Publications

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September 2017
Case

Blackstone's Julia Kahr at the Summit

By: Paul A. Gompers, John D. Dionne and Amram Migdal

In 2009, Blackstone, the New York-based alternative asset and financial services firm, committed to invest up to $750 million into Summit Materials, a new company in the aggregates sector (i.e., construction materials, such as crushed stone, sand, gravel, cement,... View Details

January 2017 (Revised December 2017)
Case

Carmichael Roberts: To Create a Private Equity Firm?

By: Steven Rogers and Kenneth J. Cooper

Carmichael Roberts, a rare African-American venture capitalist, considered leaving his general partnership in a private equity firm near Boston and setting up his own in 2015. He weighed whether the timing was right, with the economy still not fully recovered from the... View Details

14 Mar 2007
Op-Ed

Government’s Misguided Probe of Private Equity

capital." Now modern-day trustbusters have again launched an investigation into collusion in financial services, this time focusing on private-equity firms. The Justice Department is concerned that private-equity firms are teaming up... View Details

Keywords: by Josh Lerner; Financial Services

18 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Is Greed Ruining Private Equity Firms?

In a first-ever look at the internal economics driving private equity partnerships, Harvard Business School researchers have found that many of these funds can be torn apart by greed among founding partners... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Banking; Financial Services

13 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Do Private Equity Buyouts Get a Bad Rap?

“It seems essentially all of the pie is going to the private equity group and their investors.” Even within these numbers, the researchers found a lot of variation over time. In general, View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services; Banking

January 1994 (Revised April 2011)
Background Note

Note on Private Equity Partnership Agreements

By: Josh Lerner

Venture capital by necessity is a long-run investment. Consequently, since the mid-1960s virtually all venture financing has been raised through private partnerships with a ten-year or longer life span. To govern these investments, complex contracts have sprung up... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Investment; Governance; Contracts; Partners and Partnerships

December 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Barteca: The Challenge and Opportunity of Private Equity

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Michael S. Kaufman

Andy Pforzheimer and Sasa Mahr-Batuz, co-founders of a highly successful seven-location restaurant brand, had just opened the first location of a new brand. They had mapped out future expansion for both brands but wondered if, rather than lining up an assortment of... View Details

Keywords: Restaurants; Brands and Branding; Expansion; Private Equity; Strategy; Decision Making

November 2018
Teaching Note

The Tax Man: Taxes in Private Equity Real Estate

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Sayiddah Fatima McCree

Teaching Note for HBS No. 218-077. This teaching note provides the back up analysis for the various alternatives to be considered in choosing the optimal investment structure for the real estate acquisition. It contrasts the interests of the tax exempt investors... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Alternative Investment Structures; Taxation; Private Equity; Property; Acquisition; Conflict of Interests; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

16 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

European Private Equity—Still a Teenager?

equity industry in light of its recent history. Compared to the U.S., Europe is a relative newcomer on the private equity stage. Europe saw a few View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

January 2010 (Revised December 2011)
Case

Jiamei Dental: Private Health Care in China

By: William C. Kirby and G.A. Donovan

With the recent announcement from the Chinese government that the country's healthcare system was going to undergo reform, Jiamei Dental Chairman Liu Jia wondered what that meant for his 15 year-old dental clinic business. Founded in 1993, Jiamei Dental Medical... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Private Ownership; Partners and Partnerships; Competition; Expansion; Health Industry; China

March 2024
Case

Funderbeam: Teaming Up or Going Alone?

By: Paul A. Gompers, Elena Corsi and Orna Dan

Funderbeam, a global platform founded in Estonia to enable start-ups to run private syndications and secondaries while offering liquidity for private equity investors, was at a crossroads. Over its ten-year run, the company had expanded its services and areas of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Business Exit or Shutdown; Transition; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Law; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financing and Loans; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Ownership Stake; Expansion; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; Estonia; Republic of Ireland; United Kingdom; Singapore

March 2018
Teaching Note

Mavi: Fashioning a Path to Brand Growth

By: Jill Avery and Gamze Yucaoglu

Mavi, a leading Turkish apparel retailer, had sales of $419 million in 2015, up 20%. Growth rates like these were becoming routine at Mavi. But, its path to growth was getting more challenging, and Turkven, Mavi’s private equity partner, was planning its exit options... View Details

Keywords: Retailing; Fashion; Brand; Brand Management; Brand Extension; Brand Equity; Private Equity; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; Turkey; Europe

13 Dec 2022
Research & Ideas

The Color of Private Equity: Quantifying the Bias Black Investors Face

they do it.” The color of money is mostly white The total share of assets managed by minority-owned firms in 2021 was 1.4 percent, according to Lerner, while minorities that year made up over 40 percent of the population. Lerner and... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds; Financial Services

10 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Privatization and the New European Economy

competitiveness." In addition, he commented, an increased need for capital and scarcity of public resources have influenced the phenomenon. Brand noted that worldwide, 60 percent of privatizations were done via public offerings in... View Details

Keywords: by James E. Aisner; Air Transportation; Transportation

January 2020
Teaching Note

GeBBS Healthcare Solutions: Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind? (A) and (B)

By: Shai Benjamin Bernstein

This teaching note is meant to accompany “GeBBS Healthcare Solutions: Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind? (A),” HBS No. 820-041, and “GeBBS Healthcare Solutions: Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind? (B),” HBS No. 820-074. The cases follow Nitin Thakor, President... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Acquisition; Decision Making; Health Industry

13 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

How Government can Discourage Private Sector Reliance on Short-Term Debt

bills' "money-like" properties. However, the government may be reluctant to finance itself entirely with short-term debt, because doing so would incur significant rollover risk-in the extreme case, the government would not want to View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Financial Services

03 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

When Showing Know-How Backfires for Women Managers

slicing meat, baking bread—they show that they’re willing to roll up their sleeves, but this behavior could be costly to their businesses’ bottom lines. By looking at the everyday activities of women... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Retail; Consumer Products

October 2020 (Revised December 2020)
Case

AfricInvest: A Pan-African Investment Platform

By: Victoria Ivashina and Youssef Abdel Aal

The case is set in December 2018, when Ziad Oueslati, co-managing director and co-founder of AfricInvest, a leading pan-African private equity firm headquartered in Tunisia, was reflecting on the future direction of his firm. AfricInvest started as a traditional small... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Private Equity; Venture Capital; Strategy; Governance; Financial Services Industry; Tunisia; Africa; Middle East