Knowledge Base
Portfolio construction, risk management, and the investment frameworks that work when the stakes are high enough to matter. Strategy over speculation.
63 articles in this category — page 3 of 6
The developed vs emerging markets allocation question is one of the few portfolio decisions where getting it wrong by 10 percentage points can cost a $10M portfolio hundreds of thousands in either foregone returns or unnecessary volatility over a decade. The answer depends on your currency exposure,
Sovereign wealth fund private equity has become one of the most consequential forces in global capital markets. The world's largest SWFs collectively manage assets well in excess of $7 trillion, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, and private equity now represents a growing slice of th
Private equity firms filing with the SEC most commonly use SIC code 6726 (Investment Offices, Not Elsewhere Classified). You will see this on Form D exempt offering filings, which PE funds submit when raising capital under Regulation D. NAICS 523910 is the modern equivalent. If you are evaluating an
Roark Capital is a Atlanta-based private equity firm managing roughly $60 billion in assets across consumer brands and franchise businesses. Founded in 2001 by Neal Aronson, a former executive at U.S. Franchise Systems, the firm has built one of the most concentrated and deliberate franchise-focused
A private equity audit is an independent examination of a fund's financial statements, valuation methodologies, fee calculations, and compliance practices, conducted by a PCAOB-registered accounting firm. For LPs committing $1M to $5M+ to a single fund, the audit report is one of the few independent
Private equity financial statements are the primary tool LPs have for evaluating whether a GP is generating real returns or just collecting fees. Understanding how to read them, what the key metrics mean, and where the numbers can mislead you is not optional at the allocation sizes most FatFIRE inve
Private equity underwriting is the analytical process by which a fund evaluates, prices, and structures an investment before committing capital. If you are sitting on the LP side of that table, understanding how that process works is not academic. It directly determines whether the fund you backed w
Add-on acquisitions are the engine behind most of what PE firms actually do today. A platform company, typically acquired at a premium multiple, serves as the foundation. The firm then bolts on smaller businesses at lower multiples, consolidating them into the platform and exiting the combined entit
Franchise venture capital directs institutional capital into established franchise systems rather than unproven startups. The core distinction is underwriting philosophy: traditional VC prices in the possibility of total loss on most positions, expecting a few outliers to carry the fund. Franchise-f
Rothschild private equity sits inside one of the oldest financial names in the world, but that lineage can obscure a critical distinction. Rothschild & Co is primarily an M&A advisory firm. Its Merchant Banking division, the direct investment arm, manages capital across private equity, private debt,
Quality factor investing is a systematic strategy that screens for companies with durable profitability, low financial leverage, and stable earnings growth, then overweights them in a portfolio. The goal is better risk-adjusted returns over a full market cycle, not just in bull markets.
Moat investing is the practice of buying and holding companies with durable structural advantages that prevent competitors from eroding their returns on capital. Traditional value investing asks "is this cheap?" Moat investing asks "will this still be earning above its cost of capital in 15 years?"