Publications

2024
Working Paper

Does Private Equity Have Any Business Being in the Health Care Business?

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Zirui Song

Private Equity (“PE”) has come under increased scrutiny by the press, academics, and policymakers, as well as the public, for its investments in health care delivery. This scrutiny has been exacerbated by recent high profile hospital bankruptcies following PE... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Government Administration; Acquisition; Health Industry

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March 2014
Module Note

The Venture Capital and Private Equity Investing Simulation: The Concepts

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Nathaniel Burbank

Fall 2021
Article

When to Go and How to Go? Founder and Leader Transitions in Private Equity Firms

By: Josh Lerner and Diana Noble

Leadership transition in private equity firms is an understudied field, despite the important, albeit controversial, role such firms play in developed economies. We analyzed 260 firms in an empirical study, supplemented by qualitative interviews with a small sample of... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Transition; Private Equity; Leadership; Management Succession; Analysis

January 2009
Background Note

Financial Networks and Informal Banking in China: From Pawnshops to Private Equity

By: Elisabeth Koll

Provides an analysis of why informal financial networks and institutions still play an extremely important role in China's economy in the 21st century. Although China has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it still suffers from a weak... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Private Equity; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; State Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Networks; China

Article

Private Equity and Portfolio Companies: Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis

By: Shai Bernstein, Josh Lerner and Filippo Mezzanotti

March 2013
Teaching Note

Silver Lake and Private Equity in Brazil: Carnaval or Calamity? (TN)

By: Aldo Musacchio

2007
Chapter

Labor Market Regulations and European Restructuring: Evidence from Private Equity Investments

By: Ant Bozkaya and William R. Kerr

Keywords: Labor; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Restructuring; Private Equity; Investment; Europe

November 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Roll-Ups and Surprise Billing: Collisions at the Intersection of Private Equity and Patient Care

By: Trevor Fetter and Kira Seiger

This case describes the increasing investment by private equity (PE) firms in patient care and other healthcare services. The case focuses on investments in physician staffing firms and roll-up strategy investments in physician practice management (PPM). Included in... View Details

February 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Can Families Conquer Private Equity? Pritzker Private Capital

By: Lauren Cohen and Sophia Pan

Anthony (Tony) Pritkzer, Paul Carbone, and the Pritzker Private Capital (PPC) team wondered how to approach the firm’s next phase of growth. PPC was a private equity firm that offered a differentiated approach to the family capital market. Back in 2016, the partners... View Details

2019
Casebook

Private Equity: A Casebook

By: Paul A. Gompers, Victoria Ivashina and Richard S. Ruback

This book is a collection of cases and notes that have been used in Private Equity Finance, an advanced corporate finance course offered in the second year of the Harvard Business School’s MBA curriculum, over several years. Our goal is to provide detailed insight into... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Value Creation; Cases

August 2020
Technical Note

Discounted Cash Flows (DCF) Valuation Methods and Their Application in Private Equity

By: Victoria Ivashina

Article

The Operational Consequences of Private Equity Buyouts: Evidence from the Restaurant Industry

By: Shai Bernstein and Albert Sheen

July 2024
Case

Michael Ross: Whether to Move from Private Equity to Pest Control

By: David L. Ager, Zeynep Ton and Amanda Silver

2007
Other Paper

Venture Capital and Private Equity Distributions: Pricing Policies and Price Reactions

By: P. Gompers, Andrew Metrick and Timothy Dore

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

August 2007 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Dollar General Going Private

Intended to improve students' understanding and encourage their use of financial statement analysis. The context is Dollar General Corporation's acquisition by private equity sponsor KKR, which took the company private in 2007. Although the proposed merger generated a... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Price; Privatization; Valuation; Retail Industry

July 2017 (Revised January 2020)
Background Note

Primer on Multiples Valuation and Its Use in the Private Equity Industry

By: Victoria Ivashina and Henrik Boe

This note explores the mechanics of multiples, different types of multiples, when and how to use them, and common pitfalls associated with multiples valuation. While a multiples approach is a very convenient valuation method, breaking down the underlying assumptions... View Details

Keywords: Valuation Methods; Multiples; Private Equity; Valuation; Measurement and Metrics

Article

Does Legal Enforcement Affect Financial Transactions?: The Contractual Channel in Private Equity

By: Josh Lerner and Antoinette Schoar

Keywords: Law Enforcement; Finance; Contracts; Private Equity

March 2022
Teaching Note

Hollie Haynes: An Unanticipated Crossroads

By: Josh Lerner

Keywords: Private Equity