vault guide to private equity

© 2009 Vault.com Ltd

2009 European Edition • •

Vault Career Guide to

Private Equity

Copyright © 2008 by Vault.com Ltd. All rights reserved.

All information in this book is subject to change without notice. Vault makes no claims as to theaccuracy and reliability of the information contained within and disclaims all warranties. No partof this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic ormechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of Vault.com Ltd.

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ISBN 13: 978-1-58131-598-1ISBN 10: 1-58131-598-8

Printed in the United Kingdom

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to all Vault staff for their help. Special thanks to our family and friends,especially Angelina, Antoine, Ariana, Olivier, Andrew, Goncalo, Christelle and theCandesic team.

We are also grateful to all the private equity fund managers who agreed to answerour questions and complete our data.

Vault Career Guide to Private Equity

Table of Contents

PREAMBLE 1

THE SCOOP 3

CHAPTER 1: What is Private Equity? 4

Who invests 4

Other specific cases 8

CHAPTER 2: The Market 10

Industry statistics 10

Current trends and issues 12

GETTING HIRED 25

CHAPTER 3: Is It the Right Job for Me? 26

Comparison with other elite jobs 29

Lifestyles 32

Interview with a London director at 3i 33

Interview with former senior partner at London-based mid cap fund 34

Days in the life 35

Career paths 39

CHAPTER 4: The Hiring Process 40

Campus recruiting 40

Networking 41

Search firms 42

Websites 42

Preparing for the interview 42

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROFILES OF 37 REPRESENTATIVE PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS IN EUROPE 47

US-ORIGINATED GLOBAL FUNDS with direct presence in Europe 48

Advent International 48

Bain Capital 53

The Blackstone Group 57

The Carlyle Group 65

General Atlantic 71

Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Area 76

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) 81

TPG 87

PAN-EUROPEAN FUNDS 91

3i Group 91

Allianz Capital Partners /Allianz Private Equity Partners / Allianz AGF PRE 98

Apex Partners 103

AXA Private Equity 111

Barclays Private Equity 118

BC Partners 124

Bridgepoint Capital Ltd. 130

Candover 135

Cinven 140

CVC Capital Partners Limited 145

Doughty Hanson 151

Duke Street Capital 154

EQT Partners 157

Eurazeo 161

European Capital 164

Glide Investment Management 167

HgCapital 171

Industri Kapital 176

Montagu Private Equity 181

PAI Partners 184

Permira Advisers 188

TerraFirma 195

OTHER FUNDS with more regional focus 199

Englefield Capital 199

Exponent Private Equity 202

Investitori Associati 205

Mercapital 208

Sagard 211

MEZZANINE FUNDS 214

Intermediate Capital Group PLC 214

FUND-OF-FUNDS 218

Partners Group 218

SHORT PROFILES OF 200 OTHER PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS IN EUROPE 225

LBO, growth equity and diversified PE Funds 226

Mezzanine Funds 304

Distressed Funds 310

Secondary Funds 312

Fund of Funds 316

APPENDIX 335

RECOMMENDED READING 337

WEB RESOURCES 337

ACADEMIC SOURCES 337

INDUSTRY JARGON (glossary) 338

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 342

Table of Contents



1

Preamble

PREAMBLE

his guide covers late stage private equity funds only, excluding venturecapital. Using the Candesic database of private equity firms, we haveidentified around 250 companies that meet the following criteria: a minimum

of €200-300 million of committed private equity investments in Europe. The listincludes LBO, growth capital, distressed, mezzanine funds and, to an extent, fundsof funds. The guide excludes sovereign funds, which are state owned pools of money,as well as most of the real estate and infrastructure funds. Together and excluding thefunds of funds, the first 200 firms in our sample manage about €400 billion incommitments and invested assets in Europe. (Including the assets outside of Europeand the funds of funds, our sample reaches €900 billion in total commitments andinvestments in private equity.)

We selected 37 firms that we deemed representative of Europe, not necessarily thelargest ones. This includes mostly direct LBO funds and a couple of examples in eachof the other categories. Selecting the top firms was not necessarily clear cutconsidering the variety of situations occurring in an industry undergoing Europeanconvergence. All the other firms included in the analysis are listed at the end of theguide with key statistics and contact details.

T

CHAPTER ONE: What is Private Equity?

CHAPTER TWO: The Market

THE SCOOP

4

CHAPTER ONE: WHAT IS PRIVATE EQUITY?

s its name implies, private equity investing refers to investments in non-publicly traded assets. This encompasses a wide range of investments, fromsmall equity stakes in new ventures by so-called angel investors to highly

leveraged controlling equity investments in multi-nationals.

Who invests?

Most private equity funds are structured as limited partnerships with a life ofbetween five and ten years, with a General Partner and a Manager. The directinvestors, or ‘limited partners’, are mostly institutional investors who want todiversify into alternative asset classes. This can also include funds of funds that allowsmaller investors access to the asset class. One of the big strengths of private equityis that it closely aligns the interests of investors with those of the fund managers (thegeneral partners) and the management of the companies they invest in, as theygenerally all have a substantial share of the equity.

How they make money

Private equity investors seek to recognise niches that offer attractive growth prospects, to‘buy or build’ a well positioned player in that niche and to give that player the means to

A

PRIVATE EQUITY INVESTORS

Company Management/Entrepreneur

PRIVATE EQUITY FUND

Investment Managers

Investors/GPs(Institutions, HNWI) Funds of Funds

Smaller Investors

Source: Candesic


5

Chapter O

ne: What is Private Equity?

perform better than its peers. In addition, at least in mature markets, they attempt tomultiply their return by leveraging their investment, aided in recent years by low interestrates. As a more difficult credit environment evolves and debtor protection increases, it islikely that some poorly performing funds won’t be able to survive much longer.

Types of PE—segmentation by stage and product

The wider private equity sector can be divided into four distinct types of investment:leveraged buyouts, venture capital, mezzanine financing and distressed debt. Somefirms will specialise in a single type of investment, while larger firms will oftenprovide a range of investment alternatives.

A leveraged buyout is the name given to an acquisition that is funded primarilythrough debt. Public companies are often taken private, using large bank loans orcorporate bonds to acquire the firm’s outstanding equity. The practice was initiallypioneered in the 1970s by banking icons such as Henry Kravis, founder of KKR, andhas developed into an accepted industry standard.

In a leveraged buyout the management team is often given or allowed to purchase astake in the investment. This is done to incentivise the management team and aligntheir interests with the PE firm, who will trust the management team to look aftertheir investment for them. If the current management team is involved in buying thecompany from existing owners, it is known as a management buyout, or MBO. Whenthe management team involved is an external group that replaces the existingmanagement, it is known as a management buy-in, or MBI.

Venture capital is a form of alternative investment that provides high risk equity toearly stage companies. The firms are typically entrepreneurial ventures that do nothave the steady cash flows or track record to raise money through bank loans andpublic markets. To compensate, the venture capital firms expect very high returns ontheir investments. It is sometimes the case that companies seeking venture capitalinvestment may have nothing more than a business plan, and therefore have a highrisk of failure. This inherent risk was particularly damaging during the dotcom crash,as many of the tech companies that lost equity were backed by venture capital firms.The mature part of venture capital is called “expansion capital”, and is often a sideactivity of LBO funds.

Mezzanine finance is the term given to a layer of debt that is typically used to fill a gapwhen structuring an LBO, which can be either in time, transaction structure or capitalstructure. This level of debt can have many forms and can offer several advantagesover other forms of financing.

6

Distressed debt is a high risk form of debt given to a company that is financially distressedor bankrupt. Distressed firms are typically very volatile and difficult to value, andtherefore present arbitrage opportunities for financial investors such as hedge funds.

Segmentation by style—direct investors, co-investors, secondaryfunds and funds of funds

This book focuses on primary funds that invest directly into companies, either takinga majority stake, so they can influence the management and decide on the strategyof their asset, or investing alongside other funds (co-investors like Parallel in the UK).

Another category of private equity investing that is growing fast is the so-called“secondary”, when a fund buys a portfolio of private equity assets or pre-existinginvestor commitments to private equity.

While this activity is not new, the maturing of the industry and the marketdownturn of 2000 led many historical private equity investors, often banks orinsurance companies, to withdraw from the private equity asset class. This inturn led to the rapid growth of another segment of investors specialising in theacquisition of these existing portfolios. Dedicated secondary funds concentrateon acquiring all or part of the portfolios from other private equity funds. Within

TYPICAL BIG LBO FINANCING STRUCTURE (PRE-CRISIS)

Equity

Mezzanine

High yield

Senior debt

30%

10%

10%

50%

Choice of high yield over mezzanine can be led by:

• Market conditions• Pricing• Ease of issue• Possible need to refinance

Source: Candesic


7

Chapter O


this segment, secondary direct funds buy portfolios of direct investments. Manylarge diversified funds include it in their activities. Finally, one can distinguishbetween early and mature secondaries.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

KKRApa

x

Perm

iraCVC

Terra

Firm

a

BC Pa

rtners

Black

stone

EQTCinv

en 3i

Carlyle

Charte

rhous

e

Bain

Capita

l

Goldman

Sach

s

Bridg

epoin

t

PAI P

artne

rs

Indus

tri Ka

pital

AXA PE

Barcl

ays P

E

Dough

ty Han

son

Alpinv

est

35

40

45

50

60

70

80

90

30

2019

15 11 119 9 9 9 9 8.4 8 8 8

75.7 5 5 5 5

86

35

2221

33

44

32

38

11 11

Assets or commitments outside Europe

Assets allocated to European acquisitions

TOP 20 DIRECT PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS BY AuM IN EUROPE*March 2008, €bn(*Doesn’t include funds of funds)

Source: Can desic PE database

8

We also listed some of the major funds of funds in Europe. They simply invest in anumber of direct PE funds to diversify their risk.

Geographic segmentation: global, pan-European or regional playersin Europe

We also distinguish between major US funds attracted by the investmentopportunities in less mature European markets, pan-European funds that grewbeyond their country of origin and developed teams in major European cities,and local funds that made the strategic decision to concentrate on their homemarket or, like Canadian owned Sagard in France, on a geographic area ofcommon language. Most of the US funds, with the exception of Vestar, launchedtheir European operations out of London, and many still conduct them fromthere.

Segmentation by financing: private vs. listed

We can roughly consider three forms of financing for private equity funds: internalfunding, for example through a parent company or a family office, limitedpartnership with external institutional investors, and access to permanent capitalthrough public funding (3i, Blackstone, Eurazeo).

Other specific cases

A PIPE is a special type of private investment, where accredited investors areprivately invited to invest in a public company. The process has similarcharacteristics to other forms of stock offerings, and is often used when a companyis having difficulty finding additional funding after an unconvincing IPO. Thesecurities sold can be common stock, convertible preferred stock or convertible notes,and are normally sold at a discount due to their relative illiquidity.

