Avsikten med denna studie är att undersöka vilka motiv, påverkande faktorer och synsätt små IT-företag har när de väljer att ta in riskkapital som finansiering. Vi har utgått från tidigare forskning inom området för att identifiera vilka motiv och påverkande faktorer som kan förekomma och utifrån dessa byggt upp grunden för vår studie. Kapitaltillskott är det som naturligt känns som det mest primära motivet, vilket även vår studie har visat men det finns ändå en önskan om annan värdetillförsel i form av affärskompetens, nätverk och kontakter. Dessa önskemål har dock inte varit några huvudsakliga motiv för att inleda samarbete med riskkapitalisterna utan de kan mer ses som positiva sekundära motiv. Motiven kapitaltillskott och tillförsel av affärskompetens samt nätverk och kontakter blir i sin tur påverkade av ett antal faktorer såsom företagets och produktens livscykelfas, ägande och kontroll, produkt och marknad samt ledningens erfarenhet och kompetens. Alla dessa både inre och yttre faktorer är mer eller mindre sammankopplade med varandra och påverkar beslutsfattarnas val om de ska ta in riskkapital eller välja någon annan form av externt kapital. Studien omfattar fyra små IT-företag och trots att företagen utifrån sett är lika genom att de alla har en eller flera unika IT-produkter, så har de ändå delvis olika synsätt på nyttan och effekten av finansiering med riskkapital. Två av företagen är totalt sett mer negativa medan två av dem är mer positiva. Av de två som är positiva är det bara det ena som idag har riskkapital och detta beror då på att alla ägarna inte har haft samma synsätt.

Over the course of the past several decades the benefits of redeveloping brownfields have been widely recognized. Actions have been taken to foster sustainable redevelopment of brownfields by government, policy makers and stakeholders across the world. However, redevelopments encounter great challenges and risks related to environmental and non-environmental issues. In this work, we intend to build a comprehensive and practical framework to evaluate the hydrogeological and financial risks involved during redevelopment and to ensure developers reserve sufficient capital to cover unexpected future costs within the guarantee period. Punitive damages, which contribute to these costs, are in this thesis solely associated with the cost of repossessing a house within a development should the indoor air concentration of TCE exceed the regulatory limit at a later time. The uncertainties associated with brownfield remediation have been among the barriers to brownfield redevelopment. This is mainly caused by the lack of knowledge about a site’s environmental condition. In order to alleviate uncertainties and to better understand the contaminant transport process in the subsurface, numerical simulations have been conducted to investigate the role of controlling parameters in determining the fate and transport of volatile organic compounds originating from a NAPL source zone located below the water table in the subsurface. In the first part of this thesis, the numerical model CompFlow Bio is used on a hypothesized three-dimensional problem geometry where multiple residential dwellings are built. The simulations indicate that uncertainty in the simulated indoor air concentration is sensitive to heterogeneity in the permeability structure of a stratigraphically continuous aquifer with uncertainty defined as the probability of exceeding a regulatory limit. Houses which are laterally offset from the groundwater plume are less affected by vapour intrusion due to limited transverse horizontal flux of TCE within the groundwater plume in agreement with the ASTM (2008) guidance. Within this uncertainty framework, we show that the Johnson and Ettinger (1991) model generates overly-conservative results and contributes to the exclusion zone being much further away from the groundwater plume relative to either CompFlow Bio or ASTM (2008). The probability of failure (or the probability of exceedence of the regulatory limit) is defined and calculated for further study. Due to uncertainties resulting from parameter estimation and model prediction, a methodology is introduced to incorporate field measurements into the initial estimates from the numerical model in order to improve prediction accuracy. The principle idea of this methodology is to combine the geostatistical tool kriging with the statistical data assimilation method Kalman filter to evaluate the worth and effectiveness of data in a quantitative way in order to select an optimal sampling scenario. This methodology is also used to infer whether one of the houses located adjacent to affected houses has indoor air problems based on the measurements subject to the observation that the affected house is monitored and has problems and developers have liability if a problem occurs. In this part of the study, different sampling scenarios are set up in terms of permeability (1 – 80 boreholes) and soil gas concentration (2, 4 and 7 samples) and three metrics are defined and computed as a criterion for comparison. Financing brownfield redevelopment is often viewed as a major barrier to the development process mainly due to risks and liabilities associated with brownfields. The common way of managing the risk is to transfer it to insurers by purchasing insurance coverage. This work provides two different strategies to price the risk, which is equivalent to an insurance premium. It is intended to give an instructive insight into project planning and feasibility studies during the decision-making process of a brownfield project. The two strategies of risk capital valuation are an actuarial premium calculation principle and a martingale premium calculation principle accounting for the hydrogeological and financial uncertainties faced in a project. The data used for valuation are the posterior estimates of data assimilation obtained from the results of different sampling scenarios. The cost-benefit-risk analysis is employed as a basis to construct the objective function in order to find the least cost among sampling scenarios for the project. As a result, it shows that drilling seven boreholes to extract permeability data and taking soil gas samplings in four locations or seven locations alternatively give the minimum total cost. Sensitivity analysis of some influential parameters (the safety loading factors and the possible methods to calculate the probability of failure) is performed to determine their roles of importance in the risk capital valuation. This framework can be applied to provide guidance for other risk-based environmental projects.

