Venture capital secondary funds—the third exit option

This article highlights some of the challenges associated with investing in private equity and, specifically, venture capital, as well as the opportunities presented by the availability of secondary market solutions. Today, the secondary market allows venture capital investors to align liquidity solutions with investment objectives similar to those used in other established markets like real estate and lending. Over the last ten years, it has become clear that exit opportunities for venture‐backed portfolio companies correlate strongly with the state of the economy and its ability to support merger‐and‐acquisition (M&A) and initial public offering (IPO) market activity. Due to their experience and specialization, secondary funds know how to assess quickly potential investments and offer tailored investment solutions. Moreover, these funds offer an attractive exit option that is compelling not only in down economic cycles but also during periods of economic expansion. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Private Equity Finance as a Growth Engine: What It Means for Emerging Markets

Entrepreneurship has long been considered crucial for economic development. An important element of entrepreneurship is the willingness and ability to mobilize private capital from both domestic and foreign sources. The private equity sector in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) illustrates the role that private capital can play in the development of emerging markets. Data on the employment generation and growth performance of private equity provide evidence that it is an important driver of economic growth globally. This paper draws on initial evidence from the MENA region to illustrate the sector's potential there and in emerging markets generally. It then recommends a new generation of reforms to fuel this growth engine. A survey of MENA’s private equity industry survey conducted for this paper assesses these developments and the sector's need for proactive reforms to support it. It also shows that international financial market interest in private equity finance does not seem to have abated with the recent market bust. The paper concludes by identifying priority areas for future policy and research. JEL Classification O160     

货币政策对资本市场的非线性效应——基于自私募股权投资经验证据的分析

私募股权投资是资本市场的重要组成部分,而资本市场波动对宏观经济周期有重要影响。通过构建非线性计量经济模型,本文从不同期限结构和类型的政策模式角度探索货币政策对私募股权投资的非线性影响。研究发现,短期数量型货币政策在经济高涨时期对私募股权投资的调控效果更佳,而长期数量型货币政策在经济平稳时期对私募股权投资的调控效果更佳,数量型货币政策对私募股权投资的影响在时间维度呈现递减趋势;短期价格型货币政策在经济萧条时期对私募股权投资的调控效果更佳,而长期价格型货币政策在经济平稳时期对私募股权投资的调控效果更佳,价格型货币政策对私募股权投资的影响在时间维度呈现递增趋势。因此,长期价格型货币政策是我国进入经济新常态时期后的主要选择。     

Private equity secondaries: Opening the liquidity tap

Private equity is an illiquid asset class. The extended holding period for private equity—averaging four to five years—attracts investors, as fund managers are able to avoid the volatility that negatively affects the public equities. However, the secondary market has emerged as a tool that enables limited partners in private equity funds to manage a private equity portfolio flexibly despite its intrinsic illiquidity. This article discusses in great detail the scope of secondary transactions, discussing how the subsegment has evolved over time from the straightforward purchase of limited partnership interest to the more elaborate transactions involving structural creativity and complex problem solving for sellers. It is concluded that the growth in secondaries brings liquidity to the asset class and thus makes private equity a more compelling investment proposition. As such, the secondary market will continue to be a key driver for growth of the private equity industry. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

How to build a successful private equity portfolio

The route to a successful private equity portfolio is a four‐step process that requires an in‐depth understanding of private equity as an asset class as well as the skills to select promising opportunities from available offerings. The first step is to set out and define general allocation guidelines. These initial guidelines then have to be refined based on the availability of adequate investment opportunities. The third step involves selecting the most attractive funds from a pool of target funds. And lastly the portfolio must be monitored on an ongoing basis to track its overall development as well as its enduring performance. Benchmarking the overall performance of the portfolio as well as individual managers is an integral part of this. In the following sections, each individual step is discussed and explained in more detail. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Alternative investments in emerging markets: A review and new trends

This paper provides a review of the alternative investments literature in emerging markets, with a focus on art and wine, angel investment, venture capital and private equity, private debt, hedge funds, crowdfunding, and IPOs. We show that there has been relatively more growth in the scholarly interest in alternative investments in emerging markets compared to alternative investments and compared to emerging markets over the period 2000–2016. We highlight topics that have been the subject of scholarly focus, and identify topics for future research.     

