a) What are the benefits of private equity? What are the drawbacks? (2pts) Benefits of Private Equity - Higher Returns Potential: Private equity investments often aim for higher returns compared to public market investments. This is due to the ability to implement strategic improvements and operational efficiencies within portfolio companies. Control Over Investments: PE firms typically hold significant control over their investments, allowing them to drive change and improve performance directly. b) How should the investment committee think about returns and risk? (2pts) Risk-Adjusted Returns: The committee should evaluate the potential returns of investments in the context of the risks they carry. This involves understanding the Sharpe ratio or similar metrics that provide insights into the returns per unit of risk. Benchmarking: Comparing potential investments against relevant benchmarks can help the committee gauge performance expectations. For private equity, this c) What are the stages of private equity and why is it important for your investment committee to understand these? (2pts) d) What are the issues with modeling PE in Mean Variance Optimization (MVO) and how can they be overcome? (2pt)