Brownfields redevelopment has been encouraged by governments or the real estate market because of economic, social and environmental benefits. However, uncertainties in contaminated land redevelopment may cause massive investment risk and need to be managed so that contaminated land redevelopment is facilitated. This study was designed to address hydrogeological as well as economic uncertainty in a hypothetical contaminated land redevelopment project and manage the risk from these uncertainties through the integration of the hydrogeological and economic uncertainties. Hydrogeological uncertainty is derived from incomplete site information, including aquifer heterogeneity, and must be assessed with scientific expertise, given the short history of redevelopment projects and their unique hydrogeological characteristics. Hydrogeological uncertainty has not yet been incorporated in one framework with the economic uncertainty that has been relatively well observed in financial markets. Two cases of Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (NAPL) contamination were simulated using a physically-based hydrogeological model to address hydrogeological uncertainty: one concerns the effect of an ethanol spill on a light NAPL (LNAPL) contaminated area in the vadose zone, and the other is regarding the vapour phase intrusion of volatile organic compounds, in particular, Trichloroethylene (TCE), a dense NAPL (DNAPL), into indoor air through a variably saturated heterogeneous aquifer. The first simulation replicated experimental observations in the laboratory, such as the capillary fringe depressing and the NAPL pool remobilizing and collecting in a reduced area exhibiting higher saturations than observed prior to an ethanol injection. However, the data gap, in particular, on the chemical properties between the model and the experiment caused the uncertainty in the model simulation. The second NAPL simulation has been performed based on a hypothetical scenario where new dwellings in a redeveloped area have the potential risk of vapour phase intrusion from a subsurface source into indoor air because remediation or foundation design might fail. The simulation results indicated that the aquifer heterogeneity seemed the most significant factor controlling the indoor air exposure risk from a TCE source in the saturated zone. Then, the exposure risk was quantified using Monte Carlo simulations with 50 statistically equivalent heterogeneous aquifer permeability fields. The quantified risk (probability) represents the hydrogeological uncertainty in the scenario and gives the information on loss occurrence intensity of redevelopment failure. Probability of failure (or loss occurrence intensity) was integrated with cost of failure (or loss magnitude) to evaluate the risk capital in the hypothetical brownfields redevelopment project. The term “risk capital” is adopted from financial literature and is the capital you can lose from high risk investment. Cost of failure involves economic uncertainty and can be defined based on a developer’s financial agreement with new dwellers to prevent litigation in the case of certain events, such as an environmental event where indoor air concentrations of pollutants exceed regulatory limits during periodic inspections. The developer makes such a financial agreement with new dwellers because new dwellings have been constructed founded on flawed site information, and municipalities may require it if a land use planning approval is required. An agreement was presumed that the developer would repurchase the affected houses from new dwellers immediately, if indoor air contamination exceeded the regulatory limit. Furthermore, the developer would remediate any remaining contamination, demolish the affected houses and build new houses if they were worth investing in. With this financial plan assumed, the stochastic housing price, stochastic inflation rate and stochastic interest rate have been considered to cause the uncertainty in the cost of failure, and the information on these stochastic variables was obtained from the financial market due to its long history of observations. This research reviewed appropriate risk capital valuation methods for hydrogeologists to apply straightforwardly to their projects, with integrating probability of failure (hydrogeological uncertainty) and cost of failure (economic uncertainty). The risk capital is essentially the probability of failure times the cost of failure with safety loading added to compensate investors against hydrogeological and financial uncertainty. Fair market prices of risk capital have been valuated using financial mathematics and actuarial premium calculations, and each method has a specific safety loading term to reflect investors’ level of risk aversion. Risk capital results indicated that the price of the risk capital was much more sensitive to hydrogeological uncertainty than financial uncertainty. Developers can manage the risk capital by saving a contingency fee for future events or paying an insurance premium, given that the price of this risk capital is the price of a contingent claim, subsequent to failure in remediation or in foundation design, and equivalent to an environmental insurance premium if there is an insurance company to indemnify the liability for the developer. The optimal framework of investment strategy in brownfields redevelopment can be built by linkage of addressing and integrating uncertainties and valuating risk capital from the uncertainties. This framework involves balancing the costs associated with each step while maximizing a net profit from land redevelopment. The optimal investment strategy, such as if or when to remediate or redevelop and to what degree, is given when the future price of the land minus time and material costs as well as the contingency fee or insurance premium maximizes a net profit.

