Publications

March 2020 (Revised March 2024)
Case

CIAM: Home-Grown Shareholder Activism in France

By: Charles C.Y. Wang, Tonia Labruyere and Vincent Dessain

The case discusses the strategy of CIAM, a French activist investment firm, involved in a case of a buy-out of minority shareholders in the telecommunications sector. Altice NV, an international telecommunications company based in the Netherlands that owned more than... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Private Equity; Strategy; Valuation; Investment Activism; Financial Services Industry; France

August 2012
Teaching Note

Messer Griesheim (A) (Abridged) and (B) (TN)

By: Josh Lerner and Eva Lutz

Teaching Note for 813-018 and 809-057 View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Venture Capital; Energy; Family Ownership; Energy Industry; Europe

01 Jun 2007
News

In Brief

Q&A with Steve Schwarzman. Private-equity firms have been on an acquisitions binge of late, and leading the pack is The Blackstone Group, headed by CEO Steve Schwarzman (MBA ’72). He talks about the buyout business and where it is headed.... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Finance; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

Profile

Kayode Ogunro

power of private enterprise to bring positive change to Africa. "VCPE seemed like a pretty efficient way to finance growth," says Kayode. An e-mail exchange with Professor Lerner evolved into a guided thesis project on foreign... View Details

01 Sep 2005
News

Making History, Starting Over

says. “And in a system that requires low levels of taxation, free markets, and privatization of state assets, you have a paradox. The paradox is that the state is in less of a position to act. The state is no longer a redistributor of... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Finance

December 2017 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Area One Farms

By: Forest Reinhardt, Jose B. Alvarez and Annelena Lobb

In 2017, Joelle Faulkner, CEO of Area One Farms, a Canadian private-equity fund focused on investing in the best Canadian farms and helping them expand, considered the merits and disadvantages of expanding her business to the U.S. While the markets shared some... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Canada; United States

September 2013 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Antoine Leboyer and GSX

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Antoine Leboyer (HBS '92) acquired the Swiss-based software company GSX in February 2008. He managed through the recession of 2008–2009, dealt with a tumultuous separation from the founder/owner, rebuilt the management team, and upgraded the company's software... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Small Business; Finance; Private Equity; Growth and Development Strategy; France; Switzerland

02 Nov 2020
Blog Post

WE RISE

process. “When you say things like, ‘It was just my gut feel,’ you don’t have to explain your decision,” explains Huang. “It provides a cover for discrimination.” Faced with these and other challenges during her fundraising effort, Feinzaig turned to social media for... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital / Private Equity; Venture Capital / Private Equity; Venture Capital / Private Equity

01 Dec 2009
News

El-Hage Takes Alumni Post

classroom, it was like falling in love with the experience all over again,” explains El-Hage, who had taught the first-year finance course in 1984–85 after earning his MBA with high honors as a Baker Scholar in 1984. Over the ensuing eighteen years, he gained... View Details

03 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 3, 2009

performed strongly in the late 1980s, the mid-1990s, and the 2000s. Large RLBOs that are backed by private equity firms with more capital under management perform better. We also find the so-called quick... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 1996 (Revised April 1997)
Case

GO Corporation

By: Josh Lerner, Thomas J. Kosnik, Tarek AbuZayyad and Paul C. Yang

GO faces a crisis in March 1991 when Microsoft announces the introduction of a competing operating system for pen-based computers. GO's managers must work with its venture financers, Kleiner Perkins, to redesign its financing, alliance, and product development... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Digital Platforms; Competition; Private Equity; Adaptation; Crisis Management; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry

April 2011
Article

Institutional Tax Clienteles and Payout Policy

By: Mihir Desai and Li Jin

This paper employs heterogeneity in institutional shareholder tax characteristics to identify the relation between firm payout policy and tax incentives. Analysis of a panel of firms matched with the tax characteristics of the clients of their institutional... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Investors; Clienteles; Payout Policy; Private Equity; Investment; Taxation; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations

Find at Harvard

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April 2016 (Revised January 2018)
Supplement

Project Deutschland: Unpeeling the Onion of a Distressed Real Estate Portfolio

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Ricardo Andrade

Keywords: Real Estate; Germany; Distress Investing; Non-performing Loan; Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Private Equity; Negotiation Deal; Valuation; Real Estate Industry; Financial Services Industry; Germany; Europe

March 2016 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Project Deutschland: Unpeeling the Onion of a Distressed Real Estate Portfolio

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Ricardo Andrade

James Tallest analyzed the opportunity to invest in a distressed portfolio of high quality properties in Germany by acquiring one or more non-performing loans from Deutschland Bank. While he considers the many aspects of the deal that is about to unfold, he must decide... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Distress Investing; Non-performing Loan; Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Private Equity; Negotiation Deal; Valuation; Real Estate Industry; Financial Services Industry; Germany; Europe

24 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 24, 2017

equity (PE) competitor, Apollo Global Management. Purchase this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/818024-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 318-017 Ardian: Portfolio Company Governance (A) Leaders of the mid-cap View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Aug 2022
News

Full Stream Ahead

While the economics of the music industry have always been a little convoluted, there’s at least one simple reason contributing to all the attention from private equity, according to Sherrese Clarke Soares (MBA 2004): interest rates. The... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

Profile

Henry McCance

Twelve years ago, when Henry McCance (MBA 1966) and his wife initially faced her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, the couple consulted some of the world’s top physicians specializing in its treatment. McCance was shocked by their advice. “They said, ‘Try three Advil a... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital / Private Equity; Venture Capital / Private Equity; Venture Capital / Private Equity

August 2021 (Revised April 2022)
Case

KKR

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

In June of 2021, KKR’s executive team convened to prepare for an upcoming board meeting. From a small, three-person partnership that started in 1976 and invested only in U.S. LBOs, the firm 45 years later was a public company that employed over 1,600 people and managed... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Public Equity; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development Strategy; Profit; Strategy; Finance; Private Equity; United States