List of Boxes xv
Acknowledgements xvii
Disclaimer xviii
Part I Private Equity Environment 1
1 Introduction 3
1.1 Routes into private equity 3
1.2 The limited partner's viewpoint 4
1.3 The challenge of venture capital fund valuation 4
1.4 Hard figures or gut instinct? 5
1.5 Managing with fuzzy figures 5
1.6 Making the grades 5
1.7 Outline 7
2 Private Equity Market 9
2.1 Funds as intermediaries 10
2.2 The problem of predicting success 15
2.3 Broad segmentation of investment universe 18
2.4 Private equity market dynamics 22
2.5 Conclusion 26
3 Private Equity Fund Structure 27
3.1 Key features 29
3.2 Conflicts of interest 38
3.3 Finding the balance 38
4 Buyout and Venture Capital Fund Differences 41
4.1 Valuation 43
4.2 Business model 44
4.3 Deal structuring 45
4.4 Role of general partners 45
5 Funds-of-funds 47
5.1 Structure 47
5.2 Value added 48
5.3 Costs 51
5.4 Private equity investment programme 52
Part II Investment Process 57
6 Investment Process 59
6.1 Key performance drivers 59
6.2 Process description 61
6.3 Risk management 65
6.4 Tackling uncertainty 68
7 Risk Framework 73
7.1 Market value 75
7.2 Market or credit risk? 77
7.3 Conclusion 78
8 Portfolio Design 81
8.1 Portfolio design framework 81
8.2 Portfolio construction techniques 83
8.3 Risk–return management approaches 88
9 Case Study 95
9.1 Looking for the optimal programme size 95
9.2 Overcoming entry barriers: long-term strategies 104
10 The Management of Liquidity 115
10.1 Liquidity management problem 115
10.2 Liquidity management approaches 123
10.3 Investment strategies for undrawn capital 130
10.4 Cash flow projections 133
10.5 Conclusion 145
Part III Design Tools 151
11 Established Approaches to Fund Valuation 153
11.1 Bottom-up approach to private equity fund valuation 154
11.2 Inconsistency of valuations 157
11.3 NAVs do not tell the full picture 157
11.4 Portfolio companies cannot be valued in isolation 159
11.5 Conclusion 162
12 Benchmarking 165
12.1 Specific issues 165
12.2 Individual funds 166
12.3 Portfolio of funds 170
13 A Prototype Internal Grading System 173
13.1 Grading of private equity funds 173
13.2 The NAV is not enough 174
13.3 Existing approaches 176
13.4 New approach to internal fund-grading system 180
13.5 Summary—NAV- and grading-based valuation 188
13.6 Conclusion 189
14 Fund Manager Selection Process 193
14.1 Relevance of fund manager selection 193
14.2 Why due diligence? 194
14.3 The due diligence process 195
14.4 Fund manager selection process 197
14.5 Decision and commitment 201
15 Qualitative Fund Scoring 219
15.1 Scoring approach 219
15.2 Scoring dimensions 221
16 Grading-based Economic Model 233
16.1 Approach 233
16.2 Internal age adjustment 237
16.3 Private equity fund IRR projections 238
16.4 Expected portfolio returns 239
16.5 Discussion 241
16.6 Conclusion 242
17 Private Equity Fund Discount Rate 253
17.1 The capital asset pricing model 253
17.2 Private equity fund betas 257
17.3 The alternatives to the capital asset pricing model 264
17.4 Summary and conclusion 266
Part IV Management Tools 269
18 Monitoring 271
18.1 Approach to monitoring 272
18.2 The monitoring objectives 273
18.3 Information gathering 276
18.4 Evaluation 282
18.5 Actions 285
19 Case Study: Saving Your Investments—Approaches to Restructuring 287
19.1 The valley of tears 288
19.2 The report to the board 289
19.3 The terms of the restructuring 291
19.4 Epilogue 293
20 Secondary Transactions 297
20.1 Sellers and their motivations 297
20.2 Buyers and their motivations 299
20.3 Secondary market prices 300
20.4 Transactional issues 307
20.5 The fund manager perspective 308
Part V Embracing Uncertainty 311
21 Deviating from Top Funds 313
21.1 Strategic investments 313
21.2 Policy objectives 314
22 Real Options 319
22.1 Real options in private equity 319
22.2 Real option analysis 321
22.3 An expanded strategy and decision framework 322
23 Beyond the J-curve 327
23.1 Some do it better 327
23.2 Deadly sins 327
23.3 Structure instead of "gut instinct" 328
23.4 Patience is a virtue 328
23.5 Turning water into wine 329
Glossary 331
Bibliography 341
Abbreviations 351
Index 353
