What Do We Know About Institutional-Quality Hedge Funds?

Using publicly available sources such as trade press and Form ADV filings, we compile a list of 561 “institutional-quality” hedge fund managers that each have at least 1 billion USD in primary hedge fund assets under management.

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Loss Avoidance in Private Equity

Private equity investors rely on reported fund performance to make informed investment decisions. This paper provides evidence that buyout funds manage multiples of invested capital (MOICs) for portfolio companies to avoid incurring and reporting capital losses. In the distribution of deal-level MOICs, we document an

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Is the U.S. IPO Market About to Thaw? IPC Research Notes

The U.S. IPO market is in the midst of an unusually long cold spell. Investors are concerned about how the IPO market, and more broadly the market for private equity exits, has affected distributions to their portfolios. This has led us to wonder how the current episode compares to historical IPO activity and if recent signs (e.g., the recent filing by Shein) suggest the market is thawing.
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Unpacking Private Equity Performance

Performance analysis of private equity funds is challenging because fund ownership does not trade in a liquid market with observable prices. Instead performance analysis, especially during a funds life, must rely on observed cash flows to and from the fund and quarterly net asset value (NAV) estimates. Further complicating the analysis are the increasingly common practices of funds using subscription lines of credit (fund-level debt) and recycling capital.
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Should Private Companies Have the Same SEC Disclosure Requirements as Public Companies?

A debate between Ludovic Phalippou, Professor of Financial Economics, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford and Gregory Brown,  Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor of Finance at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Kenan Flagler Business School.
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Can Investors Time Their Exposure to Private Equity?

Private equity markets are highly cyclical. The aggregate amount of capital committed to the sector varies substantially from peak to trough, and many have observed that periods of high fundraising activity are followed by periods of low absolute performance for the asset class (see Harris, Jenkinson, and Kaplan, among others). This raises an important question: is it possible to market-time the allocations to private equity to avoid the cyclicality of performance?
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Business and Economic Impact of COVID-19

To help separate fact from fiction and legitimate concern from panic, the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School convened six top faculty researchers to discuss the likely effects of the pandemic on business and the economy.
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Have Private Equity Returns Really Declined?

Kenan Institute Executive Director Greg Brown and University of Chicago Booth School of Business Professor Steve Kaplan have co-authored a new white paper assembling the most current, comprehensive performance data on U.S. private equity buyout funds available. Contrary to some recent articles, this research shows U.S. buyouts have consistently outperformed public markets in the post-crisis era.
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