A step-by-step guide to develop a flexible comprehensive operational due diligence program for private equity and real estate funds Addressing the unique aspects and challenges associated with performing operational due diligence review of both private equity and real estate asset classes, this essential guide provides readers with the tools to develop a flexible comprehensive operational due diligence program for private equity and real estate. It includes techniques for analyzing fund legal documents and financial statements, as well as methods for evaluating operational risks concerning valuation methodologies, pricing documentation and illiquidity concerns. Covers topics including fund legal documents and financial statement analysis techniques Includes case studies in operational fraud Companion website includes sample checklists, templates, spreadsheets, and links to laws and regulations referenced in the book Equips investors with the tools to evaluate liquidity, valuation, and documentation Also by Jason Scharfman: Hedge Fund Operational Due Diligence: Understanding the Risks Filled with case studies, this book is required reading for private equity and real estate investors, as well as fund managers and service providers, for performing due diligence on the noninvestment risks associated with private equity and real estate funds.

How to diagnose and monitor key hedge fund operational risks With the various scandals taking place with hedge funds, now more than ever, both financial and operational risks must be examined. Revealing how to effectively detect and evaluate often-overlooked operational risk factors in hedge funds, such as multi-jurisdictional regulatory coordination, organizational nesting, and vaporware, Hedge Fund Operational Due Diligence includes real-world examples drawn from the author's experiences dealing with the operational risks of a global platform of over 80 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, private equity, and real estate managers.

The missing link to determining a company’s real value Most people at the M&A table know how to carry out financial and legal due diligence. Only the accomplished investors come prepared with an in-depth understanding of the complete due diligence process. Operations Due Diligence is a game-changing guide for investors who need a fully accurate determination on the sustainability of a business. Written by a hands-on operations executive who has successfully implemented process improvement programs at large and small businesses, this practical guidebook sets itself apart by providing a step-by-step strategy for analyzing the toughest area of a business to assess: its operations. Unlike financial and legal due diligence, there were no principles such as law and accounting to guide operations due diligence—until now. This turnkey approach, based on a pragmatic series of almost 400 questions, helps you accurately assess the infrastructures of a business’s customer satisfaction, production, information management, sales and marketing, organization, and personnel, as well as its finances and legal operations. For managers and business owners looking to improve the sustainability of their business, this guided inquiry serves as a thorough operations checklist to next-level performance. Whether you are an investor trying to capture a new opportunity with minimal risk or an executive struggling to improve your business, Operations Due Diligence gives you a distinct advantage by: Going a step further than most books and illustrating how to analyze your discoveries Using historic examples to make the lessons both understandable and memorable Clearly explaining how and why each sector is an important indicator of the long-term sustainability of a business Conveniently locating infrastructure summary questions at the end of chapters for quick reference Providing a document checklist so nothing gets overlooked at the negotiating table The highest-valued companies and their investors know that producing the best products and services isn’t enough. Survival depends on continually improving infrastructure through Operations Due Diligence.

An authoritative guide to understanding the world of private equity (PE) investing, governance structures, and operational assessments of PE portfolio companies An essential text for any business/finance professional's library, Private Equity: History, Governance, and Operations, Second Edition begins by presenting historical information regarding the asset class. This information includes historical fundraising and investment levels, returns, correlation of returns to public market indices, and harvest trends. The text subsequently analyzes PE fund and portfolio company governance structures. It also presents ways to improve existing governance structures of these entities. A specific focus on portfolio company operations, including due diligence assessments, concludes the text. Seamlessly blends historical information with practical guidance based on risk management and fundamental accounting techniques Assists the book's professional audience in maximizing returns of their PE investments Highly conducive to advanced, graduate-level classroom use Purchase of the text includes access to a website of teaching materials for instructional use Learn more about PE history, governance, and operations with the authoritative guidance found in Private Equity: History, Governance, and Operations, Second Edition.

