision Making; Negotiation Process; Entrepreneurship; Negotiation Offer; Acquisition; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Illinois

March 1998
Case

Bumper Acquisition (A2), A: Confidential Information for Medallion Capital, Inc.

By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen

Located in Mundelein, IL, Thermo-Impact, Inc. is a rapidly growing, private firm that manufactures automotive bumpers. In 1995, a number of large automotive supply companies and a private equity investment firm offer to buy Thermo-Impact. The cases in this series focus... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Valuation; Negotiation Participants; Decision Making; Negotiation Process; Entrepreneurship; Negotiation Offer; Acquisition; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Illinois

January 1998 (Revised September 2001)
Background Note

A Note on Angel Financing

By: Paul A. Gompers

Discusses the economics of the private equity market and recent efforts by the U.S. Small Business Administration to promote greater angel financing. View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Government and Politics; Financing and Loans; Financial Services Industry; United States

December 1997 (Revised September 1998)
Case

Yale University Investments Office: November 1997

David Swensen, chief investment officer at Yale University, reviews the $6 billion endowment strategy, which places an unusually heavy emphasis on private equity and other illiquid securities. Changing market conditions in November 1997 cause him to rethink... View Details

Keywords: Change; Private Equity; Financial Liquidity; Investment; Marketing Strategy; Strategy; Education Industry

November 1997 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Martin Smith: January 2002

An MBA student must choose between offers from three private equity organizations. Each organization has distinct strengths and weaknesses, and different implications for the student's career development. The case presents compensation and employment data about the... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Compensation and Benefits; Analytics and Data Science; Job Offer; Personal Development and Career

August 1997 (Revised September 1997)
Case

GMIMCo Venture Capital: September 1996

By: Josh Lerner, Peter Wendell and Catherine M. Conneely

Kathryn Stokel must choose between three venture capital groups (if any) in which to invest the pension fund of General Motors Corp. Each has distinct strengths and weaknesses. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Asset Management; Retirement; Investment Funds; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry

February 1997
Case

Advent of Venture Capital in Latin America, The

By: Debora L. Spar

Widely regarded as the leader in international private equity, Advent International is considering the establishment of a private equity fund in Latin America in 1996. Typically, Advent entered new private equity markets through the creation of multicountry regional... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Joint Ventures; Market Entry and Exit; Globalized Markets and Industries; Financial Services Industry; Boston; Latin America

February 1997 (Revised October 2002)
Case

The Exxel Group: September 1995

By: Josh Lerner, Alex Hoye and Gonzalo Pacanins

The Exxel Group, a private equity group based in Buenos Aires, is considering a buyout of Argencard, Mastercard's exclusive licensee in Argentina. To complete the deal, however, it will need to raise additional financing from U.S. investors. Both the valuation and the... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Developing Countries and Economies; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment; Negotiation Deal; Problems and Challenges; Valuation; United States; Buenos Aires

January 1997 (Revised November 1997)
Case

Fojtasek Companies and Heritage Partners, The: March 1995

By: Samuel L. Hayes III and Josh Lerner

The Fojtasek Companies, a family business, faces several financing choices to address generational succession issues. Several buyouts have expressed interest in acquiring the firm outright; an investment bank has proposed a leveraged recapitalization; and a private... View Details

Keywords: Family Ownership; Financing and Loans; Private Equity; Mergers and Acquisitions; Investment Banking; Partners and Partnerships; Management Succession; Capital Structure; Financial Strategy

winter 1997
Article

Risk and Reward in Private Equity Investments: The Challenge of Performance Assessment

By: Paul A. Gompers and J. Lerner

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Motivation and Incentives; For-Profit Firms; Equity; Investment; Problems and Challenges; Performance

November 1996 (Revised August 1997)
Case

Project "Dial-Tone"

By: William A. Sahlman and Andrew S. Janower

Bob Hellman, a partner in a West Coast middle-market buyout firm, is attempting to simultaneously acquire and merge three disparate firms in the rapidly consolidating telemarketing services industry. Hellman must value the individual companies as well as the combined... View Details

Keywords: Complexity; Private Equity; Integration; Mergers and Acquisitions; Negotiation Deal; Strategic Planning; Investment; Opportunities; Valuation; Service Industry

October 1996 (Revised March 2011)
Background Note

Note on Valuation in Private Equity Settings, A

By: Josh Lerner and John Willinge

This note discusses several ways in which venture-backed firms can be valued, including comparables, net present value, decision-tree analysis, and the "venture capital method." View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Investment; Valuation