Crossover funds are investment funds that attempt to fill the gap between private andpublic equity investing. They combine private equity investing with strategic publicequity investing typically used by hedge funds, with a market risk somewhere inbetween the two. There is a trend for hedge funds to allocate a portion of their fundto private equity investments into “side pockets”, although typically this will onlymake up around 10% and tends to be the money of the fund managers.


9

Chapter O


Interval funds are somewhere between open and closed-end funds in that they do notprovide daily liquidity, but have specified periods when shareholders are able toredeem and distribute shares with the fund. During this time there will be an offerto buy back a stated portion of shares from investors. Interval funds have provenpopular since being introduced in 1992 as they provide retail investors with accessto private equity investments with a degree of liquidity.

10

CHAPTER TWO: THE MARKET

rivate equity may well be the oldest form of financing. For a long time,merchant banks or early forms of family offices have been responsible fororganised venture capital. The major transformation, beginning in the 70s, has

been the adjunction of high yield (junk) debt to the financing of companies withmature cash flows and the widespread use of leverage. In the last 30 years,professional and mostly independent LBO firms have occupied a leading position inthe market. In the US as well as in the UK, the direct presence of investment andcommercial banks has been eroded as most internal funds have gained theirindependence, often to reduce the risk of a conflict of interest with the increasinglyimportant clients of the banks. Today, banks are mostly present as General Partnersor co-investors and, with the notable exception of Goldman Sachs, the major playersare independent firms. The same process is happening now in the rest of Europe.

Industry statistics

In 2007, global private equity assets under management represented about $1.1trillion, of which 700 billion were LBO funds (these figures, which seem ratherconservative, come from the McKinsey Global Institute’s “The New Power Brokers”,which appeared in October 2007) . A year later, following a record fund raising ofmore than $500 billion, research provider Private Equity Intelligence announced that,with the sum of the undrawn money and portfolio company holdings, the privateequity industry had reached assets under management of $2 trillion and had thefirepower to acquire up to $2.4 trillion in enterprise value; despite the currentdifficulties in the LBO segment, “[They] are predicting a $5 trillion industry over thenext five to seven years.”

The industry has experienced an average growth rate of 14 per cent since 2000. Froma demand perspective, the growth is fuelled by the strong and sustainableperformance of the best managers, by the ability of many institutional investors toallocate a larger portion of their assets to the asset class and by the surge of newinvestors like sovereign funds. From a supply perspective, there is more awarenessof the possibilities offered by private equity for companies in need of financing, anda growing pool of experienced managers with the skills required to execute thesetransactions.

Of course, as we publish this guide (late 2008), and after a year of depressed markets,culminating in a financial crisis, that have halted the most visible transactions, it isdifficult to merely describe the boom of the past seven years. We may be in the midstof a bust, but we don’t think the fundamental attractiveness of the private equitymodel has changed, and would argue for a temporary correction of the recent excess.

P


11

Chapter Tw

o: The Market

Employment statistics

In terms of employment, PE remains a niche; the top 50 PE firms worldwide employedless than 4,000 investment professionals in 2007. If we add the smaller firms, the venturecapital and the family offices, we may reach 20,000 investment professionals, of which

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

35

40

45

50

60

70

80

90

30

2019

15 11 119 9 9 9 9 8.4

90

20

25

15

28

72 7170

37

47

Commitments raised

Funds invested

100

78

10

20

35

48

40

24

29

27

28

100

2007

- The recent fast growth of commitments has led to an overhang with too many investors chasing too few deals

- One of the consequences is a rush towards bigger deals

- Another possible consequence is a more relaxed approach to risk and an expected decrease in the overall performance

EUROPE-PRIVATE EQUITY FUNDS RAISED AND INVESTED€bn, equity commitments to and worldwide investments byEuropean PE funds

Source: EVCA; Perep & Preqin (2007); Candesic

12

we estimate 7,000 are based in Europe. According to the Candesic database, the top240 PE firms operating in Europe currently employ about 4,000 investmentprofessionals. These numbers look particularly low when compared to the millions ofpeople employed at the companies owned by the private equity funds.

Current trends and issues

After two decades of relative confidentiality, the private equity industry has comeunder increased scrutiny from the media, politicians and the general public. Amongthe major concerns, the excessive debt levels seem to be losing importance as debtproviders now refuse the extreme conditions demanded by PE investors before thesummer 2007. The public disclosure of the huge compensations that successfulpartners can achieve (e.g., Blackstone) has raised questions and sometimes fiercecritics. Other concerns include the lack of transparency and accountability, as well asa sometimes narrow sense of fiduciary duty. The industry regularly stands accusedof profiteering and asset-stripping. This seems to be an unfair accusation, as moststudies showed—at least until recently—that private equity backed companies createmore jobs than their public equivalents. A meta-review of 12 existing studies by A.T.Kearney claimed that private equity created 600,000 jobs in the United States between2000 and 2003. But critics point out that the report didn’t distinguish buyouts fromventure capital.

In France, a study made by accounting firm Constantin for the French Association ofPrivate Equity Investors (AFIC) on more than 100 French companies undergoing

European private equity fund managers by country

Other 2%

Eastern Europe 3%

Switzerland 4%

Benelux 4%

Italy 5%

Spain 6%

Nordic 7%

Germany 10%

France 17%

UK 42%

EUROPEAN PRIVATE EQUITY FUND MANAGERS BYCOUNTRY OR REGION

Source: Candesic PE Database


13

Chapter Tw

o: The Market

LBOs showed that their headcount grew by 4.1 per cent per annum (with 78 per centof it from new jobs and 22 per cent from external growth), whereas the nationalaverage was only 0.6 per cent. This growth was partnered with salaries increasing by3.3 per cent per annum vs. 2.9 per cent on average and other elements ofremuneration being on average better developed and more attractive for all LBOemployees.

Similar studies in Germany (“Economic Impact of private Equity in Germany”, F.A.ZInstitute, 2004) and in the UK (“Employment Contribution of Private Equity andVenture Capital in Europe”, Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies in London, 2005) ledto similar findings. (The 2005 study by the Center for Entrepreneurial and FinancialStudies (CEFS) for the EVCA claims that more than 400,000 net jobs were created inEurope by buyout-financed companies between 2000 and 2004. SEIU (ServiceEmployees International Union) warn that the study’s claims are based on self-reported information from a small set of portfolio companies—just 99 out of morethan 1,400 companies that underwent a buyout during the period studied.)

In January 2008, by commission of the World Economic Forum, Josh Lerner fromHarvard and Steven Davis from Chicago published the most extensive study to dateregarding the issue. It is also unique in that it is not suspected of having any bias orexternal influences. Reviewing 5,000 US transactions from 1980 through 2005, theyfind that companies owned by private equity funds have a net reduction of theirworkforce of 1 per cent over two years. This differs from the positive result of anotherstudy commissioned by the Private Equity Council, a lobbyist group, which showedthat employment at privately acquired firms grew by more than 8 per cent, but waslater dismissed by many academics as biased. The World Economic Forum studydoesn’t examine what would have happened to the jobs had the transaction notoccurred. They also find that these firms default slightly more often than the averagepublic firm, but only half as much as those with similar leveraging.

In order to address the transparency and profiteering concerns, in 2007 the BVCAannounced the formation of “an independent working party under theChairmanship of Sir David Walker to draw up a voluntary code on a ‘comply orexplain’ basis to address the transparency of the industry and levels of disclosure”.Twenty-three private equity firms operating in the UK issued a statement to supportthis initiative, including Apax, BC Partners, Barclays Private Equity Ltd., TheBlackstone Group, Bridgepoint, Candover, The Carlyle Group, Charterhouse,Cinven, CVC, Doughty Hanson, Exponent Private Equity, Hermes Private Equity,HgCapital, ISIS EP LLP, KKR, Legal & General Ventures Ltd., Lyceum Capital,Montagu Private Equity, Permira, Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd., TPG and 3i.

14

The credit crunch

Leverage in the buyout industry reached an all time high in 2007, which led to anincreasingly lenient approach to risk, with a flourishing of so-called “covenant-lite”debt financing. Debt providers finally started to object and refuse the conditionsdictated by the buyout funds. The situation may have arisen in the US but spreadimmediately to Europe. In June 2007, banks were left sitting on £5bn of debt from thefinancing of Alliance Boots, the UK pharmaceutical retailer acquired by KKR. Thissignaled a severe correction of both leverage levels and the conditions associatedwith the loans. This was further confirmed during the summer of 2007, when thetightening of the world credit markets led to major collapses in the hedge fundindustry where the effect of this credit adjustment is more immediately visible.

PE FIRM

KKR

Blackstone

Main Private Equity Firms Are Giant Conglomerates

# of Companiesin portfolio

40

45

Carlyle

Bain Capital

200

Apax

TPG

180

Permira

GS Capital Partners

CVC

Cerberus

53

Providence Equity

Thomas H. Lee Partners

Apollo

Warburg Pincus

General Atlantic

Total turnover

$102bn

$72bn

$87bn

$65bn

$55bn

Employees

560,000

350,000

280,000

660,000

300,000

1,000,000

430,000

360,000

86,000

AuM

$86bn

$32+60bn*

$75bn

$50bn

$35bn

$30bn

$30bn

$30bn

$29bn

$22bn

$21bn

100

50

390,000

300,000

375,000

$20bn

$16bn

$15bn

$14bn

* $60bn in other asset classes Source: press search; SEIU; Candesic analysis


15

Chapter Tw

o: The Market

In spite of a record first half year in 2007, the total value of buyouts between Augustand October 2007 was 60 per cent lower than during the same period in 2006. In themonths leading up to the second quarter of 2008, the situation has furtherdeteriorated and many insiders acknowledge that they don’t expect to close manytransactions during the year. One immediate consequence is the general impact onthe investment banking business. Before the credit crisis, investment banks couldearn up to 25 per cent of their fee income from advisory related to private equityfirms; this number has fallen to around 10 per cent with a direct impact on the banks’profitability.

For private equity firms involved in major transactions that they cannot easily financeanymore, it is tempting to try and renegotiate terms or simply withdraw their offer.But invoking the “material adverse change” clause doesn’t work well and the breakup fee can be heavy.

One likely consequence will be that private equity funds will have more difficultycompeting against strategic investors as their access to cheap financing will belimited. This in turn will contribute to lower returns. According to the McKinseyGlobal Institute, “firms that have relied more on leverage than skill may shut down”.This is more the case for mega buyouts which are more likely to rely on financialengineering for value creation.