Alternative investments such as hedge funds, private equity, and fund of funds continue to be of strong interest among the investment community. As these investment strategies have become increasingly complex, fund managers have continued to devote more time and resources towards developing best practice operations to support the actual trade processing, fund accounting, and back-office mechanics that allow these strategies to function. Representative of this operational growth, estimates have indicated that fund managers have seen increased operating budgets of 30% or more in recent years. In today’s highly regulated environment, alternative investment managers have also increasingly had to integrate rigorous compliance and cybersecurity oversight into fund operations. Additionally, with recent advances in artificial intelligence and big data analysis, fund managers are devoting larger portions of their information technology budgets towards realizing technology-based operational efficiencies. Alternative investment fund service providers have also substantially increased their scope and breadth of their operations-related services. Furthermore, investors are increasingly performing deep-dive due diligence on fund manager operations at both fund level and management company levels. This book provides current and practical guidance on the foundations of how alternative investment managers build and manage their operations. While other publications have focused on generalized overviews of historical trading procedures across multiple asset classes, and the technical intricacies of specific legacy operational procedures, Alternative Investment Operations will be the first book to focus on explaining up-to-date information on the specific real-world operational practices actually employed by alternative investment managers. This book will focus on how to actually establish and manage fund operations. Alternative Investment Operations will be an invaluable up-to-date resource for fund managers and their operations personnel as well as investors and service providers on the implementation and management of best practice operations.

The dynamic environment of investment banks, hedge funds, and private equity firms comes to life in David Stowell's introduction to the ways they challenge and sustain each other. Capturing their reshaped business plans in the wake of the 2007-2009 global meltdown, his book reveals their key functions, compensation systems, unique roles in wealth creation and risk management, and epic battles for investor funds and corporate influence. Its combination of perspectives—drawn from his industry and academic backgrounds—delivers insights that illuminate the post-2009 reinvention and acclimation processes. Through a broad view of the ways these financial institutions affect corporations, governments, and individuals, Professor Stowell shows us how and why they will continue to project their power and influence. - Emphasizes the needs for capital, sources of capital, and the process of getting capital to those who need it - Integrates into the chapters ten cases about recent transactions, along with case notes and questions - Accompanies cases with spreadsheets for readers to create their own analytical frameworks and consider choices and opportunities

Tighten due diligence procedures for more successful hedge fund investment Practical Operational Due Diligence on Hedge Funds is an encyclopaedic, comprehensive reference, written from the perspective of an experienced practitioner. Accompanied by a useful archive of factual material on different hedge fund issues, including failures, fines, and closures, this book focuses on the areas due diligence professionals should address, and explains why they're important. Extensive discussion of publicised cases identifies the manager entities and actual fund vehicles involved, and provides commentary on what could have been done differently in each case, backed by actual regulatory materials, such as SEC complaints, that recreate the events that took place. Readers gain a deeper understanding of the many facets of due diligence and the many possible pitfalls, learning how standardise processes and avoid major errors and oversights. The amount of money managed by hedge funds has almost doubled from the $1 trillion under management at the time of the financial crisis. Hedge funds can be extremely risky, but can be extremely profitable — as money increasingly flows back in, due diligence on these alternative investments becomes more and more critical. This book provides complete guidance toward the due diligence process, with plentiful real-world examples. Identify the areas of due diligence and what can go wrong Create procedures and checklists to minimise errors Learn what publicised cases could have done differently Gain a deeper understanding of massive failures and successes Proper due diligence can be a massive undertaking, but thoroughness is essential when the price of failure is so high. Practical Operational Due Diligence on Hedge Funds provides the details professionals need to be on point every time.

The definitive guide to private equity for investors and finance professionals Mastering Private Equity was written with a professional audience in mind and provides a valuable and unique reference for investors, finance professionals, students and business owners looking to engage with private equity firms or invest in private equity funds. From deal sourcing to exit, LBOs to responsible investing, operational value creation to risk management, the book systematically distils the essence of private equity into core concepts and explains in detail the dynamics of venture capital, growth equity and buyout transactions. With a foreword by Henry Kravis, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO of KKR, and special guest comments by senior PE professionals. This book combines insights from leading academics and practitioners and was carefully structured to offer: A clear and concise reference for the industry expert A step-by-step guide for students and casual observers of the industry A theoretical companion to the INSEAD case book Private Equity in Action: Case Studies from Developed and Emerging Markets Features guest comments by senior PE professionals from the firms listed below: Abraaj • Adams Street Partners • Apax Partners • Baring PE Asia • Bridgepoint • The Carlyle Group • Coller Capital • Debevoise & Plimpton LLP • FMO • Foundry Group • Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer • General Atlantic • ILPA • Intermediate Capital Group • KKR Capstone • LPEQ • Maxeda • Navis Capital • Northleaf Capital • Oaktree Capital • Partners Group • Permira • Terra Firma

