Thesis advisor: Pierluigi Balduzzi / Employing a novel data set of portfolio weights from 1997 to 2006, the performance of taxable bond mutual funds is studied. The timing ability of fund managers is examined considering different asset allocation choices such as asset class, credit quality allocation, and portfolio maturity decisions. I show that active managers engage in strategies of rotating their portfolios across fixed-income sectors and bond characteristics. Some bond funds exhibit successful timing ability by adopting these strategies. Comparing fund returns plus expenses and transaction costs with the returns of a portfolio that is invested in the previously disclosed holdings, I document that active managers exhibit some ability to select securities that deliver better returns than the securities in the indices. In particular, on average, active managers generate gross returns of 1% per annum over the benchmark portfolio constructed using past holdings. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Finance.

I examine mutual fund performance using three different perspectives. I begin with Mutual Fund Holdings Batting Average, in which I analyze mutual fund performance through the creation of a new variable using funds’ stock holdings information. My results show that this new variable, Holdings Batting Average, is related to the future performance of managers. My next chapter, Quarterly Mutual Fund Holdings Information and Window Dressing examines two different approaches of using holdings information. I recommend that fund holdings reported at the beginning of the quarter are more related to actual mutual fund performance than holdings disclosed at the end of the quarter. In my last chapter, Morningstar’s Upside and Downside Capture Ratios¸ I test these two ratios that are being reported by Morningstar. I find that these measures do not predict outperformance, but appear to be related to future fund flows.

The literature indicates that private equity backed companies generate attractive returns on capital fortheir investors. These insights are intriguing and raise the question of what private equity firms do toachieve such performance as the majority owners of these companies. Through a qualitative multiple casestudy conducted through interviews with significant actors of two Swedish private equity firms, we ask;how can Swedish private equity firms conducting buyouts improve the operating performance for theirportfolio holdings through active ownership? By investigating chosen private equity actors we recognizedifferent value driving functions that align with the theoretical framing of the phenomenon. The findings ofthis paper highlight that the concepts’ structure, networking, and capital management can be used tocaptivate the active ownership role in driving portfolio company performance.