Regional differencesThe private equity industry has historically grown first in Anglo-Saxon countries. InEurope, the UK still represents about a third of the activity. While countries likeFrance or Spain have had substantial growth in the recent years, the economic,regulatory and cultural environment remains more favourable in Northern Europe.This hasn’t prevented funds from expanding throughout Europe, but they recognisethe strong cultural differences.

Even in the UK, supposedly the friendliest place in Europe, public perception aboutprivate equity deteriorated in 2007 following widely publicised critics of the attractivetax status General Partners enjoy. The subsequent reform of the tax system is morelikely to penalise entrepreneurs, for whom the system was originally designed, thanimprove public perception.

This hostility has resonated elsewhere in Europe. The industry’s negative reputationis relatively new and differs from country to country. In Germany, the term “locusts”was famously used in 2005 by the leader of the Social Democrats and again by theformer CEO of Deutsche Boerse in his vitriolic book Invasion of the Locusts, after anactivist fund led to his departure. This has tainted the industry’s reputation ever

16

since. It is tempting for politicians to use private equity firms as scapegoats, and it isall the more easily done when some players carry out transactions with an approachthat is considered too aggressive, in a country where social consensus has dominatedfor fifty years. In spite of that, Apax still considers Germany a friendlier environmentfor private equity than France, all of Southern Europe and even Norway.

-3.0

-2.5

-2.0

-1.5

-1.0

-0.5

0 Belgium

France

AustriaN

orway

Germany

Finland

UK NL

Ireland

CHSweden

Denm

ark

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.8

3.8

3.1

2.6 2.6

1.9 1.8

1.5 1.4

1.1

-0.3

-1

-1.9-2.1 -2.2

-2.5-2.7

-3.0

4.5

5.0

3.8 3.8

Hungary

Greece

Italy

Czech Rep.

Poland

SpainPortugal

Slovakia

PRIVATE EQUITY ENVIRONMENT RANKINGS IN EUROPE2007 grades

Source: Apax


17

Chapter Tw

o: The Market

Costs and performance

"On balance, private equity increases efficiency," says economist Steven Kaplan ofthe University of Chicago.

According to a study he conducted in 2005 with Antoinette Schoare from MIT, largebuyouts consistently outperform public stocks. More precisely, they exceed those ofthe S&P 500 gross of fees and equal them net of fees. However, this depends on thesample and the period considered. There are a couple of limitations in the assessmentof the industry performance, starting with the access to sufficient data, the selectionbias between good and poor performers and the general accuracy of the valuation ofthe assets still in the portfolio. Some other studies have shown more mixed results—over the last ten years US buyouts could have outperformed the stock market (thoughwhether this can be proven is something of a grey area)—but buyouts seem to be anattractive asset class for limited partners and individual investors through their pensionplans. They could also have a beneficial impact on the economy with net job creations.

When looking more closely at their results, Kaplan and Schoar find “a large degree ofheterogeneity among fund returns. Returns persist strongly across funds raised by individualprivate equity partnerships. The returns also improve with partnership experience. They alsofind that market entry in the private equity industry is cyclical. Funds [and partnerships]started in boom times are less likely to raise follow-on funds, suggesting that these fundssubsequently perform worse. Aggregate industry returns are lower following a boom, butmost of this effect is driven by the poor performance of new entrants, while the returns ofestablished funds are much less affected by these industry cycles.” (This is from Kaplan andSchoar’s 2004 “Private Equity Performance: Returns, Persistence and Capital Flows”.)

Nevertheless, a 2008 report by Thomson Financial for the EVCA shows that Europeanprivate equity firms achieved a 15.9 per cent five-year rolling IRR, against 14.5 percent for US buyout groups, and expects the short-term performance of private equityfunds to remain very strong.

Taxation

General partners in private equity funds have been increasingly criticised for payinga very low amount of taxes on their revenue. Until 2008, carried interests were taxedat the level of capital gains at 15 per cent in the US and at a special level of 10 per centin the UK. This is an unintended result of the original attempt to support thefinancing of risky ventures by private equity, by the so-called venture capitalists.Today, when 75% of the capital is invested in buyouts where, by definition, cashflows are relatively stable and predictable, this tax treatment appears generous to

18

many. In October 2007, the UK government announced their decision to raise the rateto 18 per cent, a measure that should be limited enough to prevent a massive exodusof funds. In the US, major players have lobbied hard to kill a Senate bill and a measureby the House of Representatives that would increase the taxation of carried intereststo 35 per cent or more instead of 15 per cent. They are now trying to at least doublethe five year grace period contained in the draft proposal and to ensure that all privateequity firms will be treated equally, including those who went public.

The competition

• Cooperation and competition with hedge funds

Hedge funds are similar to private equity funds in many respects.

They have similar organisational and to an extent compensation structures,they are often highly leveraged; they offer high performance and seeminglylower correlation to other asset classes; they need to raise funds frominstitutional investors, they attract top talent; and they are increasingly accused of being too lightly regulated.

They differ mostly from each other in their time horizon and the liquidityof their investments. PE funds invest primarily in very illiquid assets andlock their investors for the entire term of the fund. This leads to differencesin the asset valuation, in the timing of performance compensation, in theexit strategies and ultimately in the motivation of the management of thetarget companies. But, while most hedge funds pursue absolute returns andinvest in very liquid assets, their search for new alpha leads them to buildtheir own PE funds where they can hold “side-pocket” investments. In 2007,PE represented about 10% of hedge funds’ investments.

In the competition with PE, hedge funds tend to benefit from having avariety of people with expertise in different places within the capitalmarkets chain.

Activist hedge funds make direct bets when they demand board seats afterbuilding a position in a company. Many hedge funds have entered theLBOmarket, first as mezzanine providers. At the same time, distressedhedge funds compete with their PE counterparties, and the shorterinvestment horizon becomes less obvious a difference.

Finally, in general, hedge funds are pushing into less liquid markets suchas mid-caps to compensate for the lower returns in their traditional fields.Lately, hedge funds are starting to hire PE managers, and PE funds have to


19

Chapter Tw

o: The Market

increase the salaries of their mid-ranking managers. One difficulty PEemployers may face when retaining their managers is that they have to waitmany years for the realisation of their investment before they receive theircarry, while hedge fund managers get their performance every year.

While their core businesses remain quite distinct, hedge funds and private equity arenow experiencing a melt down in most periphery segments.

• Other competitors

Government-sponsored principal investors (Dubai, China) and large familyoffices represent a further inflow of liquidity that targets the biggest assets,sometimes competing with the biggest PE funds, sometimes partnering withthem in club deals, and lately buying stakes in the funds directly. Sovereignfunds can disturb the market as they don’t have the same performancerequirements or culture. Many of them need to find ways to invest the hugeamounts of money they manage and are less concerned with the risks theyare taking. Insiders mention that, on several occasions, some well-knownsovereign investors have started their due diligence after the acquisition!

The $100bn ticket

Since the buyout of RJR-Nabisco by KKR in 1989, mega LBOs remained rather rare.But, since 2005, the major funds have multiplied their acquisitions of assets with anenterprise value above $10bn. There were 27 of them in the period ending August2007, of which four were in Europe, if we include infrastructure deals. In real dollars,the previous RJR-Nabisco record was finally beaten in 2007 with the $44bnacquisition of TXU by KKR and TPG. Shortly after, the $50bn mark was almostreached with the buyout of BCE, a Canadian company. By June 2007, the major LBOfunds had accumulated so many commitments that a $100bn acquisition by aconsortium was ready to happen at any time. This is less likely in the medium term,following the financial markets turmoil that started in the summer of 2007.

In Europe, after VNU in the Netherlands ($11bn), Wind in Italy ($13bn) and TDC inDenmark ($14bn), the mega deals continued with the first buy-out of a FTSE100company, when KKR bought Alliance Boots for $24bn in 2007. More mega dealscould well happen once the markets have settled, with targets like Sainsbury’sregularly featuring in the media; in November 2007, Delta Two, which invests onbehalf on the Qatar Investment Authority, terminated discussions to buy the retailerfor £13.4bn.

20

Private goes public

Ironically, private equity funds have come to realise that public money offers severaladvantages: it is a permanent source of capital and most small shareholders areunlikely to be actively tracking the fund’s activities. In 2007, Blackstone made theheadlines when it went public and raised $4 billion through an IPO. They were notthe first ones but certainly the most publicised. Several other funds were planning asimilar move, starting with KKR, which will most likely IPO on the NYSE. Thedegradation of the environment since the summer 2007 and the disastrous

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Q1Q2 Q3 Q4

Q1Q2

Q3Q4 Q1

Q2 Q3

35

40

45

50

30

15 11 119 9 9 9 9 8.4

Q4

- Largest Deal in Europe

2005 2006 2007Q1

Q2 Q3 Q4

2008

BCE

TXU (KKR+TPG)

HCA (Bain + KKR + ML)

Hilton(Blackstone)

Alltel (TPG+GS)Alliance Boots (KKR)

LBOs WITH EV>$10bn

Source: Candesic


21

Chapter Tw

o: The Market

performance of the Blackstone shares have halted most ambitious plans. LikeBlackstone, listed PE vehicles in Europe have been slammed by the market: sharesof 3i, Altamir (Apax France), Candover Investments, Eurazeo or KKR Amsterdamhave lost 25 to 50 per cent of their value in less than a year.

Overhang

In private equity jargon, overhang refers to unused (uncalled) capital commitments.It is somewhat similar to “dry powder”, which refers more generally to the cashreserves kept on hand to cover future obligations. In March 2008, Goldman Sachsestimated at $400 billion the amount of uninvested capital raised by private equityfirms. With the tightening of the credit markets and the temporary death of megaLBOs and club deals, it becomes difficult to invest. Putting the money to work is acondition to charge the management fees on a continuous basis, which may explainsome of the recent appetite for buying stakes in public companies. Another issue isthe impact on the asset allocation plans of the institutional investors, if the capitalremains in cash for too long.

Exits

In their yearly report commissioned by the EVCA, Perep Analytics recognise sevenexit categories for private equity investments: trade sale, repayment of shares orloans, secondary buyouts, initial public offerings, sale of quoted equity, write-offsand sales to financial institutions. In 2007, secondary buyouts reached a record 30 percent of all exits and, for the first time since at least 1992, overtook trade sales by valueof total divestiments.

According to a fund manager in London, “Write-offs are kept artificially low forreputation reasons; it it often tempting to merge a hopeless dog with a better runcompany as long as there is limited risk to damage the better one”.

