Private Equity: Investing and Creating Value (2024)

Program Experience

Highlights and Key Outcomes

In Private Equity: Investing and Creating Value, you will:

• Learn the various stages of investment, from deal origination through harvesting returns
• Study tools that private equity firms use to structure and finance a deal, create value, and determine exit timing
• Understand the key drivers in the private equity market and key differences between funds’ strategies
• Analyze a deal from the different points of view of a private equity firm and a bank
• Work in teams to review actual deal scenarios, both middle market and megafund, and debate recommendations with faculty and peers for a new perspective
• Gain experience in navigating the complex arena of global private equity and emerging markets
• Discover how the PE sector has been impacted by the pandemic

Experience & Impact

Private equity is riding a wave of money that has come its way in the past decade, but it faces a growing list of challenges — some COVID-related and others that were developing before the pandemic. They include an overheated investment environment, difficulties conducting due diligence (especially in emerging markets), federal investigations into client fee disclosures, and (some might argue) a contraction in the business.

This innovative program provides an ideal combination of lectures by Wharton finance faculty and Wharton alumni who are finance leaders in the private equity industry. Participants will have an opportunity to focus on areas of individual interest, such as the limited partners' perspective, middle markets, distressed private equity, and private equity in emerging markets. There will also be time for case studies and group discussion.

For example, the effect of various government policy responses to COVID-19 and the increased need for operational improvement and turnaround management for keeping existing investments out of Chapter 11 will be addressed. The program will also explore the foundations of asset pricing and teach you how to forecast cash flows while accounting for country risk.

Participants will learn how to identify and manage special issues when investing or partnering with companies based in emerging or frontier markets. The effects of the current pandemic, including supply chain disruptions, lack of credit, and drastically lower consumer spending, will be examined so that participants become familiar with special considerations for due diligence and valuation.

Overall, participants will learn the landscape of the private equity space and be exposed to concepts and tools — shaped by the ongoing research of Wharton Private Equity Professor Bilge Yilmaz — that are used by private equity managers today. Case studies are current, relevant, and designed to maximize peer and faculty interaction.

During this program, you will have an opportunity to hear firsthand from Wharton alumni who are experts in the private equity space. As guest speakers, they will discuss their backgrounds and experiences, as well as their perspectives on the PE industry and the current economy.

Small-group work will provide an opportunity to apply new knowledge to a variety of private equity deals. Teamwork on case studies will expose participants to both the mechanics and art of the deal through a real-world lens. This approach will ensure that they understand the key drivers in the private equity market, differences between funds’ strategies, and how those strategies can play out for investors.

Session topics include:

• Fund Structure
• The Leveraged Buyout Model
• Deal Origination, Transaction, and Execution
• Value Creation and Operational Improvement
• Advanced and Best Practices in Private Equity
• Commercial Due Diligence
• The Limited Partners’ Perspective
• Growth Equity
• Middle-Market Private Equity
• Distressed Private Equity
• DCF Valuation in Emerging Markets
• Private Equity in Emerging Markets

Listen to the Audio Clip:

Private Equity Professor Bilge Yilmaz and Mitchell Hollin, WG’89, appeared on Wharton Business Radio, SiriusXM. Listen to this extract of an interview where they talked about Private Equity: Investing and Creating Value.

Convince Your Supervisor

Here’s a justification letter you can edit and send to your supervisor to help you make the case for attending this Wharton program.

Due to our application review period, applications submitted after 12:00 p.m. ET on Friday for programs beginning the following Monday may not be processed in time to grant admission. Applicants will be contacted by a member of our Client Relations Team to discuss options for future programs and dates.

Who Should Attend

Private Equity: Investing and Creating Value is designed for institutional investors as well as investment professionals aspiring to be better private equity managers. A minimum of three years of investment industry experience is recommended. This program will enable participants to better understand opportunities and strategies, and develop their toolkit to be effective in investing in private equities.

The roles and job titles of participants might include:

• Chief investment officers and asset managers responsible for a firm’s portfolio
• Institutional investors with an interest in private equity funds
• Entrepreneurs in the process of receiving and/or structuring capital funds
• Investment consultants, accountants, family office representatives, and private bankers
• Actuaries and quantitative analysts
• Investor relations and investment professionals in private equity
• Investors in private equity, venture capital, and distressed assets

Fluency in English, written and spoken, is required for participation in Wharton Executive Education programs unless otherwise indicated.

Participant Profile

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Group Enrollment

To further leverage the value and impact of this program, we encourage companies to send cross-functional teams of executives to Wharton. We offer group enrollment benefits to companies sending four or more participants.