The informal venture capital market: Aspects of scale and market efficiency

Risk capital is a resource essential to the formation and growth of entrepreneurial ventures. In a society that is increasingly dependent upon innovation and entrepreneurship for its economic vitality, the performance of the venture capital markets is a matter of fundamental concern to entrepreneurs, venture investors and to public officials. This article deals with the informal venture capital market, the market in which entrepreneurs raise equity-type financing from private investors, (business angels). The informal venture capital market is virtually invisible and often misunderstood. It is composed of a diverse and diffuse population of individuals of means; many of whom have created their own successful ventures. There are no directories of individual venture investors and no public records of their investment transactions. Consequently, the informal venture capital market poses many unanswered questions.The author discusses two aspects of the informal venture capital market: questions of scale and market efficiency. The discussion draws upon existing research to extract and synthesize data that provide a reasonable basis for inferences about scale and efficiency.Private venture investors tend to be self-made individuals with substantial business and financial experience and with a net worth of $1 million or more. The author estimates that the number of private venture investors in the United States is at least 250,000, of whom about 100,000 are active in any given year. By providing seed capital for ventures that subsequently raise funds from professional venture investors or in the public equity markets and equity financing for privately-held firms that are growing faster than internal cash flow can support, private investors fill gaps in the institutional equity markets.The author estimates that private investors manage a portfolio of venture investments aggregating in the neighborhood of $50 billion, about twice the capital managed by professional venture investors. By participating in smaller transactions, private investors finance over five times as many entrepreneurs as professional venture investors; 20,000 or more firms per year compared to two or three thousand. The typical angel-backed venture raises about $250,000 from three or more private investors.Despite the apparent scale of the informal venture capital market, the author cites evidence that the market is relatively inefficient. It is a market characterized by limited information about investors and investment opportunities. Furthermore, many entrepreneurs and private investors are unfamiliar with the techniques of successful venture financing. The author's scale and efficiency inferences, coupled with evidence documenting gaps between private and social returns from innovation, prompt questions about public as well as private initiatives to enhance the efficiency of the informal venture capital market.The article concludes with a discussion of Venture Capital Network, Inc. (VCN), an experimental effort to enhance the efficiency of the informal venture capital market. VCN's procedures and performance are described, followed by a discussion of the lessons learned during the first two years of the experiment.     

Mapping Research Topics and Theories in Private Regulation for Sustainability in Global Value Chains

The globalization of production and trade has contributed to the rise in complex global value chains where the reach of state regulation is limited. As an alternative, private regulation, developed and administered by companies, industry associations, and nongovernmental organizations, has emerged to safeguard economic, environmental, and social sustainability in producer countries and along the value chain. The academic literature on private regulation in global value chains has grown over the last decade, but currently few major reviews of the research have been undertaken. This paper examines peer-reviewed research in the relevant disciplines published in academic journals up to December 2011. Our goal is to identify and classify the topics and theories in the global value chain literature. We conclude that the number of articles explicitly examining private regulation, in a global value chain context, is relatively small when considering the importance and growth of these chains in the world’s economy. We also conclude that agriculture, forestry, and apparel manufacturing are the most often studied economic sectors; in contrast, other sectors, such as the information, communication and technology, with their complex global value chains, and often problematic environmental and social conditions, are understudied.     

Signaling through private equity placements and its impact on the valuation of biotechnology firms

This paper investigates how young, publicly held technology firms contend with information asymmetry, and the hazards it introduces, to acquire the capital necessary for future growth. We ascribe to the view that firms issuing private equity signal the marketplace that managers believe their growth opportunities are undervalued. Consistent with this view, we find significant positive abnormal returns to announcements of private equity placements. We develop theory suggesting that returns are determined by the timing of previous signals. We also argue that the characteristics of the private placement signal, specifically whether private equity is bundled with research partnerships, influence the strength of the signal. Our results largely support our expectations.     

私募股权投资对企业上市后经营绩效的影响——基于江浙两省中小企业板制造业上市公司的实证分析

本文以2004—2007年在深圳证券交易所中小企业板上市的27家江浙两省制造业企业为研究对象,采用面板数据分析方法和比较分析方法,对私募股权投资对企业上市后经营绩效的影响进行了实证检验和分析。结果发现:私募股权投资对所投资企业上市后的经营业绩具有积极作用,但是这种积极作用随着私募股权投资机构的减持而不断减弱;私募股权资本所投资的企业上市后的经营业绩还不如无私募股权资本支持的企业。这一结果启示我们提高私募股权投资机构的素质与专业水平是当前亟待解决的重要问题。     

Human resource strategies in post‐WTO China

China's rapid economic growth has presented numerous opportunities and challenges for foreign firms there. As firms have increased their presence in China, their concerns are increasingly focused on implementing successful human resource management (HRM) practices. To shed light on effective HRM for foreign firms in China, we conducted interviews with senior managers, private equity specialists, and management consultants there. Using a framework of human resources deliverables, we propose several keys to successful HRM in China. HRM is crucial for firms' success in post‐WTO China, and managing human resources there poses distinctive challenges to commonly held “Western” assumptions about effective HRM. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Privatized espionage: NSO Group Technologies and its Pegasus spyware

Advanced cyber technology like NSO Group Technologies' (NSO) controversial Pegasus spyware blurs distinctions between “good” and “bad.” This case follows the Israeli-based international leader in cyber espionage and developer NSO and one of its co-founders, Shalev Hulio from its creation in 2010 to the present. It includes NSO's acquisition by US-based private equity fund Francisco Partners in 2014. NSO's re-acquisition in 2019 by co-founders Hulio and Omri Lavie with funding support from London-based private equity fund Novalpina Capital. During this time, Pegasus had helped capture Mexican drug baron El Chapo, prevented terrorist attacks and broken up pedophilia, sex, and drug-trafficking rings. But Pegasus also contributed to the murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi as well as other illegal incidents against dissidents, journalist, and governments. As the case suggests, controlling access to such powerful technology that involves accountability, responsibility, and enforceability within a firm and within nations appears illusive.     