What’s next

So, what’s next? Prior to the September 2008 crisis, returns were already mixed, highleverage ratios seemed out of the question, mega LBOs were delayed if not cancelled,and still, the market was expected to continue to grow at a significant pace, albeitslightly slower than previous predictions. In a September 2007 conference, Carlyle’sDavid Rubinstein said that the average holding period is likely to rise from four tosix years. For a while, targets are going to be smaller as big groups are tempted into

22

the middle market. Firms like Blackstone, Cerberus and KKR with its Capstone unitwill leverage their strong restructuring experience and target more distressed assets.However, ultimately, institutional investors are unlikely to lose their appetite for theindustry and the McKinsey Global Institute forecasts a further increase of globalprivate equity assets under management to $1.4bn by 2012, a doubling in five years.Citigroup expects private equity to soon overtake property and hedge funds as themost popular alternative investment for pension funds. In a keynote address at the2008 Wharton conference, David Rubinstein, again, reckoned that Private Equity willnow spend a year or so in “purgatory” before entering the “platinum age”, an evengreater period of expansion than the “golden age” it went through in the last fiveyears. For Rubinstein, returns will remain strong and Private Equity will remainattractive to investors “because the techniques used by sponsors to improvecompanies have been proven to work, including giving management a stake in thecompanies they run”. In the first half of 2008, the mid market showed its resilience.

GETTING HIRED

CHAPTER THREE: Is it the Right Job For Me?

CHAPTER FOUR: The Hiring Process

26

CHAPTER THREE: IS IT THE RIGHT JOB FOR ME?

rivate equity is a relatively new industry. While the activity has been aroundfor centuries, as long as wealthy investors have been able to acquire stakes inprivate companies, it is only in the last few decades that it has become an

industry, with a typical organization and business model and the recruiting ofprofessionals at undergraduate, graduate and experienced levels. From ourinterviews, private equity in Europe has clearly become more competitive as teamscompete directly within and across countries for the same assets. Because thecompetition is more global, the recruiting tends to be more competitive and

Bachelor only 31%

Unknown or none 11%

PhD/JD/MD 5%

MBA 25%

Master 28%

PROFILES OF 4,000 PE FUND MANAGERS IN EUROPE (Higher Diploma)

Asset management 3%

Strategy & management consulting 10%

PE 11%

Audit & transaction services 10%

Banking 11%

Investment Banking 24%

None 11%

Other 20%

PROFILES OF 4,000 PE FUND MANAGERS IN EUROPE(Most significant previous job)

P

Source: Candesic PE database, January 2008



27

Chapter Three: Is it the Right Job For M

e?

international candidates with language skills are targeted.The industry has grown veryfast, but its attractiveness has grown even faster. Our database shows that more than60 per cent of the investment professionals have an MBA, a PhD or another advanceddegree. Those who only have an undergraduate degree tend to be younger analysts,especially in the UK where it is common to start working after a bachelor’s degree.The institutions represented are—no surprise—the top universities in Europe (typicallytop 5-10 universities in each country) and top 15 global programs for MBA graduates.Globally, INSEAD, Harvard, Cambridge, HEC and Oxford are the most representedacademic institutions across all the professionals, accounting together for about 20 percent of them. Bocconi is the clear challenger to the group of five and sometimes seemsto be the sole local provider of managers in Italy. Other institutions that havesubstantial amounts of graduates in the industry tend to be the best business andeconomic schools in each big European country: Stockholm School of Economics,London School of Economics, St. Gallen, ESCP-EAP, London Business School.

0

50

100

150

200

250

INSE

AD

Harvard

Cambr

idge

HECOxfo

rd

Bocc

oni

SSE

ESCP-E

AP

Wha

rton

LSE

ESSE

C

Dauph

ine

Columbia

LBS

Durham

Copen

hage

n

St Galle

n

IEP Pa

ris

Manch

ester

Munich

Polyt

echn

ique

Stanfo

rd

210

170

104

69

61 57

4438 37

204

177

168

72 7266

6259

49 4942 42

37

TOP UNIVERSITIES ATTENDED Number of professionals**Double counting allowed for staff with several degrees


28

However, the vast majority of graduates do not start their career in private equity:they will first get their training in related areas of advisory or in top managementpositions.

Most investment managers have started their career in another area: the Candesicdatabase shows that less than 20 per cent of private equity fund managers startedtheir career in private equity (11 per cent at their current employer and the rest at aprevious PE firm). Out of the other 80 per cent, half of them worked in investmentbanking or other areas of banking, especially leveraged finance, and 20 per centworked outside of the finance industry. More than 10 per cent of all fund managershad previous experience in strategy consulting, and the same percentage came fromaudit and transaction services (note that the numbers don’t add up to 100 per centbecause many fund managers had several jobs previously). The most frequentprevious employers are PWC, McKinsey and the top tier US investment banks.

0

30

60

90

120

150Private equity

Investment banking

Strategy consulting

Audit & transaction services

PWC

McKins

ey

Morga

n Stan

ley

Goldman

Sach

sBa

in

Merrill

Lync

h

KPMG

JP Mor

gan

Arthur

Anders

enBC

G

Citigro

upUBS

Deloitte

BNP P

ariba

s

Deutsc

he Ba

nk 3i

Credit S

uisse

Lehm

an Br

othe

rs

Ernst

& You

ng

ABN A

mro

138

7470

5351

109

95 93

86

77

71

65 64

57

5146 46 45 44

41

MOST FREQUENT FORMER EMPLOYERSNumber of professionals



29


e?

Most fund managers tell us they like their job, the diversity of activities, the team oflike minded brilliant professionals, the opportunity to work closely with executives,and the perks. They also tell us that they work harder than they did ten or twentyyears ago; low hanging fruits have disappeared in developed countries. New risksappear and limited partners become more and more sophisticated. The industry isalso more likely to be hit by global economic downturns. The most recent exampleis how the 2007 US subprime mortgage crisis has led to a sudden and complete haltof all multi-billion dollar LBOs. Many mega funds have quickly dispatched theirfund managers to work on improving the existing portfolio companies. Part of thestress is also linked to the performance dependant reward model; managers get theirshare of the profits only after the PE fund sells the company, typically three to sevenyears after the investment. A prolonged recession with limited exit opportunities candestroy most of the expected remuneration. A recent BVCA report showed that only50 per cent of the private equity firms in the UK paid out a carry to their managers.In addition, the access to the carry is long and becoming longer at those firms that canpay it: it takes an average of seven years to be promoted to partner, and anotherseven years to gain full access to the carry. For all these reasons, one should expectthe staff turnover—so far extremely low—to increase in the private equity industrylike in any other maturing industry.

English is the common language, but in most European countries, fluency in the locallanguage is necessary to interact with the management team of a local private firm.There are exceptions at both ends of the private equity spectrum, whether dealingwith high tech start-ups set up by highly educated PhDs or on the mega LBOs offirms with global operations.

Finally, private equity doesn’t appear to be an “equal opportunity”area. Unlike inmany other areas of asset management, women represent only 10 per cent ofinvestment professionals and 11 per cent of all professionals (which includes CFOs,COOs and those engaged in business development, fundraising and riskmanagement). In addition they are found proportionally less often in seniorpositions. Pessimists will question their chances to get promoted against men.Optimists will explain it by an improved access at junior level: women represent 15per cent of the analysts and associates.

Comparison with other elite jobs

A significant proportion of private equity fund managers got their initial professionalexperience in investment banking. They appreciate moving into jobs that give thema better lifestyle and often better compensation. As one insider says, “now, I am theclient of my former colleagues and I feel like I can set the pace”. The IB backgroundis essential as fund managers end up developing their own valuation models thatthey rarely share with their advisors.

30

Like management consulting, private equity offers the opportunity to work acrossindustries and geographies on various management issues, in direct contact with thetop management and other professionals. Numerous insiders coming frommanagement consulting see their move as a natural career progression, with theadvantage of being closer to the real operations of the companies in their portfolio,and the opportunity to participate directly to the implementation or monitoring ofimplementation of the strategy. Some consultants, especially those who didn’t haveprior significant line experience, become frustrated after years of advising topexecutives and feel the need to “do things by themselves”.

The MD of a French mid cap fund states that “one of my great joys is to coordinate thevarious advisors. It can be a lot of work, but they are generally the ones who keepworking late a long time after I left the office”. While this may be an extreme situation, itis certain that the private equity fund manager doesn’t have to report to the limitedpartners the way top executives in public companies report to their shareholders.

The skills required in most hedge funds are somewhat different. This is mainly dueto the timeframe of the investment: hedge funds get in and out of an investmentwithin months, weeks, sometimes days. Quantitative skills are often more developedand required. One can say that, on average, private equity roles are more wellrounded and come with more variety in the day to day job. There are however manycommon features: the small team of bright professionals, often with internationalbackgrounds, the exceptional remuneration opportunities and the high flexibilitybeing close to the top of the value chain.

Understanding the jobs: The investment process and the roles inthe private equity firm

Most private equity firms are small (roughly 10-20 people for each billion dollarsunder management) and organised along the same lines, with a relatively heavysenior investment team supported by a few juniors, an individual or a small team incharge of fund raising, operating partners who can advise, second or take over themanagement of the portfolio companies, and a very light support staff (as most non-core activities are outsourced). Senior fund managers are likely to be involved in moststeps of the private equity investment process. In new or in smaller funds, they arealso likely to participate in fundraising.

The only job that varies significantly from one firm to the next is deal origination.Some firms have a dedicated person or team and most will leverage the entire seniorteam. In certain firms they have to develop their own network to identify earlyinvestment opportunities. In any case, this is always encouraged as earlyidentification and exclusive access to deals is one of the main drivers of performance.


31


e?

• Deal sourcing. Fund managers will assess the various opportunities brought byinvestment bankers, brokers and other contacts in their networks. Typically, nomore than 25 per cent of the deals are proprietary—the rest comes from the bankers(50 per cent) and from affiliated funds or advisors (25 per cent). Some firms havea thorough process of monitoring thousands of public and private companies toidentify underperformers or companies with non-core assets and excess costs. Mostbig firms will have to analyse hundreds of targets.

• Due diligence. During the due diligence, they will select and monitor their variousadvisors (investment bankers, lawyers, accountants, management consultants andother specialised advisors), often leaving the investment bankers with theresponsibility of coordinating the team.

In a fund of funds, the due diligence will be more targeted at the financialperformance and investment process of the fund. Managers will conduct most of thediligence themselves.

• Financial structure. The fund manager will discuss the financial structure and theuse of leverage with the debt and mezzanine finance providers. They may have toget approval from the General Partners.

INVESTMANT PROCESS OF PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS

Fund raising Deal sourcing Acquisition Post-acquisition

ExitManagement

• Investment strategy

• Investorshunting

• Set up funds

• Networking• Identification

of investment opportunities

• Preliminary investigation

• Prioritsation ofopportunities

• Due diligence• Set up of

financialstructure

• Valuation• GP agreement• Investment

Committeedecision

• Contractpreparation

• PortfolioMonitoring

• Portfolio and company management- Optimisationof operations

- Reorganisation- M&A- Strategic review

• Vendor due dilligence

• Valuation • Partial or total

divestmentthrough- IPO- Trade sale- Secondary sale- Write-off

Source: Candesic

32

• Investment Committee. Often working within a team, the fund manager will puttogether the various elements of the investment case and will submit it to theinvestment committee, composed of the senior partners and some of their advisors.

