Foundations of Private Equity

This course provides students with an overview of recent and emerging topics in private equity that influence industry decision-makers and capital providers. Understanding the political, regulatory, and macroeconomic issues covered in the course is critical for private equity practitioners’ success in their deal evaluation, valuation, asset allocation, and post-deal integration activities. Discussion and analysis of these topics also ensure that students entering the private equity industry are prepared for conversations about critical topics with their colleagues. The topics for this term are:  Allocating private equity in the institutional investor’s portfolio and changes to risk and return.  Blurring the lines between public and private equity: new fund structures and emerging regulation.  Private equity as venture capital: growth equity and the changing investment model.  Private equity in emerging markets.  Does private equity matter? Exploring the impacts of private equity in firms and industries. We invite an expert guest speaker each week to provide their experience and expectations and the topic. Their participation is paired with lecture material and/or a case discussion. Course materials include background readings, news articles, and academic work on private equity. The course deliverables include case memo writeups – a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis -- and a final project that requires student groups to analyze an emerging topic not covered in the course. Students are expected to have a mastery of the “mechanics” of private equity, including fund structure, deal structuring options, valuation techniques, the role of operational changes, etc. This mastery is assumed with a student’s completion of the prerequisite course Foundations of Private Equity or with professor's review of a student’s career experience in private equity. Before taking this course, students are recommended to take B8457 (Foundations of PE I) and B8306 (Capital Markets & Investments).