Publications

January 1999 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Infox System GmbH

Apax, a private equity firm, has an opportunity to invest in a travel-related print-materials distribution business in Germany. Infox is typical of many buyout opportunities. One of the founders seeks to exit the business, and recently hired managers will have to... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Germany

October 2009
Article

Influence and Inefficiency in the Internal Capital Market

By: Julie Wulf

I model inefficient resource allocations in M-form organizations due to influence activities by division managers that skew capital budgets in their favor. Corporate headquarters receives two types of signals about investment opportunities: private signals that can be... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Resource Allocation; Business Processes; Capital Budgeting; Business Headquarters; Investment; Opportunities; Cost; Value; Motivation and Incentives; Equity

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March 2005 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Actis & CDC: A New Partnership

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

The senior managing partner of Actis, a leading private equity investor in emerging markets, must decide whether to go into the market to raise money. Actis was spun out of CDC, a 50-year-old division of the U.K.'s Department for International Development, and is... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Partners and Partnerships; Emerging Markets; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom

September 2008
Case

Yucheng Technology

By: Li Jin, Li Liao, Chang Chen and Aldo Sesia

The founder and CEO of an IT company servicing the needs of the financial services industry in China needs to raise capital for the company to grow and survive. He has two options. He can try and obtain financing from private equity investors, or he can accept a... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology; Financial Services Industry; China; United States

25 Apr 2011
News

Learn the tactics needed to break into emerging markets

May 2017
Teaching Note

Partners Group: Ain't No Mountain High Enough

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz

Partners Group (PG), a Swiss-based PE manager, initiated a series of strategic shifts and evolved from a predominately fund-of-funds manager into a large, multi-asset class PE firm focused on direct investments. PG was the first PE firm to go public in 2006. A number... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Management Practices and Processes; Private Equity

15 Apr 2015
News

New Enterprise Raises Record-Breaking $2.8 Billion Venture Fund

June 2022 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Individual FoodService, Kelso, and Ken Sweder

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

When and how much risk to take? In October 2020, Ken Sweder, CEO of Individual FoodService (“IFS”), contemplated this question as he evaluated a proposal to acquire Brady Industries, a distributor of janitorial and sanitation products. Sweder and his private equity... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Risk Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Value Creation; Business Divisions

January 2010 (Revised March 2010)
Compilation

Firm Strategy Vignettes

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

These three vignettes present various issues around the strategy and management of a private equity firm. In one, a senior partner must decide how to manage an over-extended colleague and how to reduce the risk of the firm's portfolio; in the second, a limited partner... View Details

Keywords: Outcome or Result; Business Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Private Equity; Venture Capital; Investment Portfolio; Partners and Partnerships

April 1999 (Revised November 1999)
Case

Columbia Capital Corporation: Summer 1998

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Justin D. Wasik

In August 1998, the partners of Columbia Capital in Arlington, Va. made a decision about whether or not to raise an outside fund for venture capital investing. Columbia had begun in 1988 as a boutique investment bank focused on the telecommunications industry, but had... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Partners and Partnerships; Investment Funds; Banks and Banking; Financial Services Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States

17 Sep 2024
Blog Post

The International Experience at HBS: Zoe Sun (MBA 2024)

Zoe Sun (MBA 2024) is a recent graduate from China. Prior to HBS, she worked at an Asia-focused private equity fund in Hong Kong. At HBS, she was Co-Chief Admissions Ambassador and Social Chair for Greater... View Details

August 2009 (Revised August 2010)
Supplement

Eddie Bauer (B)

By: Paul M. Healy, Sharon P. Katz and Aldo Sesia

In February 2007, shareholders of Eddie Bauer, the specialty apparel retailer, were scheduled to vote on management's proposed sale of the company to two private equity firms. More than 50% of outstanding shares in Eddie Bauer needed to be voted in favor of the deal... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Mergers and Acquisitions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Privatization; Valuation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry; United States

September 2003
Case

Valuing a Cross-Border LBO: Bidding on the Yell Group

By: Mihir A. Desai, Paolo Notarnicola and Mark Veblen

A team of private equity investors must value the leveraged buyout of a Yellow Pages business that operated in both the United States and the United Kingdom. In the process, they must wrestle with issues of how to conduct cross-border valuations and how to value a... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Cash Flow; Private Equity; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Valuation

April 2001 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Seagate Technology Buyout

By: Gregor M. Andrade, Stuart C. Gilson and Todd C. Pulvino

In March 2000, a group of private investors and senior managers were negotiating a deal to acquire the disk drive operations of Seagate Technology. The motivating factor for the buyout was the apparently anomalous market value of Seagate's equity: Seagate's equity... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Leveraged Buyouts; Financial Strategy; Computer Industry

21 Oct 2008
News

Harvard Business School Global Business Summit Explores Future of Capitalism

July 2012
Case

Transatlantic Holdings, Inc. - The Belle of the Ball

By: Clayton S. Rose and Aldo Sesia

In November of 2011 Transatlantic Holdings, Inc., a global property and casualty reinsurance company, announced it had agreed to sell itself to Alleghany Corporation, ending "the most frenzied takeover battle" of 2011, which involved competitors, Warren Buffett's... View Details

Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Finance; Insurance And Reinsurance; Governance; Insurance; Mergers and Acquisitions; Strategy; Valuation; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; United States; Bermuda; Switzerland

July 2024
Supplement

Pacific Lake Partners (A)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Pre-Abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

Abstract: In 2009, Coley Andrews and Jim Southern endeavored to raise a private equity fund for investment solely in search... View Details

Keywords: Search Fund; Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition; Entrepreneurship; Private Equity; Investment; North America