• Acquisition. Once the case is agreed upon internally, the team can make a bindingoffer to the vendor. If it is accepted, the acquisition proceeds, and may last three tosix months, with the due diligence likely to continue in the background.

• Post-acquisition. The performance of the companies in the portfolio is constantlymonitored and actions are taken if the results deviate from the tight plan that wasagreed upon with the management. Some firms will just have a fund managersitting on the board of the company; some will delegate one of their employees towork with the executive team; others will put entire teams of operationalconsultants to work.

• Exit. After a period of three to seven years, the portfolio company should haverepaid a substantial part of its debt. Hopefully, the new company has a reasonableleverage ratio and can be sold with a handsome profit to the public through anIPO, to another PE firm, or to a strategic investor through a trade sale. In recentyears, numerous secondary and tertiary transactions have occurred, when furthergrowth in the ownership of a bigger private equity firm is considered the bestoption, i.e., the option that maximises the current value of the portfolio company.

The firm will hire an investment bank to manage the sale process and prepare anInformation Memorandum (IM). It will generally hire accountants to prepare theVendor Financial Due Diligence document, and sometimes consultants for the VendorCommercial Due Diligence document.

Lifestyle

Private equity can be demanding. Like other high-paying jobs, it comes with a lot ofstress. One French Managing Director observes that the globalisation of the businessmakes life more difficult than it was 20 years ago, when nobody knew what privateequity was. “We were a small club of professionals and had plenty of opportunities.Now we compete against the world for every asset”. However, since most of the fundmanagers have had a previous experience in consulting, leveraged finance orinvestment banking, the transition to private equity is generally very satisfying: “Youhave fewer hours, less hierarchy, you work more for yourself, and you direct thework of others”, remarks a former M&A banker.


33


e?

Interview of a London director at 3i

– What do you like most about PE?

PE work is a daily challenge. I love being an entrepreneur.

– What do you dislike about PE?

The time pressure can be pretty intense!

– What recommendations would you give to a graduate interested in PE?

It is important to have previously worked in a different environment. There are basically threeoptions. I believe experience in transactions services (Big 4 accounting) is great you gain excellentanalytical financial skills. People who worked in investment banking have great technical skills(What is a good/bad investment?) but regarding their entrepreneurial mind-set, they can sometimeshave difficulties. I believe that the most important skills are the soft skills—hard skills can be learnt,but PE is a people business. My main role is communicating with the management. We need to buildpersonal relationships in order to influence the decision-making process from an informalperspective. These types of skills are best learnt at a strategy consultancy.

– What does the team structure look like?

3i, for example, has small teams of 3-4 PE fund managers and boosts the teams during projectphases with external legal, tax, strategy and finance consultants. But companies like Permiraor Cinven staff their teams with up to 10 people.

– How do you work together with the management of acquired companies?

First of all I sit on the board of the company. There is always a formal and an informal role.The formal role includes that we are a part of the organisation. We are not consultants, we areshareholders. The informal role includes personal relationships with the management. Theserelationships are often the key to making a good decision together.

– What role does pressure play in the daily work of PE fund managers? Please explainfrom an internal (teamwork) and external (work with management of acquiredcompanies) point of view.

The pressure is positive as long as the projects are going well. If the fund is losing moneyfrom that investment then the pressure increases significantly. It is even worse than for anentrepreneur. It is the money of the partnership and they are all alpha-people who do not liketo lose money. Fortunately, in my ten years in PE I have never had that situation.

34

– What are the exit strategies?

Normally you do not want to exit unless you want to retire. Some people leave PE after amajor mistake. The few that do leave have a lot of opportunities though, for example as a CEOor CFO. Our PE firm offers fund managers the possibility to move into one of our portfoliocompanies which can be interesting. However it is always a psychological problem for seniorPE fund managers to work again as employees. The mindset is different and the change isoften very difficult.

Interview with a former senior partner at London-based mid-cap fund

– What do you like most about PE?

PE is a hectic industry with lots of eagerness. Throughout the three steps of the private equityinvestment process (fundraising, transforming company, selling) there are a lot more areasinvolved: legal side, financial side, strategic side…

– What recommendations would you give to a graduate interested in PE?

The corporate finance area of a bank is a good way of starting with PE because mainly the sametasks are involved. When you work as a management consultant, it is always the same as oneaspect of PE you will experience: the commercial due diligence.

It would be good if consultancies could put their PE guys to work for a while within privateequity companies so that they would get the whole picture.

The best way to go into PE is to begin with a start-up PE firm. That way you grow into theprocess. Working in PE should be at least for 15 years. Normally it takes up to 10 years tofundraise and to build the portfolio and, basically, in the last 5 years you will make themoney.

Fundraising for our company meant 25 people working 5 years until we had 200 millionpounds together.

– What are the exit strategies?

It is difficult to leave a private equity firm because your incentives are always paid off a couple ofyears later. By leaving you accept that you don’t receive your full shares of all the deals you did.

I quit private equity at 45 but everybody in my company was very surprised because it wasan unusual move.


35


e?

People who work in PE have to be very clear about the fact that the work is very intense andthe cultural pressure is often very strong. We had to get rid of people during the last few yearsbecause they became too ambitious about their shares. It did not serve the company anymore.

Days in the life: Senior investment manager in London for majorpan-European LBO fund

7.30 am: I’m on my way to work checking my emails via BlackBerry.

8.00 am: Breakfast meeting regarding a potential target company with experts.

9.00 am: Today, I attend a management presentation. When we have a projectrunning I normally participate in contract negotiations with the company owners orthe financing banks which last late into the evening.

13:00 pm: I use lunch time to review my synthesis of market studies. I make sure thatthe consulting teams we hired for commercial due diligence are working in the rightdirection. We feel we have to challenge them by asking for updates or for moreinformation regularly.

On another day I would have lunch with colleagues or advisors and discuss potentialprojects.

Afternoon: Today, we don’t have contracts to negotiate and have organised afinancial due diligence presentation by a Big Four accounting firm at our office.

Dinner: If we had negotiations in the signing phase of the project I would stay at theoffice for a long night. Shortly before the final offer I will occasionally need to pullan all-nighter, but that is something I can expect and am prepared for. Today, as weare still discussing potential targets I can leave the office at 8pm for a dinner meeting.

I like to use meal times for meetings, although usually only have one of thesemeetings a day.

Day in the life: Business school student, junior analyst role as internin France for pan-European multibillion mid-cap LBO fund

9.00 am: I get into the office and glance over the finance section of the daily paper anda dedicated private equity newspaper we get delivered.

9.30 am: Team meeting. We normally talk about any issues and news relating to adeal in process, a company in our portfolio, or a new investment opportunity.

10.30 am: I start work on an IM (investment memorandum) which must be finishedwithin three weeks as we made an indicative offer last week. I start reading thecommercial and financial due diligences; I have a quick discussion with the directorin charge of the investment to talk about what points from the diligences he wantsme to focus on.

13.00 pm: Lunch.

14.00 pm: I keep working on the IM.

15.00 pm: Presentation with the management team to a large bank to get an idea ofhow much debt they would be willing to provide, and at what rates.

17.00 pm: In the wake of the previous meeting, we have a rough idea of the leveragelevel and interest rate for the deal and I update the financial model to check how theinternal rate of return (IRR) evolves with the new conditions.

17.30 pm: Call with an alternative potential debt provider for the same deal.Apparently they are not as interested as the first bank in this particular deal, but gaveus an idea of what benchmark levels we could expect.

18.00 pm: I have to find some peer comparables and make some research slides oninvestment opportunities. During my research, I come across some other companieswhich may interest the team, so I gather some key figures on each one.

19.30 pm: I start preparing a presentation for investors for the new fund which isbeing raised.

20.30 pm: Leave the office.

Day in the life: Investment manager in Spanish local fund

8.00 am: Breakfast with a potential business partner and a representative of aninvestment bank. We discuss the possibility of partnering to acquire an asset that isfor sale. The potential business partner operates in the same sector and thecombination of our skills and experience could be beneficial in this particular deal.

9.30 am: Return to the office and catch-up on e-mail and news.

9.45 am: Review and sign a non-binding letter of interest for the potential acquisitionof a target company. We have been working hard on the analysis of thisopportunity—today we submit our indicative offer.

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Vault Career Guide to Private Equity C

hapter Three: Is it the Right Job For Me?

10.15 am: Review a pack of due diligence reports on a potential investment we areconsidering. The pack includes the main findings on the financial, fiscal, commercialand legal areas, produced by a team of advisors assisting us in this transaction. Wehave an investment committee meeting later on and need to be well prepared for thediscussion.

11.45 am: Review Investment Memorandum (IM) prepared by internal deal team onthe same transaction.

13.00 pm: Interview a candidate for an analyst position in our fund.

14.00 pm: Lunch with the former manager of a large company. At this stage of hiscareer he would like to lead a management buyout. We discuss a couple of potentialinvestment opportunities and agree next steps.

16.00 pm: Investment committee meeting. We have a lively discussion around apotential investment that we are considering, its merits and risks. We are inexclusivity and getting close to a final commitment.

18.30 pm: Internal meeting to discuss overall status of projects we are working on.

19.30 pm: Meeting with a consulting firm. They have come here to present theirthoughts and views on the healthcare sector at our request. We discuss trends andopportunities.

20.45 pm: Go home.

Day in the life: Junior associate at a small fund in Milan, Italy

9.00 am: I start the day with research on the logistic market for an IM in process.When working on a new sector, it is necessary to understand exactly how it worksand be able to explain it to others. I discuss with other analysts who have moreexposure to the sector and conduct my own research on the internet, as well as ininternal documents and databases.

11.00 am: Briefing conducted by the boss to prepare the next meeting.

11.30 am: Meeting with two directors of a German real-estate group willing toparticipate in an investment in Russia. Two senior associates and I are present tolisten to their objectives, explain our offer and answer questions.

13.00 pm: Lunch with our guests.

37

14.00 pm: Conclusion of the meeting, signature of documents. I go back to my IM onlogistics.

15.30 pm: I call the initiator of the logistic project to ask for technical details that willbe included in the IM.

16.30 pm: I set up the prospective profit & loss and compute returns for the logisticventure.

18.00 pm: Meeting with an Italian entrepreneur looking for financing of a newventure. Entrepreneurs typically want to share a lot of the details of their ideas,because they want to be really really sure we understand. We often run into politicalaspects (it can be difficult to stop them!) so the meeting is quite long.