Brownfields redevelopment has been encouraged by governments or the real estate market because of economic, social and environmental benefits. However, uncertainties in contaminated land redevelopment may cause massive investment risk and need to be managed so that contaminated land redevelopment is facilitated. This study was designed to address hydrogeological as well as economic uncertainty in a hypothetical contaminated land redevelopment project and manage the risk from these uncertainties through the integration of the hydrogeological and economic uncertainties. Hydrogeological uncertainty is derived from incomplete site information, including aquifer heterogeneity, and must be assessed with scientific expertise, given the short history of redevelopment projects and their unique hydrogeological characteristics. Hydrogeological uncertainty has not yet been incorporated in one framework with the economic uncertainty that has been relatively well observed in financial markets. Two cases of Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (NAPL) contamination were simulated using a physically-based hydrogeological model to address hydrogeological uncertainty: one concerns the effect of an ethanol spill on a light NAPL (LNAPL) contaminated area in the vadose zone, and the other is regarding the vapour phase intrusion of volatile organic compounds, in particular, Trichloroethylene (TCE), a dense NAPL (DNAPL), into indoor air through a variably saturated heterogeneous aquifer. The first simulation replicated experimental observations in the laboratory, such as the capillary fringe depressing and the NAPL pool remobilizing and collecting in a reduced area exhibiting higher saturations than observed prior to an ethanol injection. However, the data gap, in particular, on the chemical properties between the model and the experiment caused the uncertainty in the model simulation. The second NAPL simulation has been performed based on a hypothetical scenario where new dwellings in a redeveloped area have the potential risk of vapour phase intrusion from a subsurface source into indoor air because remediation or foundation design might fail. The simulation results indicated that the aquifer heterogeneity seemed the most significant factor controlling the indoor air exposure risk from a TCE source in the saturated zone. Then, the exposure risk was quantified using Monte Carlo simulations with 50 statistically equivalent heterogeneous aquifer permeability fields. The quantified risk (probability) represents the hydrogeological uncertainty in the scenario and gives the information on loss occurrence intensity of redevelopment failure. Probability of failure (or loss occurrence intensity) was integrated with cost of failure (or loss magnitude) to evaluate the risk capital in the hypothetical brownfields redevelopment project. The term “risk capital” is adopted from financial literature and is the capital you can lose from high risk investment. Cost of failure involves economic uncertainty and can be defined based on a developer’s financial agreement with new dwellers to prevent litigation in the case of certain events, such as an environmental event where indoor air concentrations of pollutants exceed regulatory limits during periodic inspections. The developer makes such a financial agreement with new dwellers because new dwellings have been constructed founded on flawed site information, and municipalities may require it if a land use planning approval is required. An agreement was presumed that the developer would repurchase the affected houses from new dwellers immediately, if indoor air contamination exceeded the regulatory limit. Furthermore, the developer would remediate any remaining contamination, demolish the affected houses and build new houses if they were worth investing in. With this financial plan assumed, the stochastic housing price, stochastic inflation rate and stochastic interest rate have been considered to cause the uncertainty in the cost of failure, and the information on these stochastic variables was obtained from the financial market due to its long history of observations. This research reviewed appropriate risk capital valuation methods for hydrogeologists to apply straightforwardly to their projects, with integrating probability of failure (hydrogeological uncertainty) and cost of failure (economic uncertainty). The risk capital is essentially the probability of failure times the cost of failure with safety loading added to compensate investors against hydrogeological and financial uncertainty. Fair market prices of risk capital have been valuated using financial mathematics and actuarial premium calculations, and each method has a specific safety loading term to reflect investors’ level of risk aversion. Risk capital results indicated that the price of the risk capital was much more sensitive to hydrogeological uncertainty than financial uncertainty. Developers can manage the risk capital by saving a contingency fee for future events or paying an insurance premium, given that the price of this risk capital is the price of a contingent claim, subsequent to failure in remediation or in foundation design, and equivalent to an environmental insurance premium if there is an insurance company to indemnify the liability for the developer. The optimal framework of investment strategy in brownfields redevelopment can be built by linkage of addressing and integrating uncertainties and valuating risk capital from the uncertainties. This framework involves balancing the costs associated with each step while maximizing a net profit from land redevelopment. The optimal investment strategy, such as if or when to remediate or redevelop and to what degree, is given when the future price of the land minus time and material costs as well as the contingency fee or insurance premium maximizes a net profit.

