Private Equity Finance
This course is open to Ross School of Business graduate students and all University of Michigan graduate students. It presents the fundamentals of private equity finance, focusing on financing mezzanine deals and buyout transactions. The course covers the private equity and buyout market structure, institutional arrangements and the application of financial theory and methods in a private equity and buyout setting. The course covers four main aspects of private equity mezzanine investment and buyout transactions: valuation, deal structuring, governance, and harvesting. "Live" case studies are used to demonstrate the practical, hands-on application of techniques following their development in class. The "live" case studies are done in class, based upon deals brought to class by partners of private equity funds. Guest speakers and companies
in the Fall 2004 course included:
1 George Gillett, head of a $-multibillion Colorado-based buyout fund and owner of Montreal Canadiens
2 Jeff Bistrong, VP of Harris-Williams, middle market investment bank http://www.harriswilliams.com.
3 Mark McCammon, General Partner, Strength Capital Partners, Birmingham, MI based private equity fund http://www.strengthcapital.com/
4 Jason Runco, VP of Questor Partners Fund, Detroit, MI
5 Robert Peiser, CEO, Imperial Sugar, Inc, Houston, TX
During the course, students also compete in the Michigan Private Equity Competition with a target of creating an investment pitch for a public-to-private investment candidate. The competition is coordinated by the Center for Venture Capital and Private Equity Finance (http://www.bus.umich.edu/cvp) in conjunction with Glencoe Capital, a $1-billion buyout fund in Chicago http://www.glencap.com), and sponsored by Alan Gelband Company, Inc. in New York (http://www.gelband.com). In Fall 2004, the two top teams presented their proposals to the Glencoe Capital investment board in Chicago, while competing for the Alan Gelband Company.