20.30 pm: Debriefing with the boss, we share our first impressions and decide if weshould carry on discussions further.

21.00 pm: Evaluation of the progress on the logistic IM.

21.20 pm: End of the working day.

Day in the life: Partner at German mezzanine fund (€500m AuM)

9.00 am: Arrive at the office. 15-minute daily briefing with the office manager(agenda of the day, overview of the mail) followed by a 15-minute daily briefingwith investment team (main tasks for the day).

9.30 am: Marketing calls with business partners: M&A advisors, lawyers, accountantsand PE firms regarding marketing plan (6-10 calls). Some fundraising calls too.

10.30 am: Meeting in our office with CEO and CFO of a German mid-size companylooking for expansion capital to acquire a competitor.

12.00 pm: Lunch with the two visitors.

14.00 pm: Reading a new information memorandum (IM) describing a fashionretailer for sale.

16.00 pm: Reading the financial due diligence by PWC on our most promising deals(construction industry); summary of the main points.

18.00 pm: Progress review on construction deal with investment manager (Research,financial model, etc) and distribution of tasks for the new deal.

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Vault Career Guide to Private Equity C

hapter Three: Is it the Right Job For Me?

19.00 pm: Conference call with English lawyers to discuss progress on fundraising fornew fund.

20.00 pm: Debriefing with the team.

20.30 pm: Dinner with lawyer.

Career paths

Maybe because it is such a young industry, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of life afterprivate equity. Not that there wouldn’t be opportunities, but as most of ourinterviewees observed, “Why move if I get everything I want here?” While we don’thave the most precise statistics, most people leave private equity to go into … privateequity! This can be moving into a larger fund, creating one’s own fund or sometimesmoving into an operational or interim management position in the portfolio.

There are a few cases of fund managers who transferred to a top executive positionin the industry, but a more natural development is to spend increasing time in non-executive director positions until full retirement. If not in the portfolio, even a CEOrole proves to be difficult as managers typically have five to 10 years of carry that theyrisk losing if they leave the fund. Only hedge funds have deep enough pockets tobuy out private equity fund managers.

39

40

CHAPTER FOUR: THE HIRING PROCESS

ost private equity funds don’t have a very formal recruitment process. Thefirms are small, the turnover is low, and so are the recruitment needs, unlessone has an aggressive international expansion. There are however a couple

of exceptions, like 3i, Bain Capital, Blackstone, Carlyle or Goldman Sachs PIA. Thekey success factors for entering the industry are the academic pedigree and thenetworking skills. For experienced candidates, an excellent track record is of courseanother requirement.

Many firms don’t have a recruiting or HR person but a recruiting committee chairedby one of the fund’s managers. Other HR responsibilities can be outsourced. After aninternal or external screening, a couple of candidates will be invited to a set of three orfour rounds of interviews. Even for internships, the average seems to be two rounds.While this is based on anecdotal evidence, many interviews are one on one. The fitwith the individual fund managers is a key component in a small transaction team.

Campus recruiting

Because most firms don't have a very formal recruitment process, they often don'trecruit on campus. In recent years, the big ones like Alpinvest, Blackstone, Alliaz,Axa or Goldman Sachs PIA may have appeared on selected MBA campuses likeINSEAD or LBS for graduate recruiting, but this used to be the exception. It ischanging fast: according to Sandra Schwarzer, who heads career services at INSEAD,at least nine PE firms participated in 2007 in company presentations or Career Fairs.While in 2006 a record 26 students declared joining a PE/VC firm straight afterINSEAD, this has gone up to 39 in 2007. We expect the number of schools visited togrow once the current credit crisis softens. It is also encouraging that an increasingnumber of the top MBA students have a summer internship in PE firms (20 atINSEAD in 2007). And there are a couple of opportunities for internships at otherschools: in France, for example, Axa PE and Barclays PE advertise on the Intranet oftop Parisian business schools to recruit interns.

Indeed, a growing number of funds now value the opportunity to recruit a couple ofyoung analysts for a gap year. They warn however that only a tiny percentage ofinterns may receive an offer afterwards as the firms often don't have the need formore permanent staff.

M


41

Chapter Four: The H

iring Process

Networking

• All top business schools now offer a private equity elective. This often givesstudents an opportunity to start networking very early, sometimes with a summerinternship or even a gap year working as an analyst. Some of them, like ChicagoGSB in London, also provide a private equity club where students can meet withalumni in the industry.

• Several European business schools are developing dedicated research focusing onprivate equity issues. The Nottingham University Business School created theCentre for Management Buy-out Research (CMBOR) in 1986 in partnership withBarclays Private Equity and Deloitte to monitor and analyse management buy-outs. ESSEC in France launched a private equity chair in 2006, sponsored byBarclays Private Equity. At London Business School, the Private Equity Institutehas been established to advance the understanding and practice of private equity.The Munich-based Centre for Private Equity Research (CEPRES) is managed

HEADHUNTERS TARGETING PRIVATE EQUITY

In the UK• Blackwood Group• Kinsey Allen Consulting• Marks Sattin Private Equity• Parker Linton Associates Ltd• Private Equity Recruitment (more for juniors with a couple of years experience• Stevenson James Search & Selection• Walker Hamill• Wood Hamill

In France• CT Partners• Alvedis Conseil• Boyden• Egon Zender

In Germany• PER (out of London)• Grip (Frankfurt)

In Spain• Korn Ferry• Heydrick & Struggles

Source: Candesic interviews

42

academically by Goethe Business School in Frankfurt and Technical UniversityMunich. Cass Business School is currently launching the Cass Private Equity Centre(CPEC) which will promote understanding and provide evidence of the key issuesand challenges in the industry. EDHEC in France is the exclusive provider ofpreparatory courses in Europe for the CAIA exams that cover all alternative assetclasses. Their research currently focuses more on hedge funds but could soonextend to private equity.

Search firms

Headhunters are mostly involved in looking for specialist skills. The typical mandateis to replace a senior manager or fill new senior positions following an expansionplan. While the major executive search firms all claim to be involved, ourinterviewees directed us to local specialist firms.

Website

Firm websites are often disappointing for candidates applying to small or mid-sizefunds. Most company websites won’t even mention the name of a recruiting personor give specific contact details. It is understood that the right candidate is alreadypart of the club or will be personally introduced. But strongly motivated candidatesshould not hesitate to try their chance through the switchboard.

Preparing for the interview

The type of questions depends a lot on the background of the managers. Oneexperienced candidate for a position in a London-based mid cap fund told us that“each former consultant asked me to draw a value driver tree and conducted a typicalconsulting case interview while each former investment banker tested my negotiationskills and my knowledge of valuation models”.


43

Chapter Four: The H

iring Process

General questions

– Why PE?

– Why this firm?

– What makes a good deal?

– How would you find deals, how do you know what to buy?

– How would you do it?

– Which deal can you describe and what do you think of it?

– If you had that amount of money, what would you buy in this country?

Behavioural questions

– What do you do in your spare time?

– Tell me about yourself.

Finance questions

– IRR vs. multiple

– How to motivate management

– How do you value a company? What is a P/E ratio?

– LBO model: candidates are expected to be familiar with LBO models. They arelikely to be asked to comment on a simple valuation model that may contain arelatively obvious miscalculation. In some cases, the candidate has to build a simplemodel on paper. Knowing the definitions and differences between free cash flowsto equity and free cash flows to the firm, how to choose the appropriate discountrate and calculate it, and how average EBIT or EBITDA multiples have been doinglately may be a deciding factor. At a major London-based firm, candidates are givena laptop and asked to build an LBO model.

– What are the pros and cons of using mezzanine to finance a transaction? In whichcases will you consider it? What should you be aware of?

44

Industry questions

– How many transactions can an analyst work on simultaneously? In a year?

– Give an example of an industry with high Capex, with no Capex.

Case studies

– For a given EBITDA in a given industry, how much leverage can you afford? Howdo you find out?

– Full case study including analysis of the growth drivers in an industry, major risksand competitive positioning of an asset. One Associate candidate in London reportsbeing sent all the case study material 24 hours prior to the interview with therequest to prepare a presentation to the Investment Committee.

37REPRESENTATIVEProfiles of

PE firms in Europe

US-ORIGINATED GLOBAL FUNDS with direct presence in Europe

PAN-EUROPEAN FUNDS

OTHER FUNDS with more regional focus

MEZZANINE FUNDS

FUND-OF-FUNDS

48

ADVENT INTERNATIONAL

UK Regional HeadquartersAdvent International plc111 Buckingham Palace RoadLondon SW1W 0SRUKTel: +44 20 7333 0800

www.adventinternational.com

THE STATS

Chairman: Peter A. BrookeEmployer Type: Independent PrivateCompany Total private equity funds under manage-ment: about €11bn (2008)Employees: 130 investment professionals,of which 65 are in Europe (2008)No. of Offices: 15

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors: Business Services & Financial Services Retail & Consumer Technology, Media & Telecoms Healthcare & Life Sciences Industrial

Financial stages: International buyouts, recapitalization andgrowth equity investments (up to €500mequity), some venture capital

Types of financing: Majority equity

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Amsterdam • Bucharest•Frankfurt • Kiev • Madrid • Milan •Paris • Prague • Warsaw • Bratislava(affiliate) • Oslo (affiliate)

REST OF THE WORLD

Boston (HQ) • Tokyo • Singapore(affiliate) • Buenos Aires • Sao Paulo •Mexico • Further affiliates in five othercountries

KEY COMPETITORS

3i • Apax • Barclays Private Equity •Cinven • Montagu

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

In the US: [email protected] other offices, see "contact us" atwww.adventinternational.com



49

Advent international

THE SCOOP

International investmentLondon and Boston-based Advent International is truly an international privateequity firm. While most of the big names in private equity have outposts in Europeand Asia, Advent takes "international" to another level, with 15 offices around theworld, from Argentina to Southeast Asia. In the last two years alone, it has openednew offices in Amsterdam, Prague and Kiev. Advent is also responsible for a numberof firsts in the global private equity landscape; they put together the first leveragedbuyout in Hungary and Poland; the first private equity-backed public-to-private dealin Central Europe and Spain; the first global private equity fund, in 1987; and thelargest-ever private equity fund dedicated to Latin America. Founded in 1985 as aspin-off of TA Associate’s international operations, the firm has backed more than 500companies in some 35 countries.

Middle of the road Advent invests in middle-market companies in five core sectors: business andfinancial services, retail and consumer, health care, industrial and technology, mediaand telecom. In North America and Europe, the typical Advent investment is $20million to $200 million; in Central Europe and Latin America, the average outlay ison the smaller end of the range, between $20 million and $60 million. Advent alsomanages venture capital funds focused on start-up to revenue-stage companies inHealth Care & Life Sciences, primarily in North America, not to be confused withUK-based Advent Venture Partners. The firm's venture investments usually run from$5 million to $20 million.

