Do stressed PE firms misbehave?

For private equity (PE) firms, follow-on funds provide additional streams of management fees for a considerable time. When prospective investors evaluate the performance of PE firms' latest funds, they have to rely on valuations reported by PE firms. The link between PE firms' fundraising and performance evaluation is thus an area susceptible to manipulation resulting in potentially high stakes. We examine the relationship between PE firms' fundraising pressure and earnings management in portfolio companies, along with heterogeneity in behaviour by reputation and dry powder. To proxy for the degree of fundraising pressure, we develop an index based on PE firms' affiliations, stage in the fundraising cycle, and fundraising frequency. Results suggest that the fundraising pressure leads to more earnings management in portfolio companies, regardless of PE firm reputation. While the reputational effect remains unchanged under a change in funding pressure, dry powder exhibits a strong moderating effect under extreme funding pressure. The results are robust to alternative proxies for earnings management, alternative fundraising indexes, and various controls for endogeneity concerns.     

Herd behaviour in buyout investments

In this study, we explored the presence of correlated investment choices (i.e., herd behaviour) among international buyout funds by distinguishing among the contemporaneous and the following herding of smaller funds towards the top market players (i.e., the top quartile in terms of the fund size). In our analyses, we found that the industry herding towards the largest ones is common in private equity (PE) but mostly during market contractions or the deterioration of general market conditions. Moreover, we also found that as capital inflows into the PE industry slow down, herding occurs more often. This finding is consistent with the increasing competition for new capital fundraising in downturns, which can induce PE funds to herd more. We also found that both types of herding generate higher fund returns and lower risk for funds that are capable of herding. Additionally, we documented the persistence in herding.     

Venture capitalist value-added activities,fundraising and drawdowns

This paper is the first to introduce an analysis of the effect of different types of venture capitalist value-added activities (financial, administrative, marketing, strategic/management) on fundraising. In addition, we include an analysis of the functional difference between committed funds and drawdowns from capital commitments vis-à-vis pension funds and venture capital funds. The new comprehensive data, collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for 1999–2001, enable controls for venture capitalist performance, risk, investment activity, and management and performance fees. The results indicate that significantly more capital is allocated to venture capitalists that provide financial and strategic/management expertise to entrepreneurial firms (as opposed to marketing and administrative expertise). In addition, fundraising is greater among funds with higher returns and performance fees and lower fixed management fees. In contrast, drawdowns from capital commitments are greater among venture capital funds that provide financial and marketing expertise to investees (as opposed to strategic and administrative expertise), and among funds with higher performance fees and fixed management fees. Further, the results indicate an adverse impact on venture capital fundraising from illiquidity attributable to a 2-year lock-up period in IPO exits over the period considered.     

Has persistence persisted in private equity? Evidence from buyout and venture capital funds

This paper presents new evidence on performance persistence for U.S. private equity (buyout and venture capital) funds. We use high quality cash-flow data from Burgiss's large sample of institutional investors (as of December 2020) which allows us to examine how persistence has changed over more than three decades of fundraising. Venture capital (VC) performance remains remarkably persistent across funds raised by the same general partner (GP). In contrast, buyout funds' performance persistence becomes noticeably weaker over time. The patterns are different when we restrict the analysis to information that would have been available to investors – interim performance on the previous fund at the time a new fund is raised – rather than using final, or latest, performance. We find little evidence of persistence for buyouts, especially post-2000. We continue to find persistence for VC funds though it declines post-2000. The differences are driven by interim performance reported at the time of fundraising being only moderately correlated to final performance and GPs avoiding fundraising when interim performance is poor. Finally, we look at GPs who introduce new fund styles and find that performance is noticeably lower for buyouts (but not VC). Exploring the reasons for these divergent trends in persistence between buyout and VC is a promising area for future research.     

CARE Conference Hong Kong Polytechnic University,June 9, 2014: Equity Financing for Early‐Stage Companies in China

Many of the smaller private‐sector Chinese companies in their entrepreneurial growth stage are now being funded by Chinese venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) firms. In contrast to western VC markets, where institutional investors such as pension funds and endowments have been the main providers of capital, in China most capital for domestic funds has come from private business owners and high net worth individuals. As relatively new players in the market who are less accustomed to entrusting their capital to fund managers for a lengthy period of time, Chinese VCs and their investors have shown a shorter investment horizon and demanded a faster return of capital and profits. In an attempt to explain this behavior, Paul Gompers and Josh Lerner of Harvard Business School have offered a “grandstanding hypothesis” that focuses on the incentives of younger, less established VCs to push their portfolio companies out into the IPO market as early as they can—and thus possibly prematurely—to establish a track record and facilitate future fundraising. This explanation is supported by the under‐performance of Chinese VC‐backed IPOs that has been documented by the author's recent research. Although they continue to offer significant opportunities for global investors, China's VC and PE markets still face many challenges. The supervisory system and legal environment need further improvement, and Chinese funds need to find a way to attract more institutional investors—a goal that can and likely will be promoted through government inducements.     

