Private Company Valuations by Mutual Funds

Review of Finance, Vol. 27, No. 2, 2023

64 Pages Posted: 8 Nov 2017 Last revised: 7 Apr 2023

See all articles by Vikas Agarwal

Vikas Agarwal

Georgia State University; University of Cologne - Centre for Financial Research (CFR)

Brad M. Barber

University of California, Davis

Si Cheng

Syracuse University - Department of Finance

Allaudeen Hameed

National University of Singapore (NUS) - Department of Finance

Ayako Yasuda

University of California, Davis - Graduate School of Management

Date Written: April 20, 2022

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.

Keywords: Mutual funds, Venture capital, Private valuation, Stale prices, Financial fragility

JEL Classification: G23, G24, G32, M13

Suggested Citation

Agarwal, Vikas and Barber, Brad M. and Cheng, Si and Hameed, Allaudeen and Yasuda, Ayako, Private Company Valuations by Mutual Funds (April 20, 2022). Review of Finance, Vol. 27, No. 2, 2023, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3066449 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3066449

Vikas Agarwal

Georgia State University ( email )

35 Broad Street,
Suite 1221
Atlanta, GA 30303-3083
United States
404-413-7326 (Phone)
404-413-7312 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://vagarwal.gsucreate.org/

University of Cologne - Centre for Financial Research (CFR) ( email )

Albertus-Magnus Platz
Cologne, 50923
Germany

Brad M. Barber

University of California, Davis ( email )

Graduate School of Management
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
United States
530-752-0512 (Phone)
530-752-2924 (Fax)

Si Cheng

Syracuse University - Department of Finance ( email )

Whitman School of Management
721 University Avenue
Syracuse, NY 13244
United States

HOME PAGE: http://si-cheng.net/

Allaudeen Hameed

National University of Singapore (NUS) - Department of Finance ( email )

Mochtar Riady Building
15 Kent Ridge Drive
Singapore, 119245
Singapore

HOME PAGE: http://bizfaculty.nus.edu.sg/faculty-details/?profId=1

Ayako Yasuda (Contact Author)

University of California, Davis - Graduate School of Management ( email )

One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
United States
530-752-0775 (Phone)
530-752-2924 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.ayakoyasuda.com

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