Mastering Private Equity: Transformation via Venture Capital, Minority Investments & Buyouts
Second Edition
By Claudia Zeisberger, Bowen White, and Michael Prahl
Due to be published 19th June 2025 by Wiley
Hardcover and e-book, priced £64.95/ US$82.95
ISBN: 9781394310470
Mastering Private Equity: Transformation via Venture Capital, Minority Investments & Buyouts is the definitive guide to private equity for investors, finance professionals, students and business owners looking to engage with private equity firms or invest in private equity funds.
Originally published in 2017, this Second Edition has been fully updated to reflect the current state of the industry, the latest market data and the innovations reshaping the private capital industry. Written with a professional audience in mind, it is a valuable and unique reference for investors, finance professionals, students and business owners looking to engage with PE firms or to invest in PE funds.
From deal sourcing to exit, leveraged buyouts to responsible investing, operational value creation to risk management, the book systematically distils the essence of private equity into core concepts and explains in detail the dynamics of venture capital, growth equity and buyout transactions.
Containing a foreword by Henry Kravis and George Roberts - Co-Founders and Co-Executive Chairmen of KKR - along with special guest comments by senior PE professionals from a wide range of firms, and insights from leading academics, this new edition of Mastering Private Equity continues to offer a clear and concise reference for the industry expert and a step-by-step guide for students and casual observers of the industry, providing a deep dive into private markets and the trends driving the industry’s sustained growth, including:
- The rise of Private Debt, accelerated by a high-interest-rate environment
- The Democratization of Private Capital, connecting high-net-worth individuals to the asset class, and
- The expansion of the Secondaries Market, unlocking liquidity for investors
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About the authors:
Claudia Zeisberger, Senior Affiliate Professor of Entrepreneurship & Family Enterprise Founder, Global Private Equity Initiative (GPEI) INSEAD
Professor Claudia Zeisberger is one of the best networked figures in the private capital space, combining her academic expertise with over 35 years of experience in financial markets. As an advisor and angel investor, she partners with boards and leadership teams to drive growth and scale startups. A professor at INSEAD, a top-ranked business school with campuses in Singapore, France, the US and the UAE, she is a global citizen, an award-winning author and a trusted advisor to corporations, institutional investors and governments. In her role as a “Professional Devil’s Advocate,” she frequently provides independent perspectives on investment and risk-related decisions.
Professor Zeisberger is a founding member of KKR’s Sustainability Expert Advisory Council (SEAC) and serves on the advisory boards of Standard Chartered Ventures (SCV), Linzor Capital and KaizenVest. She also works with select non-profits as a volunteer board advisor and is the CEO of 5 Quadrants, a research and risk management advisory firm.
At INSEAD, she created and leads Managing Corporate Turnarounds, a highly regarded MBA elective featuring a bootcamp-style online simulation centered on an iconic car brand’s struggle with bankruptcy. She also teaches INSEAD’s Risk Management elective, a natural extension of her work in corporate restructuring and private capital. Recognized for her exceptional teaching, she has received INSEAD’s Best Teaching Award for her Private Equity elective for three consecutive years and has been honored with the Dean’s Commendation for Excellence in MBA Teaching annually since 2008.
Michael Prahl, Partner, New Industrial Partners Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship & Family Enterprise, INSEAD
Michael Prahl is the co-founder of New Industrial Partners, an industrial holding focused on acquiring majority stakes in founder-led SMEs in the industrial and industrial technology sectors, supporting them with their growth strategy and succession process—the number one challenge for founders. Michael has spent almost 25 years in PE, starting in venture capital during the dotcom boom. He worked for many years at Apax Partners, a global PE firm, in Europe, the US and Asia, completing deals including regular buyouts, public to privates, PIPEs, minority investments and privatizations.
An INSEAD alumnus, Michael served as the first Executive Director of the school’s PE Center, with research interests in the areas of co-investment, family offices and market entry strategies and portfolio allocation for limited partners. An Adjunct Professor at INSEAD, Michael has been teaching the popular MBA Leveraged Buyout elective for over a decade now and regularly participates as a lecturer in the Executive MBA program.
Bowen White
Bowen White has spent his 20-year career in alternative investments, the last 6 years of which he led the quantitative and risk management function in Singapore at Partners Group—a global private markets investment manager. He has deep functional expertise in multi-asset class private market risk and portfolio management and contributed to top-down investment strategy while with the firm. Prior to Partners Group, Bowen served as the Center Director of INSEAD’s PE Center and started his career in the New York hedge fund industry in trading and business development roles.
An INSEAD alumnus and long-time resident of Singapore, Bowen maintains his links to academia as an Adjunct Professor at Singapore Management University, teaching a course on Entrepreneurial Finance. He continues to conduct research in the alternatives space, with interests including Total Portfolio Approach at institutional investors and risk management systems in the hedge fund industry.
The Second Edition of Mastering Private Equity will be available wherever books and ebooks are sold
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About Wiley
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