黄永忠 守门人的智慧

作为磐石基金的全球合伙人,黄永忠掌管着20亿美元的亚洲基金,是众多基金追捧的"出资人"。黄永忠凭借其敏锐的洞察力和独特的判断力,加上对于亚洲市场的了解,令这支20年前远渡重洋的FOF基金在中国的业务如鱼得水。     

海峡两岸公益募捐立法比较研究

海峡两岸公益募捐立法在历史发展背景上有诸多相同或相似之处,使大陆借鉴台湾公益募捐立法成为可能。在台湾公益募捐立法体系中最重要的当数"公益劝募条例",全面而又不失重点,兼具劝募主体明确,资金使用公开、透明等优点。大陆公益募捐立法成就与问题同在。借鉴台湾经验,大陆今后应统一公益募捐立法,完善公益募捐法律体系,加强公益募捐主体自律。     

Are hedge funds' charitable donations strategic?

We study whether hedge funds make charitable donations to further their business interests. We find that donations are driven by poor fund flows and performance. Post-donation, donor funds experience lower outflows compared to matched non-donors. One-off donations and donations to charities which hold fundraising events catering to the hedge fund community are more likely to mitigate outflows after poor performance. These findings are consistent with strategic motivations driving at least some donations. While the economics of donations initially appear quite favorable to the hedge funds, the benefits from donations are not scalable. Moreover, investors punish donors through greater redemptions if poor performance persists post-donation.     

Fund ownership,wealth, and risk-taking: Evidence on private equity managers

Private equity (PE) managers are required to invest their own money in the funds they manage. We examine the incentive effects of this ownership on the delegated acquisition decision. A simple model shows that PE managers select less risky firms and use more debt, the higher their ownership. We test these predictions for a sample of Norwegian PE funds, using managers’ wealth to capture their relative risk aversion. As predicted, the target company’s cash-flow risk decreases and leverage increases with the manager’s ownership scaled by wealth. Moreover, the overall portfolio risk decreases with ownership, mitigating widespread concerns about excessive risk-taking.     

Do Excess Funds Make Financially Constrained Firms Better Off? Evidence from IPOs in China

Firms in transition economies often suffer financial constraints. In initial public offerings (IPOs), however, many newly listed Chinese firms raise funds in excess of what is originally planned. This paper examines whether these excess IPO funds are wasted on value-destroying spending or enable firms to take growth opportunities. After controlling for the endogeneity issue, we find that Chinese firms with excess IPO funds have better post-IPO operating performance, especially those with limited financing channels. In revealing the mechanism, we find that excess IPO fundraising alleviates financial constraints and reduces the cost of debt.     

Private equity and Covid-19

We survey more than 200 private equity (PE) managers from firms with $1.9 trillion of assets under management (AUM) about their portfolio performance, decision-making and activities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Given that PE managers have significant incentives to maximize value, their actions during the pandemic should indicate what they perceive as being important for both the preservation and creation of value. PE managers believe that 40% of their portfolio companies are moderately negatively affected and 10% are very negatively affected by the pandemic. The private equity managers—both investment and operating partners—are actively engaged in the operations, governance, and financing in all of their current portfolio companies. These activities are more intensively pursued in those companies that have been more severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result of the pandemic, they expect the performance of their existing funds to decline. They are more pessimistic about that decline than the venture capitalists (VCs) surveyed in Gompers et al. (2021). Despite the pandemic, private equity managers are seeking new investments. Rather than focusing on cost cutting, PE investors place a much greater weight on revenue growth for value creation. Relative to the 2012 survey results reported in Gompers, Kaplan, and Mukharlyamov (2016), they appear to give a larger equity stake to management teams and target somewhat lower returns.     

Can SRI funds better resist global financial crisis? Evidence from Japan

This paper compared Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) funds and conventional funds in the Japanese market with respect to the impact of the global financial crisis in 2008. Taking the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers as a particular event, we estimated the average cumulative abnormal returns of both funds by event study methodology using a Fama–French three-factor model and EGARCH model. Our results suggest that SRI funds better resisted the bankruptcy of the Lehman Brothers than conventional funds. We also found that this result can be attributed to the existence of international funds, possibly because investors might evaluate the CSR activities of international firms more than those of domestic firms. Alternatively, it can be interpreted that the universe of domestic SRI funds is too limited to enjoy risk diversification.     

