Publications

2024
Working Paper

Private Equity Fund Valuation Management during Fundraising

By: Brian K. Baik

I investigate whether and how private equity fund managers (GPs) inflate their interim fund valuations (net asset values or NAVs) during fundraising periods. Specifically, I study the extent to which the GPs inflate NAVs by managing valuation assumptions (e.g.,... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Institutional Investors; Valuation Multiples; Earnings Management; Private Firms; Valuation; Investment Funds

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July 2005 (Revised December 2005)
Case

General Motors U.S. Pension Funds

By: Luis M. Viceira and Helen Tung

In June 2003, General Motors Corp. (GM) successfully marketed the largest corporate debt offering in U.S. history, worth $17.6 billion. The offering included $13.6 billion worth of debt denominated in dollars, euros, and pounds and $4 billion dollars denominated in... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Bonds; Investment Return; Policy; Borrowing and Debt; Corporate Finance; Auto Industry; United States

August 2021
Case

Andreessen Horowitz’s Cultural Leadership Fund (A)

By: Anita Elberse, Briana Richardson and Cydni Williams

In May 2020, Chris Lyons, a partner at leading venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz receives the news that his company has reached a verbal agreement with one of Silicon Valley’s hottest social-media startups to lead its ‘Series A’ funding round, in a deal that... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Talent Management; General Management; Inclusion; Talent and Talent Management; Diversity; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Networks; Nonprofit Organizations

April 2015
Case

Domeyard: Starting a High-Frequency Trading (HFT) Hedge Fund

By: Lauren Cohen, Christopher Malloy and Matthew Foreman

The principals at Domeyard, a start-up high frequency trading (HFT) hedge fund based in Cambridge, faced a myriad of important decisions: which markets to trade on, how to raise capital, and from whom to raise capital. Many of these decisions were standard for... View Details

July 2007 (Revised November 2009)
Case

World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jordan Mitchell

Nearly all environmental organizations have a similar aim: to stop the degradation of the natural environment. However, the strategies which environmental organizations choose to employ are sometimes starkly different. Compares the models of two dissimilar... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Non-Governmental Organizations; Business Strategy

November 1999 (Revised December 2009)
Case

The IBET Pension Fund

By: Arthur I Segel

Marisa Caris oversees real estate investments for the IBET Pension Fund. She must value each of the existing eight properties and determine a strategy for going forward. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Valuation; Real Estate Industry

September 2004 (Revised December 2004)
Case

Bank Leu's Prima Cat Bond Fund

In 2001, Bank Leu, a Swiss private bank, is considering creating the world's first public fund for catastrophe bonds. Cat bonds are securities whose payments depend on the probability of a catastrophe occurring, such as an earthquake or hurricane. Cat bonds are... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Bonds; Natural Disasters; Insurance; Capital Markets; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Insurance Industry; Switzerland

2007
Working Paper

Hedge Fund Investor Activism and Takeovers

By: Robin Greenwood and Michael Schor

We examine long-horizon stock returns around hedge fund activism in a comprehensive sample of 13D filings by portfolio investors between 1993 and 2006. Abnormal returns surrounding investor activism are high for the subset of targets that are... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Investment Return; Investment Activism; Investment Portfolio; Corporate Governance

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October 2019 (Revised April 2020)
Background Note

Note on Funding Deep Tech Startups

By: Karim Lakhani, Peter Barrett and Noubar Afeyan

This Background Note provides essential information on funding deep technologies—those technologies that were inherently capital intensive, time consuming, risky, and potentially disruptive. Both dilutive and non-dilutive sources of investment are highlighted, along... View Details

November 1992 (Revised December 1994)
Case

BEA Associates: Enhanced Equity Index Funds

By: Andre F. Perold

BEA's enhanced index fund product uses derivatives and cash market securities to find the most efficient way to "track an index." The considerations involve transaction costs, custodial fees, withholding taxes on dividends, and fees from securities lending. In this... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Investment Portfolio; Management; Investment Banking; Competitive Advantage; Cost Management

January 1982
Case

Fairhaven Corp. Pension Fund

By: Jay O. Light

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Investment Funds

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December 2004 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Cheetah Conservation Fund Bush Project, The

Laurie Marker, head of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, is trying to form a for-profit institution, the Bush Project, to control the bush encroachment problem in Namibia. Bush encroachment not only destroys the general ecosystem, but it also has a harmful impact on the... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; For-Profit Firms; Emerging Markets; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Strategy; Africa

April 1984
Case

Prudential Overseas Funding Corp.

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October 2000
Case

New Schools Venture Fund

By: Jeffrey L. Bradach and Nicole Tempest

A new approach to philanthropy, led by venture capitalists and the "new wealth" has emerged in the last two years. They are applying the same accountability criteria from results as they would with their investment portfolio. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

December 1995 (Revised April 1996)
Teaching Note

JKJ Pension Fund TN

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

Teaching Note for (9-395-133). View Details

Keywords: Real Estate Industry; Financial Services Industry

January 2025
Technical Note

Technical Note on Mutual Funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

By: Marco Sammon, Luis M. Viceira and Jonathan Kanagasabai

August 1993 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Dimensional Fund Advisors: 1993

By: Jay O. Light

A small California-based money manager is now offering specialty products for institutional investors based upon recent financial research findings. View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments; Investment; Financial Services Industry; California

September 1988 (Revised January 1992)
Case

JMB Growth Fund XXV

By: William J. Poorvu

Keywords: Financial Services Industry

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2008
Mimeo

Do Hedge Funds Profit from Mutual-Fund Distress?

By: Joseph Chen, Samuel G. Hanson, Harrison Hong and Jeremy C. Stein

This paper explores the question of whether hedge funds engage in frontrunning strategies that exploit the predictable trades of others. One potential opportunity for front-running arises when distressed mutual funds—those suffering large outflows of assets under... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Profit; Strategy; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment Return; Opportunities; Asset Management; Sales