Private equity firms have long been at the center of public debates on the impact of the financial sector on Main Street companies. Are these firms financial innovators that save failing businesses or financial predators that bankrupt otherwise healthy companies and destroy jobs? The first comprehensive examination of this topic, Private Equity at Work provides a detailed yet accessible guide to this controversial business model. Economist Eileen Appelbaum and Professor Rosemary Batt carefully evaluate the evidence—including original case studies and interviews, legal documents, bankruptcy proceedings, media coverage, and existing academic scholarship—to demonstrate the effects of private equity on American businesses and workers. They document that while private equity firms have had positive effects on the operations and growth of small and mid-sized companies and in turning around failing companies, the interventions of private equity more often than not lead to significant negative consequences for many businesses and workers. Prior research on private equity has focused almost exclusively on the financial performance of private equity funds and the returns to their investors. Private Equity at Work provides a new roadmap to the largely hidden internal operations of these firms, showing how their business strategies disproportionately benefit the partners in private equity firms at the expense of other stakeholders and taxpayers. In the 1980s, leveraged buyouts by private equity firms saw high returns and were widely considered the solution to corporate wastefulness and mismanagement. And since 2000, nearly 11,500 companies—representing almost 8 million employees—have been purchased by private equity firms. As their role in the economy has increased, they have come under fire from labor unions and community advocates who argue that the proliferation of leveraged buyouts destroys jobs, causes wages to stagnate, saddles otherwise healthy companies with debt, and leads to subsidies from taxpayers. Appelbaum and Batt show that private equity firms’ financial strategies are designed to extract maximum value from the companies they buy and sell, often to the detriment of those companies and their employees and suppliers. Their risky decisions include buying companies and extracting dividends by loading them with high levels of debt and selling assets. These actions often lead to financial distress and a disproportionate focus on cost-cutting, outsourcing, and wage and benefit losses for workers, especially if they are unionized. Because the law views private equity firms as investors rather than employers, private equity owners are not held accountable for their actions in ways that public corporations are. And their actions are not transparent because private equity owned companies are not regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Thus, any debts or costs of bankruptcy incurred fall on businesses owned by private equity and their workers, not the private equity firms that govern them. For employees this often means loss of jobs, health and pension benefits, and retirement income. Appelbaum and Batt conclude with a set of policy recommendations intended to curb the negative effects of private equity while preserving its constructive role in the economy. These include policies to improve transparency and accountability, as well as changes that would reduce the excessive use of financial engineering strategies by firms. A groundbreaking analysis of a hotly contested business model, Private Equity at Work provides an unprecedented analysis of the little-understood inner workings of private equity and of the effects of leveraged buyouts on American companies and workers. This important new work will be a valuable resource for scholars, policymakers, and the informed public alike.

"A step-by-step guide to develop a flexible comprehensive operational due diligence program for private equity and real estate funds. Addressing the unique aspects and challenges associated with performing operational due diligence review of both private equity and real estate asset classes, this essential guide provides readers with the tools to develop a flexible comprehensive operational due diligence program for private equity and real estate. It includes techniques for analyzing fund legal documents and financial statements, as well as methods for evaluating operational risks concerning valuation methodologies, pricing documentation and illiquidity concerns. Covers topics including fund legal documents and financial statement analysis techniques Includes case studies in operational fraud. Companion website includes sample checklists, templates, spreadsheets, and links to laws and regulations referenced in the book. Equips investors with the tools to evaluate liquidity, valuation, and documentation. Also by Jason Scharfman: Hedge Fund Operational Due Diligence: Understanding the Risks. Filled with case studies, this book is required reading for private equity and real estate investors, as well as fund managers and service providers, for performing due diligence on the noninvestment risks associated with private equity and real estate funds"--