Private equity performance under extreme regulation

This study investigates the impact of excessive regulation on private equity (PE) returns and firm performance. History shows that extreme regulation and prohibition reduce the supply of capital and raise returns (e.g., as with drugs and diamonds). However, for value-added investors such as PE funds, extreme regulation also reduces the quality of capital and fund involvement. The net effect on returns is therefore ambiguous and heretofore not studied. With a new unique dataset, this paper empirically examines the performance of PE investments in Italy when leveraged buyouts are strictly regulated. The data show that extreme regulation reduces not only the supply of capital, but also PE returns and firm performance, as well as the likelihood of an IPO exit.     

Discount-Rate Risk in Private Equity: Evidence from Secondary Market Transactions

Measures of private equity (PE) performance based on cash flows do not account for a discount-rate risk premium that is a component of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) alpha. We create secondary market PE indices and find that PE discount rates vary considerably. Net asset values are too smooth because they fail to reflect variation in discount rates. Although the CAPM alpha for our index is zero, the generalized public market equivalent based on cash flows is large and positive. We obtain similar results for a set of synthetic funds that invest in small cap stocks. Ignoring variation in PE discount rates can lead to a misallocation of capital.     

Illiquidity Risk in Non-Listed Funds: Evidence from REIT Fund Exits and Redemption Suspensions

Managerial incentives are skewed in non-listed funds under finite horizons. Compensation structures are only indirectly related to shareholder wealth maximization when share prices are unobservable. Liquidity options for investors are limited in the absence of an exchange listing. Using a hand-collected database for public non-listed REITs, an empirical sequence considers the impact of management compensation contracts on equity fundraising and success in capital deployment. Evidence is provided that high asset management fees and high acquisition fees diminish managerial success at generating revenue from invested capital. Successful revenue flows are deterministic factor in the level of distributions paid and the likelihood of achieving a fund exit. Closing the gate on share redemption plans is synchronized with the slowdown in new equity flows. Retail investors are insensitive to maligned compensation structures that heighten illiquidity risk, even when observable in the prospectus.     

Value creation and pricing in buyouts: Empirical evidence from Europe and North America

Using a unique proprietary data set of 1980 realized and unrealized buyouts completed between 1986 and 2010, we examine entry and exit pricing in buyouts and its influence on private equity (PE) sponsors' returns. We find that besides leverage and operational improvements, EBITDA multiple expansion (i.e. the difference between entry and exit pricing) is a fundamental factor in explaining equity returns and the result of skill rather than pure luck. We also provide evidence that more experienced PE sponsors use more debt to finance a PE transaction and debt is positively related to entry buyout pricing. However, for a transaction with a given leverage level, more experienced PE sponsors are able to negotiate lower prices. In addition, our results show that deals conducted by first time funds which are realized in a later stage of a fund's life cycle are associated with lower exit prices which can be explained by the increased exit pressure for the PE sponsor.     

论私募股权基金杠杆收购与债券市场的发展

近几年来,我国本土私募股权基金的并购活动比较活跃,但是其发展还存在一定的障碍,主要表现在债券融资市场尚未成为融资主渠道。本文通过分析美国杠杆收购活动中融资结构的变迁,指出开发债券市场有利于发展我国私募股权基金的杠杆收购活动。     

Entrepreneurs' financing choice between independent and bank-affiliated venture capital firms

This paper analyzes how the affiliation of a venture capital firm affects the deal terms for innovative entrepreneurial ventures. We develop a theory to explain the advantages of independent and bank-affiliated venture capital funds for entrepreneurs. We assume that independent venture capital firms provide better support quality while bank-affiliated firms are less financially constrained. The entrepreneur selects the optimal contract by trading-off these characteristics. The model allows several empirically testable predictions concerning the nature of projects financed by either type of venture capital firm. Entrepreneurs should seek capital from independent or affiliated venture capitalists contingent on the degree of sophistication of their project, their liquidation value, the importance of expected management support, and the remaining time to fundraising.     

私募股权基金文献综述

私募股权基金首先在美国,其次在欧洲大陆和英国,得到了充分的发展。因此对美国和欧洲大陆私募股权基金市场的研究给亚洲新兴经济体,尤其是中国PE产业的发展提供了参考依据。本文首先界定私募股权基金的定义,然后从影响私募股权基金发展的因素、委托人-代理人风险控制、退出模式这三个层面对国内外文献进行梳理,最后对该如何培养有利于私募股权基金发展的外部环境提出了几点建议。     

Benchmarking private equity: The direct alpha method

We propose a simple and intuitive measure of the annualized excess return of investments in private equity (PE) funds, as well as in similar vehicles that hold hard-to-value assets. Our ‘Direct Alpha’ method is well-founded in theory and dominates the existing approaches to convert fund lifetime returns into inputs amenable for portfolio-wide optimization. Existing Public Market Equivalent (PME) approaches are either heuristic or involve significant approximation errors. Using real-world PE fund cash flow data, we juxtapose Direct Alpha against nearly all PME methods that have been in broad use.