加强现代物流业中的英语培训

十几年来随着经济全球化的趋势日益明显,现代物流业发展十分迅速,正面临前所未有的发展机遇,因此开展行业内的规范化英语培训,有很强的经济意义和现实意义。     

Private equity,Islamic finance,and sovereign wealth funds in the MENA region

The Middle East and North Africa region has experienced a significant amount of activity in the past few years, despite the worldwide economic problems caused by the subprime crisis. A strong influx of petrodollar reserves, sustainable economic growth, limited reliance on leverage, and limited exposure to the global credit markets have kept the region relatively outside the economic mishaps overwhelming a number of economies, especially in the West. Shariah‐compliant, Islamic private equity funds and the use of sovereign wealth funds as sources of private equity in the region are two important evolutionary developments to watch in the next few years. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Private label brands: major perspective of two customer-based brand equity models

In recent years the retail industry has been characterized by the fast growth of private labels, with an increase of the offer of private labels and the enhancement of their value in the marketplace. This research focuses in private label brand equity to deepen the understanding of its origins, by analyzing two alternative customer-based conceptual models. The present study was developed in the large retailing industry, comprising different retailing formats that offer private labels to consumers. Our findings suggest a conceptual private label brand equity model, which is slightly different from the Aaker's brand equity model, considering store image as an antecedent and stressing its importance in building and enhancing private labels' brand equity. Additionally, retailers searching for successful ways to compete in the retail market need to examine in more detail the customer-based brand equity related to their private labels.     

论发展民营经济

进入21世纪后,全球经济一体化进一步加快,发展经济成为世界各国的经济活动的主题,对于中国这样一个发展中国家来说,加速民营经济发展尤为重要。民营经济在我国经济发展中具有重要的地位和作用,发展民营经济既是推进社会主义政治体制改革的重要条件,也是完善社会主义市场机制,推动国家经济稳定、持续、健康发展的主要经济力量。     

What do we know about individual equity options?

This paper examines the empirical literature on individual equity options, discussing results in areas of consensus, showing findings in areas of disagreement and providing a guide for future research (especially highlighting analyses that cannot be performed with index options). Key topics include the impact of equity option listings on the underlying stock market, option market efficiency, anomalies in equity option returns, option market microstructure, investors’ behavioral biases, option price discovery, and private information revealed in equity option markets. Some directions for future research include the determinants of equity option returns and the effect of algorithmic trading in option markets.     

新形势下新疆服务企业营销策略探讨

随着经济的快速发展,消费者对服务的要求日益提高。近年来,新疆的服务业高速发展,给新疆带来很多的现实利益。而如今经济的全球化发展、亚欧博览会的举办以及丝绸之路经济带建立,给新疆的服务业带来了诸多的发展机遇。新疆服务企业要紧紧抓住现有发展机遇,积极采用建立多渠道营销,有形展示营销、合作营销方式打造自有品牌等营销策略,以增加服务企业在竞争中的优势。     

Give everyone a prize? Employee stock options in private venture-backed firms

This study examines employee stock options in private entrepreneurial companies. I focus on private U.S. venture-backed firms because they are renowned for the intensity and organizational depth of their stock option grants. Contrary to simple stereotype, however, I show that 27% of U.S. venture-backed firms do not grant stock options to all employees. I seek to explain this by theorizing that the economic and legal settings in which venture-backed companies exist lead to both costs and benefits from the use of stock options to attract, compensate, incent, monitor, and retain certain employees, and that sometimes the costs exceed the benefits. I test the theory by determining whether variation in the organizational depth to which venture-backed firms grant employee stock options can be explained by proxies for these economic and legal costs. Such proxies include the fraction of employees who are in technical positions; the degree of flatness in the firm's organizational structure; its proximity to other venture-backed companies; the number of patents it has been granted; and the fraction of equity held by venture investors. The results support the theory and thereby imply that venture-backed firms grant employee stock options in an economically sophisticated manner.     

温州市物流业现状、机遇与发展对策

温州市面临经济全球化 ,面对新的国际国内环境 ,温州市现代物流发展正处于起步阶段 ,与发达国家和其它先进城市相比还存在着较大的差距。加快推进现代化物流业是发展温州市经济的必然 ,提出温州发展物流的对策 ,以促进温州经济快速健康发展。