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

Advent International GPE VI

LAPEF IV (Latin America)

€6.6bn

$1.3bn

Most important funds

VINTAGE YEAR

2008

2007

Advent International GPE V

ACEE III (Central Europe)

€2.5bn

€330m

2005

2005

Advent International GPE IV €2.0bn2002

50

In December 2006, the firm won an impressive and unprecedented four industryawards at the fourth annual European Private Equity Awards organised by EVCA.The list included the European Private Equity House of the Year as well as theEuropean Mid-Market Deal of the Year, for Moeller in Germany, and the EmergingEuropean Deal of the Year, for Terapia in Romania.

Deal-makingAdvent has been on a shopping spree as of late with a clear acceleration in the lastthree years. In early 2005, the firm brought in the new year with the acquisition ofProservvi, the leading provider of back-office processing services to financialinstitutions in Brazil. Then in April, Advent bought a stake in Fat Face, the activecasual wear market leader in the U.K. One month later, across the Atlantic, theprivate equity group picked up Making Memories, the Utah-based provider ofscrapbook and card-making products. In June, Advent invested in the drillingservices and equipment company Boart Longyear and Italian vending machineoperator Gruppo Argenta. In August, the global private equity group acquired fivedifferent companies, ranging from a Romanian paints business to a technologycompany in the U.K. In September 2005, Advent bought a majority stake in CasaReha, a German private nursing home group. It pursued a buildup strategy and, in2007, doubled the size of the company with the acquisition of competitorSozialKonzept, catapulting Casa Reha into the top five of German private nursinghome groups. In December of the same year, Advent announced the sale of the groupto HgCapital.

Advent had already shown its skills in Germany with the 2006 turnaround and salefor €1.1bn, in an auction to Doughty Hanson, of global electronics manufacturerMoeller Group, which was on the verge of bankruptcy when acquired in December2003. This highly successful restructuring attracted the praise of the judges who sawthe deal as “an outstanding example of a traditional private equity house taking ona difficult asset and turning it around”.

In 2007, Advent headed again to Germany, this time to buy a €770m majority stakein German fashion discount chain Takko from Permira. The same year in the UK,Advent International acquired Worthing, a share registration business they renamedEquiniti, for £550m from Lloyds TSB Registrars. In December, Advent announcedthe first fully-financed public-to-private transaction since the summer’s turbulence inthe credit markets with the £524m acquisition of Domestic & General Group plc(D&G), the UK’s leading specialist provider of extended warranty plans for domesticelectrical goods. In France, it took a majority stake in Stokomani, the French discountretailer, from Alpha Group.


51

Advent international

The firm is also active all over Eastern Europe. In April 2007, it opened an office inPrague and, in September, it announced the first members of its Kiev team inUkraine. In December 2007, within two days, it acquired a 70 per cent stake in KAIGroup, Bulgaria’s largest manufacturer of interior and exterior floor, wall anddecorative ceramic tiles, and a 70 per cent stake in Bucharest-listed Ceramica Iasi,one of Romania’s leading ceramic bricks and clay roof tiles producers.

GETTING HIRED

Advent International has around 130 investment professionals working out of 15offices around the world. About half of them are based in Europe.

As a firm “half” headquartered in the US, the firm has its share of American MBAs.But the European team is not different, with almost half of the professionals holdingan MBA, and Harvard by far the most represented school in the team.

Strategy consulting (13%)

Audit & transaction services (7%)

Banks (35%)

Other (45%)

Master’s (23%)

Bachelor’s only (30%)

Unknown (1%)

PhD/JD/MD (5%)

MBA (41%)

Higher DiplomaHigher Diploma

Most significant previous jobMost significant previous job

Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

52

While the most represented former employer, McKinsey, accounts for 12 per cent of theEuropean professional staff, employees have relatively diverse backgrounds. Formerbankers represent 35 per cent of the team, slightly below the industry average.

Although the firm does not offer employment information on its web site, it doesprovide contact details for each of its outposts. Candidates interested in working forAdvent International should get in touch with the appropriate office (see "contactus" at www.adventinternational.com).

0

5

10

15

20

Wharton (4)

Oxford (5)

Cambridge (6)

INSEAD (10)

Harvard (18)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Merrill Lynch (3)

ING (3)

UBS (5)

Dresdner (6)

McKinsey (8)

Top 5 former employers (# of professionals)Top 5 former employers (# of professionals)

Top 5 universities attended (# of professionals)Top 5 universities attended (# of professionals)**double counting allowed for staff with several degrees

Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

53


111 Huntington AvenueBoston, MA 02199USATel: (617) 516-2000

London Office:Bain Capital LTDDevonshire House 6th flr, Mayfair Place London, W1J 8AJ UKTel: +44 20 7514 5252

www.baincapital.com;www.baincapital.co.uk

THE STATS

Managing Director, Bain Capital: JoshuaBekenstein and 25 other partnersManaging Director, Bain Capital Europe:Stuart GentEmployer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: $50 bn in 2008Employees: 650, with 270 investmentprofessionals, 175 in private equityNo. of Offices: 7

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors: Information TechnologyCommunicationsHealthcareIndustrial & ManufacturingRetail & Consumer ProductsFinancial Services Investments

Financial stages: Venture, expansion and growth capitalfor private & public companies; Manage-ment buyouts; Industry consolidations

Types of financing:Majority equity, participation, mezzanine,high yield debt

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ)• Munich

REST OF THE WORLD

Boston (HQ) • New York • Honh Kong• Shanghai • Tokyo

KEY COMPETITORS

Blackstone • KKR • TPG

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

www.baincapital.com/careers

BAIN CAPITAL

54

THE SCOOP

DealmakersBain Capital traces its roots back to 1984, when Bain & Company partners MittRomney (a former Governor of Massachusetts and presidential candidate), T.Coleman Andrews and Eric Kriss decided to leverage their private equity know-howby forming their own leveraged buyout and venture capital firm. According toFortune magazine, Bain Capital charges a 30 per cent fee to its limited partners,instead of the standard 20 per cent. It also differs from its peers in that it raises fundsmostly from university endowments, instead of pension funds. That doesn’t seem tohave been much of an issue so far; today the Boston-based private equity firm hasinvested in more than 240 companies with an aggregate transaction value in excessof $100 billion. The firm raised $13bn in 2006, at least $4bn more than was originallyanticipated, adding to a total of over $40bn currently under management. Notabledeals include Burger King, Toys R Us, Burlington Coat Factory, Brookstone,Domino's Pizza and Duane Reade. Bain was also part of a consortium of privateequity firms led by Silver Lake Partners to acquire SunGard Data Systems. The deal,completed in August 2005, was valued at $11.4 billion, making it the largesttechnology privatization and the second largest leveraged buyout ever completed—a record that lasted for only a few months. Bain Capital would go on to more thandouble its transaction size the next year, thanks in part to a longstanding habit ofjoining club deals.

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

Bain Capital Fund XI

Bain Capital Europe III

$20bn (target)

€3.5bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2008

2008

Bain Capital Fund X

Bain Capital Fund IX

$10bn

$6bn

2006

2005

Bain Capital Fund VIII $5bn2004


55

Bain Capital

Another clubberBetween 2000 and 2002 Bain Capital went over a year without completing a deal.This simmering of transactions was not a case of taking it easy, but merely runningtheir companies in tough market conditions instead of buying new ones. In thefollowing years, Bain Capital made four times its 2002 initial investment in BurgerKing over five years, according to The Deal, and the 2003 acquisition of Warner MusicGroup made $3.2bn on a $1.25bn investment in just a little over a year, as reportedin Forbes. The floodgates truly opened in 2006, when Bain completed an historictwelve transactions with a total value of $85bn (when including the $26.7bn ClearChannel transaction with Thomas Lee, which took another ten months to getshareholder approval). The major transaction of 2006 was the acquisition of HCAhospitals with KKR and Merrill Lynch for $33bn. In 2007, while not matching the2006 success, Bain Capital has nonetheless been busy, paying $1.9bn for GuitarCenter, $1.76bn for American Standard's bath and kitchen unit and $2.2bn for 3Com.

In Europe the firm doesn’t make the headlines as often as it does in the US. It ishowever an active investor, in particular in Germany, with current or pastinvestments in companies including ProSiebenSat.1 Media, Jack Wolfskin andSüddekor. In 2004 Bain Capital, whose European deals have been a mix of mid-market and large, was able to buy Brenntag, a global distributor of industrial andspecialty chemicals, from Deutsche Bahn for around €1.5bn. It sold the company toBC Partners only two years later for around €3.1bn including debts. In October 2007Bain Capital accepted an offer by paint and stain maker PPG Industries for coatingsproducer SigmaKalon at a price of around €2.2bn. Overall, about a third of its lastfund, Bain Capital Fund X, was invested in Europe.

The one, the manyBain Capital has offices in Boston, New York, London and Munich, to which itrecently added Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo. It employs 175 deal professionalsin the private equity division, of which only 16 are based in Europe. Although themajority of Bain's efforts are geared toward private equity (through Bain CapitalPrivate Equity and its European affiliate Bain Capital Limited), the company alsodabbles in venture capital, public equity and leverage debt assets. Absolute ReturnCapital (ARC) manages $600 million of capital in fixed income, equity andcommodity markets; Bain Capital Ventures, the venture capital arm, focuses on seedthrough late-growth equity investments in technology companies; Brookside Capitalis Bain's public equity affiliate, targeting publicly traded companies with long-termgrowth potential; and Sankaty Advisors invests in high-yield securities.

56

Value-addedWith its close ties to Bain & Company, it should come as no surprise that BainCapital's investment approach draws on its partners' consulting expertise. Accordingto the firm, its investment professionals evaluate companies on a "people-intensive,consulting-based due diligence process" that looks at "financial performance, marketpotential, industry attractiveness and competitive position." Once Bain invests in acompany, it takes an active role in improving the business.

GETTING HIRED

According to Dwight Poler, a managing director at Bain Capital in London, “Somefirms franchised by hiring a local team, which may have lacked the credibility on theinvestment committee at home”. Others only sent people from the US to make surethey had the experience and the trust back home, but found they lacked the reach andexperience locally. Bain Capital seeks professionals with a combination of deep localexpertise and international credibility. That may explain why half of the Londonsenior team graduated from Harvard Business School, with their first degree oftenobtained at top French engineering schools.

Bain Capital doesn’t disclose the profiles of the rest of the team, maybe to protectthemselves against competitors, maybe because the names change slightly faster thanusual in the industry, but some research shows the same top pedigrees as with thesenior team. To complement its investment team, the firm has been using operatingpartners for more than fifteen years and currently has more than thirty of themhelping to improve the operations in the portfolio.

