Using a unique data set, this paper describes the main features of the venture capital industry in Italy. Operations by Italian specialised venture capitalists are only in part devoted to small, young firms from advanced industries, have a rather short duration and are weakly focused on a few...

We reconcile the major approaches in the literature to benchmark cash flow-based returns of private equity investments against public markets, a.k.a. 'Public Market Equivalent' methods. We show that the existing methods to calculate annualized excess returns are heuristic in nature, and propose...

The paper develops a novel econometric approach to estimate abnormal returns and systematic risk of private equity investments from observable investment cash flows. A unique feature of the method is that it gives closed-form estimators for systematic risk and abnormal returns. In addition,...

Compensation of private equity fund managers typically consists of a fixed management fee and a performance related carried interest which entitles managers to option-like payoffs. We consider whether this structure tends to reward excessive risk-taking rather than managerial skill. Our model of...

The importance of private fund investor due diligence in the investment allocation process, in capital formation, and in private fund litigation has reached unprecedented levels and is further increasing. To provide the industry with data, data trend analyses, and guidance on applicable legal...

The role of technological innovation in mitigating and adapting to climate change has received growing interest in recent years. Scholars have used innovation system (IS) frameworks to grasp the interdependencies of innovation in such complex settings. However, this literature has somewhat...

Private equity funds (PEFs) eliminate entity-level taxation by using pass-through entities. They further minimize their investors' tax liability by taking the position that profits distributed to both general partners (GPs) and limited partners (LPs) are passive portfolio investment income and...

In private equity industry ESG (Entrepreneurial, Social and Governance) metrics are gaining room, passing from the risk management process to influence the orientation of investment strategies. Motivations refer both to a firmer performance of the invested portfolios during the overall...