June 2003 Issue

News in May that management at UK retailer Debenhams had been sanctioned by the Debenhams board to work with Permira while the buyout firm was undertaking due diligence ahead of a possible buyout angered many of the company's shareholders. We asked Charles Martin, a partner at city law firm Macfarlanes, what sponsors, management, non-executives and shareholders should and should not do during the build-up of a public to private.

Fund Lion Capital Partners 2 Firm Lion Capital Advisers Amount Raised N/A Fund Type Venture capital Amount Targeted $100m Status Launched Investors N/A Geographical Focus UK (70%) and Europe (30%) Advisors N/A Sectoral Focus Primarily medical devices and related technologies Fund Schroder Private Equity Fund of Funds II (SPEFOF II) Firm Schroders plc Amount Raised […]

Many private equity and venture capital groups active in the Benelux region are currently more distinguishable by their funds' vintage year than by their particular sectoral focus or their country of origin. And the less they invested during the technology boom, the happier they are. But what else marks out the private equity market in this part of Western Europe from the rest of the region? Ricky Morton reports.

The buyside isn't short of compelling, sometimes peculiar characters, and general partners on the fundraising trail better be prepared for the different types of LP they are likely to run into. Here is a (not entirely serious) guide to some of the tougher limited partner customers out there.

Hedge funds, rather than private equity, are the alternative asset class of the moment for US endowments and foundations. Will Swarts takes a look at the numbers.

Advent International's long saga with a Bulgarian state telecommunications company illustrates the perils that can accompany private equity deals in Central Europe. Simon Sheppard pays a call.

A number of noteworthy private equity deals in Central and Eastern Europe point to a maturing market. The prospect of EU accession holds out a big promise as well. But the various economies of the former Soviet bloc are still hampered by meddling governments, imperfect legal frameworks and weak financial markets. Simon Sheppard and Nicholas Lockley report.

?or indeed North of that, which wouldn't be difficult, you'd stop at some of the following names. In London for instance, Sue Scollan and Roger Wilkins at Morley Fund Management have been active and successful since the 1990s. At Schroder Ventures (London), Guy Eastman has distinguished himself since joining from Hermes, where Rod Selkirk is […]

At this point in the cycle, the ambitions and anxieties of investors have a strong bearing on the mood in the asset class. So which buyside representatives are setting the tone on fundraising, terms and conditions and alignment of interest with general partners? Private Equity International selects the limited partners that matter in Europe.

Amaury-Daniel de Seze, chairman of PAI Management, spent nearly ten years preparing his firm's buyout from BNP Paribas, its French banking parent. Since then it has joined the ranks of Europe's most respected LBO boutiques. Nicholas Lockley asked the former Volvo man what it took him and the firm to get there.

There have been sightings of a rare breed of management buyout in the UK – bank-sponsored leveraged transactions without a private equity house in the structure. How does it work? What's in it for management? And what do private equity firms make of it all? Deal Mechanic finds out.

Volatility of returns is used by many as a simplified measure of risk when evaluating most asset classes. Unfortunately its utility in the world of private equity is limited on account of the subjective nature of general partner reporting. As an alternative, Christophe Rouvinez proposes a cashflow-based methodology for the analysis of long-term private equity volatility. This approach can provide compelling evidence of the importance of private equity portfolio diversification in terms of volatility reduction.

Few private equity fundraising professionals believe that their business will ever be quieter than it is right now. New commitments to private equity funds appear to have slowed to a trickle. A recovery is not expected before 2004. Many institutions are too busy attending to their existing investment portfolios to even contemplate doing much in […]