Over the course of the past several decades the benefits of redeveloping brownfields have been widely recognized. Actions have been taken to foster sustainable redevelopment of brownfields by government, policy makers and stakeholders across the world. However, redevelopments encounter great challenges and risks related to environmental and non-environmental issues. In this work, we intend to build a comprehensive and practical framework to evaluate the hydrogeological and financial risks involved during redevelopment and to ensure developers reserve sufficient capital to cover unexpected future costs within the guarantee period. Punitive damages, which contribute to these costs, are in this thesis solely associated with the cost of repossessing a house within a development should the indoor air concentration of TCE exceed the regulatory limit at a later time. The uncertainties associated with brownfield remediation have been among the barriers to brownfield redevelopment. This is mainly caused by the lack of knowledge about a site’s environmental condition. In order to alleviate uncertainties and to better understand the contaminant transport process in the subsurface, numerical simulations have been conducted to investigate the role of controlling parameters in determining the fate and transport of volatile organic compounds originating from a NAPL source zone located below the water table in the subsurface. In the first part of this thesis, the numerical model CompFlow Bio is used on a hypothesized three-dimensional problem geometry where multiple residential dwellings are built. The simulations indicate that uncertainty in the simulated indoor air concentration is sensitive to heterogeneity in the permeability structure of a stratigraphically continuous aquifer with uncertainty defined as the probability of exceeding a regulatory limit. Houses which are laterally offset from the groundwater plume are less affected by vapour intrusion due to limited transverse horizontal flux of TCE within the groundwater plume in agreement with the ASTM (2008) guidance. Within this uncertainty framework, we show that the Johnson and Ettinger (1991) model generates overly-conservative results and contributes to the exclusion zone being much further away from the groundwater plume relative to either CompFlow Bio or ASTM (2008). The probability of failure (or the probability of exceedence of the regulatory limit) is defined and calculated for further study. Due to uncertainties resulting from parameter estimation and model prediction, a methodology is introduced to incorporate field measurements into the initial estimates from the numerical model in order to improve prediction accuracy. The principle idea of this methodology is to combine the geostatistical tool kriging with the statistical data assimilation method Kalman filter to evaluate the worth and effectiveness of data in a quantitative way in order to select an optimal sampling scenario. This methodology is also used to infer whether one of the houses located adjacent to affected houses has indoor air problems based on the measurements subject to the observation that the affected house is monitored and has problems and developers have liability if a problem occurs. In this part of the study, different sampling scenarios are set up in terms of permeability (1 – 80 boreholes) and soil gas concentration (2, 4 and 7 samples) and three metrics are defined and computed as a criterion for comparison. Financing brownfield redevelopment is often viewed as a major barrier to the development process mainly due to risks and liabilities associated with brownfields. The common way of managing the risk is to transfer it to insurers by purchasing insurance coverage. This work provides two different strategies to price the risk, which is equivalent to an insurance premium. It is intended to give an instructive insight into project planning and feasibility studies during the decision-making process of a brownfield project. The two strategies of risk capital valuation are an actuarial premium calculation principle and a martingale premium calculation principle accounting for the hydrogeological and financial uncertainties faced in a project. The data used for valuation are the posterior estimates of data assimilation obtained from the results of different sampling scenarios. The cost-benefit-risk analysis is employed as a basis to construct the objective function in order to find the least cost among sampling scenarios for the project. As a result, it shows that drilling seven boreholes to extract permeability data and taking soil gas samplings in four locations or seven locations alternatively give the minimum total cost. Sensitivity analysis of some influential parameters (the safety loading factors and the possible methods to calculate the probability of failure) is performed to determine their roles of importance in the risk capital valuation. This framework can be applied to provide guidance for other risk-based environmental projects.

