Posted by Paul A. Gompers (Harvard Business School), Steven N. Kaplan (University of Chicago), and Vladimir Mukharlyamov (Georgetown University), on Monday, October 19, 2020
Editor’s Note: Paul A. Gompers is Eugene Holman Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School; Steven N. Kaplan is the Neubauer Family Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; and Vladimir Mukharlyamov is Assistant Professor of Finance at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. This post is based on their recent paper.
Private equity (PE) managers have significant incentives to maximize value. As such, their actions during the COVID-19 pandemic should indicate what they perceive as being important for both the preservation and creation of value.
In July–August 2020, we surveyed PE managers about their portfolio performance, decision-making, and activities during the global coronavirus outbreak. More than 200 PE managers from firms with total assets under management (AUM) of $1.9 trillion—about half of global AUM in PE—answered the survey. We report and elaborate on the findings in our new article, Private Equity and COVID-19.
