A report from Preqin reveals private equity fund performance remained strong in Q1 2011, with a rolling one-year horizon IRR for all private equity of around 20% for the year to March 2011.

Investor appetite for distressed private equity funds has increased significantly over the past few years, with these funds now accounting for 10% of all private equity fundraising, compared to 3% in 2006, Preqin reports in a new study.

In this paper Pablo Fernandez, professor of finance at IESE Business School in Madrid, revises several methods used for valuing brands. Among them, those of Interbrand, Damodaran, Financial World, Houlihan Valuation Advisors, Market Facts, Young & Rubicam and CDB Research & Consulting.

The October edition of Outlook from Smith & Williamson looks at changes in world markets over the month and how these will affect investments. It finds markets had a torrid time in the third quarter and exhibited enormous volatility.

In this paper Pablo Fernandez, professor of finance at IESE Business School in Madrid, shows that the WACC is the rate at which the free cash flows must be discounted to obtain the same result as in the valuation using equity cash flows discounted at the required return to equity.