O presente trabalho estuda as alternativas de financiamento do processo de criação de valor de uma empresa, com ênfase na opção de capital de risco (venture capital). O estudo está dividido em três capítulos. O primeiro apresenta, com base nas teorias de finanças, o processo de tomada de decisão de financiamento, podendo este ser via capital próprio ou dívida, sendo apresentadas as principais opções destas duas modalidades gerais. O segundo capítulo aborda a evolução histórica, a forma de funcionamento e os principais mercados da indústria de capital de risco no mundo. O terceiro capítulo efetua análise de dados para um período de 15 anos de uma gestora privada, onde se avaliou, para uma amostra de 24 empresas de diversos setores, qual é a curva de maturação dos investimentos da gestora. Verificou-se que, principalmente para as pequenas e médias empresas, o processo de financiamento é um elemento de grande dificuldade na construção e crescimento das suas operações, com prazos mais longos de maturação. Ou seja, como principal resultado, o estudo dos dados dos investimentos realizados pela empresa gestora privada no Brasil sugere que o processo de criação de valor destas empresas demanda um tempo adicional ao que tradicionalmente se espera. Diante do crescimento da indústria de capital de risco no mundo, esta modalidade de financiamento pode apresentar maior disseminação e escolha por esta alternativa pelas pequenas e médias empresas, tendo em consideração a questão da curva de maturação mais dilatada. / The present research studies the financing alternatives of the process of creating value to a company, with emphasis on the option of venture capital. The study is divided into three chapters. The first presents, based on the theories of finance, the process of financing decision making, and it may be via equity or debt, presenting the main options of these two general procedures. The second chapter discusses the historical evolution, the form of operation and the main markets of the risk capital industry in the world. The third chapter performs data analysis for a period of 15 years of a private holding company, which evaluated, for a sample of 24 companies in various sectors, what is the maturation curve of the investments of the managing body. It was found that, especially for small and medium sized enterprises, the funding process is a key element of great difficulty in construction and growth of its operations, with longer deadlines of maturation. In other words, as main results, the study of the data of the investments made by the private company in Brazil suggests that the process of creation of value of these companies demand an additional time to which is traditionally expected. Before the growth of the venture capital industry in the world, this modality of financing may present greater dissemination and choice for this alternative by small and medium enterprises, taking into account the issue of maturation curve more dilated.

O presente trabalho estuda as alternativas de financiamento do processo de criação de valor de uma empresa, com ênfase na opção de capital de risco (venture capital). O estudo está dividido em três capítulos. O primeiro apresenta, com base nas teorias de finanças, o processo de tomada de decisão de financiamento, podendo este ser via capital próprio ou dívida, sendo apresentadas as principais opções destas duas modalidades gerais. O segundo capítulo aborda a evolução histórica, a forma de funcionamento e os principais mercados da indústria de capital de risco no mundo. O terceiro capítulo efetua análise de dados para um período de 15 anos de uma gestora privada, onde se avaliou, para uma amostra de 24 empresas de diversos setores, qual é a curva de maturação dos investimentos da gestora. Verificou-se que, principalmente para as pequenas e médias empresas, o processo de financiamento é um elemento de grande dificuldade na construção e crescimento das suas operações, com prazos mais longos de maturação. Ou seja, como principal resultado, o estudo dos dados dos investimentos realizados pela empresa gestora privada no Brasil sugere que o processo de criação de valor destas empresas demanda um tempo adicional ao que tradicionalmente se espera. Diante do crescimento da indústria de capital de risco no mundo, esta modalidade de financiamento pode apresentar maior disseminação e escolha por esta alternativa pelas pequenas e médias empresas, tendo em consideração a questão da curva de maturação mais dilatada. / The present research studies the financing alternatives of the process of creating value to a company, with emphasis on the option of venture capital. The study is divided into three chapters. The first presents, based on the theories of finance, the process of financing decision making, and it may be via equity or debt, presenting the main options of these two general procedures. The second chapter discusses the historical evolution, the form of operation and the main markets of the risk capital industry in the world. The third chapter performs data analysis for a period of 15 years of a private holding company, which evaluated, for a sample of 24 companies in various sectors, what is the maturation curve of the investments of the managing body. It was found that, especially for small and medium sized enterprises, the funding process is a key element of great difficulty in construction and growth of its operations, with longer deadlines of maturation. In other words, as main results, the study of the data of the investments made by the private company in Brazil suggests that the process of creation of value of these companies demand an additional time to which is traditionally expected. Before the growth of the venture capital industry in the world, this modality of financing may present greater dissemination and choice for this alternative by small and medium enterprises, taking into account the issue of maturation curve more dilated.

