October 2017 Issue

Brady Hyde, private equity portfolio manager at the world's largest package delivery company, is banking on active portfolio management as the firm joins the ranks of LPs doing more direct investing.

Increasing numbers of private equity firms are attempting to squeeze into the financing space, but finding enough high-quality deals will be a challenge.

Leverage levels are creeping up to 2007 levels, but this time around there’s another factor to consider – the continued loosening of covenants. Should private equity investors be worried?

The sun is shining on private equity, and private debt is largely to thank. With financing from funds and banks readily available, Alistair Hay of Cavendish asks whether PE has ever had it so good and how these funding solutions can co-exist.

As funds come to the end of their lives with considerable remaining NAV, secondaries investors have upped their pursuit of tail-end deals.

Private equity managers are building war chests as they prepare for the market to sink, but forecasting when it will happen is tricky.

The plight of the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System raises questions over pension fund governance and the risk for asset managers and advisors.

The first half of 2017 saw $27.5 bn of growth equity funds reach final close. Rod James takes a look at how it fits into the space between VC and buyout.

Private Equity International looks under the bonnet of the private equity firm's investment in a kibbutz-oriented irrigation business.

On a typically humid September day in Hong Kong, four industry veterans gather to discuss the opportunities stemming from China’s developing buyout market, and the overall private equity environment in the region. On one point, they are in agreement: investors have a lot more choice. The industry is maturing: fundraising focused on the region has […]

What are some of the ways to take advantage of credit lines?  There are a range of ways in which managers have utilised fund lines of credit for many years beyond the IRR enhancement objectives that have received a lot of attention over the last 12 months or so. The most obvious and basic is […]

The use of subscription lines of credit by private market funds has significant tax implications for their tax-exempt limited partners that both LPs and fund managers should be aware of. Howard Marks, co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, brought this issue up in his list of negatives when he wrote about fund finance in April. “Some […]

When the US Securities and Exchange Commission spent a week at New York-based private equity firm Leeds Equity Partners as part of a routine exam in January, it spent considerable time looking at a single fund stake sale in one of the firm’s existing funds. “My understanding was that fund restructurings were something the SEC […]

Regulations expected to slow the country's outbound deals are instead paving the way for more cross-border buyout funds targeting government-favoured industries.

Technology investments have significantly outperformed other private equity buyouts since the recession, according to data from investment decision platform CEPRES. Deals in the sector, which includes computer hardware, telecoms and internet companies, were on average sold for an enterprise value of 11.14x EBITDA. This compares with a median sale price of 9.67x EBITDA for non-tech […]

Fundraising can be a lengthy process. So for Waterland Private Equity Investments to hold a first and final close on €2 billion for its seventh fund less than two months after launch was no mean feat. The oversubscribed Waterland Private Equity Fund VII, which will target mid-sized companies in northern European growth markets, held a […]

Private equity firm Cove Hill Partners closed its debut fund in September on more than $1 billion, three months after launch. The Boston-based firm received commitments from family offices, university endowments and foundations to make five to eight investments in the consumer and technology sectors in North America. Cove Hill Partners Fund I has a […]

The European Commission is clamping down on regulatory arbitrage, while venture capitalists are using third-party administrators to come to market.

Separately managed accounts present investors with several advantages. They can help reduce fees and the number of GP relationships, while increasing transparency into costs and investments. “SMAs provide this unique capability to capitalise on investment strategies that you’re not going to get access to through typical private equity funds, venture capital funds, secondaries funds and […]

Norway’s giant Government Pension Fund Global thinks it is too big and too late for PE; it is wrong.

It is happening: the prediction that highly regarded managers would start tapping the secondaries market is becoming a reality. We broke the news that Swedish buyout stalwart EQT was running a stapled process involving stakes in its strong-performing 2011-vintage flagship fund and a commitment to its latest Asia-focused fund. The deal is worth looking at […]

Since 2004 the mere mention of the winged insect has struck fear – or at least mild annoyance – into the heart of private equity professionals everywhere, but could it be due a rehabilitation?

Countryside advice from Final Close.

GPs are waking up to the role of employees in generating value in a portfolio company, Victoria Robson finds.

What’s right for one portfolio company may not be right for another, but there are several common operational levers private equity firms can employ to jump-start growth and enhance returns.

Vue Cinemas has worked with multiple private equity sponsors since its creation in 1999. Tim Richards, the founder and chief executive, shares his views on working with private capital.

Investors in private equity need to pay closer attention to the operational infrastructure of their managers, writes Hamilton Lane's Mario Giannini.

Nordic Capital has adopted an effective approach to value creation with its community-driven procurement system, but implementing such a programme is not without its challenges.

Ten things we learnt when Europe’s leading value creators gathered for our Operating Partners Forum in London.

Adding operational focus to the deal team is an essential part of designing a value creation plan.

Financial sponsors in growth markets forget a crucial element of their business plan, says Robert Bing Maybe it’s just that business plans are written from the wrong perspective.

Profound differences remain between the way that European and US private equity managers administer their funds, says Shankar Iyer, CEO of Viteos.

Heading up a private-equity backed business means looking to the future rather than staying stuck in the present, says our anonymous CEO

Blue Ridge Partners' Jim Corey spotlights the behaviours that boost revenue at high-performing B2B businesses.

Heightened investor expectations are forcing fund managers to review their operations, says Ross Ellis, managing director at SEI.

The next step in the evolution of operational value creation should be dubbed the ‘portfolio approach’, says Fredrik Henzler of Partners Group.

Portfolio companies need to be agile to ensure that they don’t lose out to rivals when Britain leaves the European Union, say Mark Essex and Mike Mills of KPMG.

Updating operations to the latest technology can create high-impact returns for portfolio companies and provide much-needed support for hard-pressed finance chiefs, explains Gavin Backos, a principal at RSM.