The case traces the evolution of the private equity investment platform of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Teachers’). Unlike the typical traditional pension fund, Teachers’ has forged a bold, pioneering approach to investing by making a concerted push towards direct investing. The case discusses the trade-offs involved in developing a direct investing platform.

VimpelCom is a Russian cellular operator that grew in less than 10 years (1992-2002) from a hypothetical concept, to small family-like company, to $2 billion NYSE-quoted corporation with 5.5 million subscribers on its wireless networks. This case study describes the perfect partnership between the two founders. One was "the professor", Dr.