O sucesso alcançado pela indústria de Private Equity e Venture Capital (PE/VC) no fomento ao empreendedorismo e na dinamização do setor empresarial norte-americano encorajou diversos países a importar este modelo vencedor de intermediação financeira. Entretanto, a atividade de PE/VC foi criada para desempenhar sob o ambiente institucional norte-americano, fazendo com que estudiosos tais como Gompers e Lerner (1999) levantassem dúvida sobre o sucesso na implantação deste modelo em outros países. Para verificar como a atividade de PE/VC se molda segundo o ambiente, este trabalho conduz um estudo empírico com todas as 65 organizações gestoras de PE/VC com escritórios no Brasil. A pesquisa foi realizada ao final de 2004 e obteve 100% de resposta. A análise foca no tamanho e a na macroestrutura da indústria. Os resultados são plenamente representativos e revelam um setor de PE/VC com tamanho modesto, bastante limitado pelo ambiente econômico-institucional, que prejudica a realização de negócios, embora ofereça oportunidades de investimento que supram as insuficiências do país em termos de infra-estrutura, segurança etc. Como principal resultado, o trabalho identifica similaridades e diferenças do modelo brasileiro de PE/VC em relação ao modelo vigente nos EUA. Os principais pontos em comum são: (i) predominam as organizações independentes que gerenciam recursos de investidores institucionais; (ii) o capital é concentrado regionalmente e em poucas organizações gestoras; (iii) os investimentos tendem a ser feitos próximos às organizações gestoras; (iv) os setores de software e TI são os mais procurados; (v) a qualificação dos gestores é similar a de seus pares internacionais. Por sua vez, as diferenças sugerem que o modelo tenha se adaptado ao novo ambiente institucional: (i) há tendência de investimento em empresas mais maduras, o que é compatível com o baixo nível de empreendedorismo de crescimento e elevada informalidade das pequenas empresas; (ii) O baixo numero de LBOs é compatível com a escassez e o alto custo do crédito; (iii) baixo grau de especialização dos gestores sugere poucas oportunidades de investimento em cada setor; (iv) concentração das organizações no centro financeiro do país sugere a busca de parceiros comerciais e compradores estratégicos para as empresas do portfolio (IPO é um mecanismo raramente utilizado); (v) a regulamentação reconhece o baixo grau de proteção dos investidores e obriga a utilização da arbitragem. Entre as diferenças encontradas, a pouca confiança que os investidores depositam nos gestores tende a se alterar conforme o setor adquire experiência e os gestores adquirem reputação. / The outstanding success attained by Private Equity and Venture Capital (PE/VC) in fostering the U.S. entrepreneurial sector has encouraged several countries to import it. However, PE/VC was tailored to perform in the American institutional environment. As Gompers and Lerner (1999) state, the degree to which the U.S. venture model will - or can - be successfully adapted to other countries is a particularly interesting question. To answer this question we conduct an empirical study with all the 65 PE/VC management firms with offices in Brazil. The survey was conducted at the end of 2004 and attained a response rate of 100%. For this reason the results are fully representative. The analysis aims at the industry's size and structure. Relates them to institutional factors. It reveals a PE/VC industry whose size is heavily limited by the Brazilian institutional idiosyncrasies. At the same time, Brazil's lack of transportation, energy and telecommunications' infrastructure and security provides opportunities for PE/VC type of investments. As a main finding, this work identifies differences and similarities between the American and the Brazilian PE/VC models. The similarities are: (i) PE/VC firms are mainly independent and manage capital from institutional investors; (ii) capital is heavily concentrated regionally as well as in few management firms; (iii) investments are made within a close range from management firms; (iv) software and IT are the preferred sectors; and (v) managers are highly qualified. The main differences suggest that the model has adapted to the new environment: (i) in line with a lack of high-expectation entrepreneurship, there is a tendency to invest in more advanced stages; (ii) since credit is scarce, few LBOs take place; (iii) lack of sector specialization suggests few opportunities within each sector; (iv) management firms concentration in the financial cluster suggest a quest for commercial partners and strategic buyers for portfolio companies (IPO is a quite rare exit mechanism); and (v) Brazilian PE/VC regulation recognizes the inefficiency of the legal system and obliges the use of arbitration. Among the differences, the lack of trust between investors and managers should change as the industry evolves and managers gain reputation.

