Private Company Valuations by Mutual Funds*

B-Tier
Journal: Review of Finance
Year: 2023
Volume: 27
Issue: 2
Pages: 693-738

Authors (5)

Vikas Agarwal (not in RePEc) Brad Barber (University of California-Davis) Si Cheng (not in RePEc) Allaudeen Hameed (not in RePEc) Ayako Yasuda (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

0.402 = (α=2.01 / 5 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Mutual fund families set and report values of their private startup holdings, which affect the fund net asset value (NAV) at which investors buy/sell fund shares. We test three hypotheses related to the valuation practice: (i) information cost/access, (ii) litigation risk, and (iii) strategic NAV management. Consistent with (i), families with larger PE holdings and/or stronger information access update valuations more frequently in the absence of public information releases, their updates co-move less with other families, and their fund returns jump less at follow-on financings. We find no support for hypotheses (ii) or (iii). We also find that high-PE-exposure funds are subject to greater financial fragility.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:oup:revfin:v:27:y:2023:i:2:p:693-738.
Journal Field
Finance
Author Count
5
Added to Database
2026-01-24