Some appraisers feel that using public market data when estimating the cost of capital for a private company requires too many assumptions and adjustments to convert data from actively traded stocks into proxies for private-company valuation. An alternative analysis has been available based on an ongoing survey of expected rates of return of providers in the private capital market. The Private Capital Markets Project from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio Business School has provided this analysis regularly.

Bad news: Unfortunately, this project will be closed down—unless an external source of permanent funding can be found. Up to now, the project has been internally funded since 2007, but that cannot continue. If you know of an organization or individual that might be interested in funding this project on an ongoing basis, please contact Craig Everett, the project’s director at craig.everett@pepperdine.edu. The project can be reopened at any time if it gets funded.