Há distintos métodos matemáticos para o cálculo do capital mínimo de uma instituição financeira. A literatura relacionada ao tema os segrega essencialmente em duas formas. A primeira utiliza a volatilidade do valor dos ativos na determinação das potenciais perdas inesperadas e, conseqüentemente, do capital mínimo. Esse método está presente no pilar 1 do Novo Acordo de Capital da Basiléia. A segunda utiliza como base a volatilidade de resultados para determinar o montante de variação máxima negativa dessa variável para o cálculo do capital mínimo, a um determinado nível de probabilidade e em um horizonte de tempo. Esse montante de potencial variação máxima requer uma conversão para capital utilizando uma taxa livre de risco. Em outras palavras, o método com base na volatilidade de resultados procura determinar um capital mínimo que, investido a uma taxa livre de risco, seja capaz de cobrir a variação máxima de resultado esperada para a instituição financeira. Esse trabalho testa empiricamente as duas abordagens para os 50 maiores bancos presentes no mercado brasileiro. O objetivo é verificar afirmações presentes na literatura e relacionadas às diferenças entre as abordagens. / There are different methods for determining the minimum capital of a financial institution. The academic literature related to this subject essentially groups them into two approaches. The first uses asset volatility to obtain potential unexpected losses and, therefore, the minimum capital. This approach is present on the first pillar of the New Basel Capital Accord. The second approach uses earnings volatility to obtain the maximum negative change of this variable to calculate the minimum capital, given a confidence level and a time horizon. This potential maximum change must be translated into capital by using a risk-free rate. In other words, the earnings volatility approach aims to obtain a minimum capital which, invested in a risk-free rate, can generate a return to cover the potential maximum negative change in earnings. This research empirically tests the two approaches on the 50 biggest banks present in the Brazilian financial system. The objective is to verify statements present on the academic literature and related to the differences between the approaches.

Venture capital and private equity (VC/PE) funds in a global perspective belong to the largest nonbank medium, as well as long-term sources of capital. The main aim of this dissertation is to identify private equity specifics from a European perspective and assess its historic and current development within the context of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. In connection with that main aim, three hypotheses are defined: Hypothesis 1: The impact of the VC/PE investor on the functions of the financed company during the holding period has a positive effect on the performance of that company. Hypothesis 2: The impact of the VC/PE investor on the functions of the financed company during the holding period has a positive effect on internationalizing that company. Hypothesis 3: The increased international growth of the financed company during the holding period has a positive effect on company performance. Although private equity is not an unknown term in the CEE region, its fundamental terminology and use is not comprehensive. As a result, the first chapter defines and explains basic terms. For a better understanding of the private equity industry, its historical development, systemized division and classical models of private equity funds are further displayed. The second chapter introduces the theoretical background for the particular components applied in the empirical research. It describes fields of investor activity in financed companies and its corresponding effect on their performance and internationalization. Private equity is an integral part of financial markets and is thus influenced by related government programs and legislative changes. In this respect, the third chapter sets forth Czech state support, as well as taxation and legislative adjustments regarding private equity. An analysis is laid out in the final two chapters, the fourth analysing private equity in the CEE region (with specifics from a historical and a current perspective) and thoroughly examining fundraising, investment and divestment according to a scale of determinants. The fifth and last chapter concludes the dissertation by factor analysis confirmation and statistical testing of the above mentioned hypothesis. This dissertation's main contribution is in the results derived from a model describing the role of the VC/PE investor with regard to the performance and internationalization of financed companies, including the statistical testing of defined relationships. Further, it analyses outcome specifics in the VC/PE within the CEE region.