Unlike many private equity groups, Bain Capital has both a web site and a careerpage ("careers" at www.baincapital.com). Candidates interested in working for thebuyout firm can learn more about current job openings—and apply—online. Forexample, the company offers a two-year associate program in any of its offices, whichstarts off with a multi-week training program designed to introduce newcomers toBain's "value-added" investment approach.

57


345 Park AvenueNew York, NY 10154Phone: +1 (212) 583-5000

London office:The Blackstone Group International Lim-ited40 Berkeley SquareLondon, W1J 5ALU.K.Phone: +44 (0)20 7451 4000

www.blackstone.com

THE STATS

Chairman and CEO: Stephen A.SchwarzmanEmployer Type: Listed company (NYSE)Ticker Symbol: BXTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €32.7bn (As of October 2007)2007 Revenue: >$3bnEmployees: 500+ (of the 400 profes-sionals, 98 work in private equity)No. of Offices: 9

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors: All, with a preference for out-of-favour,under-appreciated industries

Financial stages:Leveraged buyout acquisitions of sea-soned companies but also transactionsinvolving start-up businesses in estab-lished industries, turnarounds, minority

investments, corporate partnerships andindustry consolidations

Types of financing:Main: Majority equityOther: Minority equity, Debt, Investmentin third party fund, Mezzanine, Share-holder loans

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Paris

REST OF THE WORLD

New York (HQ) • Atlanta • Boston •Los Angeles • Hong Kong • Mumbai •Tokyo

KEY COMPETITORS

Bain Capital • Goldman Sachs • KKR •Permira • TPG

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

www.blackstone.com/careers

THE BLACKSTONE GROUP

58

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

Blackstone Capital Partners VI

Blackstone Credit Liquidity Partners

$20bn (target)

$2.1bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2008

2007

Blackstone Capital Partners V

Blackstone Real Estate Partners V

$21.7bn

$5.25bn

2007

2006

Blackstone Capital Partners IV $6.45bn2002

THE SCOOP

B is for BigThe Blackstone Group got started in 1985 as an M&A advisory boutique with a staffof four and a balance sheet of $400,000. Today, Blackstone controls or has a stake in45 companies totaling $72 billion in revenue with 350,000 employees, making it oneof the four or five biggest private equity funds in the world. While the firm manageda record $92 billion in 2007, a healthy $32 billion came from corporate private equity.The group boasts expertise in a number of areas—including corporate debt, realestate, hedge funds, other asset management and advisory services—but its privateequity business has become its bread and butter. Blackstone's first buyout fundclosed in 1987 at $950 million, making it the largest first-time fund ever. Twentyyears later, in August 2007, Blackstone set another record when it established its $21.7billion Blackstone Capital Partners V fund.

In total, the firm has raised more than $36 billion across six private equity funds, andas Blackstone's funds get larger, so do the deals. The $38.7 billion buyout of US realestate firm Equity Office Properties Trust, completed in February 2007, was thelargest private equity transaction until the $45 billion acquisition in October 2007 ofTXU by KKR and TPG, itself followed by the announcement of a $51.7 billionacquisition of BCE by Teachers’ a few months later.

In total, Blackstone has invested in over 114 companies worth more than $200 billion.Its sheer size exposes it to the scrutiny of the public and the media. In July 2007,Blackstone publicly denounced a front page article in The New York Times “filled


59

The Blackstone Group

with inaccuracies, myths, and misrepresentations that give a false impression ofBlackstone’s tax situation and that of its partners”.

In May 2007, China's government announced it had agreed to make a $3bninvestment in the Blackstone Group in the form of non-voting common units, givingit close to 10 per cent of the shares. It was the first time Beijing has invested its foreignreserve in a commercial transaction. In addition, it is understood that China’s foreignreserve agency has agreed not to invest in rival private equity groups for 12 months.It is widely believed that by having China as a partner, Blackstone will receivepreferential access to China's market. For China, it may be a way to bypass therestrictions that prevent it from making sensitive investments in Western countries.

Shortly after, Blackstone raised $4.1bn in one of the largest IPOs in history. However,nine months after being issued to the public, shares in Blackstone languished at 35 percent below the $31 issuing price. In early 2008, Blackstone announced a $500 millionunit repurchase programme, explaining, “We believe our common units areundervalued”. While the share price didn’t recover, Blackstone reportedly sent, in thefirst quarter of 2008, a fundraising prospectus to some investors for the newBlackstone Capital Partners VI fund, with an unofficial target of $20 billion.

B-list industry investingBlackstone invests in what it calls "out of favor" industries. Ignoring swings inconventional wisdom about the attractiveness of certain sectors, Blackstone puts itsmoney in "B-list" industries such as cable television, rural cellular, refining andautomotive parts. The company's investment approach also includes partnershipswith leading corporations, such as AOL Time Warner, AT&T and Sony, rigorous duediligence and an active role in monitoring portfolio companies. The firm has adedicated senior operating partner who is responsible for overseeing the strategic,operational and financial performance of its investments, and employs former C-level executives who act as advisors and board members.

Building blocksIn 2005, Blackstone completed the acquisition of Merlin Entertainment, an operatorof branded visitor attractions, for £102.5 million. The transaction indicated the firm'sseriousness about the leisure sector and, more specifically, European attractions andtheme parks. Two years later, the firm announced the deal with the Tussauds Groupto create the world’s second biggest visitor attractions operator after Disney. Merlinnow employs 13,000 people in 12 countries and across three continents and managesa balanced portfolio of 51 attractions that includes iconic brands LEGOLAND,

60

Madame Tussauds, British Airways London Eye, Sea Life, Dungeons, Gardaland andAlton Towers.

In December 2006, Blackstone acquired Tragus Holdings, one of the largest mid-market restaurant chain operators in the UK, from Legal & General Ventures for£267m. In 2007, Tragus grew by acquisitions, first with the MA Potters sites followedby the Strada pizza chain in a £140m deal. Despite missing the La Tasca tapas barauction, the enlarged Tragus now has over 230 outlets and is the leading player in theFrench and Italian restaurant sectors.

In July 2007, six months after selling the Extended Stay Hotels to the LightstoneGroup for $8bn, Blackstone re-entered the hotel sector and took Hilton Hotels privatefor $26bn in an all-cash transaction. Hilton Hotels Corporation is the leading globalhospitality company, with 2,896 properties totaling approximately 490,000 rooms in76 countries and territories.

In Europe, the firm is also active in manufacturing. In December 2006, it paired withPAI to acquire United Biscuits for €2.3bn. In May 2007, it bought KloecknerPentaplast, the world’s leading manufacturer of rigid plastic films from Cinven for€1.3bn. It also partnered with the other buyout giants KKR, Goldman Sachs and TPGto acquire Biomet in Poland in September 2007.

Another sector of interest to Blackstone is energy. In 2005, the private equity groupacquired an 80 percent stake in Sithe Global Power. Previous energy investmentsinclude Premcor, Inc., a U.S. refiner of petroleum products (acquired by Valero in2005); Texas Genco, a Houston-based wholesale electric power generating company;Foundation Coal, a U.S. coal mining company; and Kosmos Energy, an oilexploration company.

Going globalWhile Blackstone's primary market is North America, the New York-based firm hasincreased its focus on Europe and Asia in recent years. The group opened an officein London in August 2000, an outpost in Hamburg in September 2003, an office inMumbai in May 2005 and an outpost in Hong Kong in January 2007. To coverEurope, the group also entered into a strategic alliance with Roland Berger StrategyConsultants in February 2001. The partnership gave Blackstone access to intellectualcapital and local knowledge of key European markets. The firm is also expandinginto Eastern Europe and in 2007 invested a reported $178 million, as part of a $575million MBO, for a 51 per cent stake in Lattelecom, the Latvian telecommunicationscompany majority-owned by the Latvian government.


61


More than just private equityAlthough Blackstone's private equity group has earned the firm an elite status, itsother divisions should not be discounted. The firm's M&A group, for example, hashad its hands in several high-profile transactions over the years, including two bigfinancial services deals. In 2000, Blackstone advised PaineWebber on its $10.8 billionsale to UBS, and Alliance Capital Management on its $3.5 billion purchase of SanfordC. Bernstein. In 2005, the firm advised Comcast on its $18 billion acquisition ofAdelphia Communications. In 2006, they opened an office in London to expand theiradvisory service offerings beyond their U.S. base. And, in July 2007, Blackstoneadvised China Development Bank on its plan to invest $14 billion for a stake inBarclays PLC.

Mostly active in the U.S., Blackstone's restructuring department has advisedcompanies and creditors in more than 150 situations, involving $350 billion of totalliabilities. In an attempt to cut costs to avoid bankruptcy, Delta Air Lines hiredBlackstone to assist with its restructuring efforts. RCN Corporation switched fromMerrill Lynch to Blackstone for its financial restructuring negotiations with its seniorsecured lenders. Blackstone also acted as lead advisor in the restructurings of bothEnron and Global Crossing.

A few years ago, the real estate group, operating out of the New York, London andParis offices, boasted that it owned more than 13 million square feet of real estate inBoston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. With the recent inclusion ofHilton, Equity Office and Trizec Properties, this number is now significantlybolstered and the unit may have the largest real estate portfolio on the Street. Thetotal enterprise value of the 223 transactions effected by the real estate operationsfrom 1992 through September 30, 2007, was over $103 billion.

The marketable alternative asset management segment manages more than $40 billionas of September 30, 2007. It includes funds of hedge funds, mezzanine funds, seniordebt vehicles, proprietary hedge funds and publicly-traded closed-end mutual funds.

Blackstone's corporate debt group is actually two businesses: Blackstone MezzanineAdvisors and Blackstone Debt Advisors (BDA). These various vehicles haveaggregate capital commitments of over $11 billion. Blackstone's mezzanine funds of$2.1 billion are among the largest of their kind and have investments in firms suchas Colt Defense LLC. BDA is a relatively new group (created in 2002) and managesseveral CDO (Collateralised Debt Obligation) funds for investment predominantly insenior secured loans. They include seven US CDOs ($4.7 billion) and four EuropeanCDOs ($2.9 billion). And, to capitalise on the recent dislocations in the credit markets,in December 2007 Blackstone closed a new Credit Liquidity Fund on $1.3 billion to

62

invest globally in a broad range of debt and debt-related instruments, includingsecurities issued by CDOs.

Last but definitely not least is the Blackstone Alternative Asset Management unit(headed by BAAM president and CEO J. Tomilson Hill), which had a staggering $27billion of assets under management in funds of hedge funds as of November 2007.

In January 2008, Blackstone announced the acquisition of GSO Capital Partners, analternative asset manager that will bring its $10 billion under management inmezzanine, credit, senior debt and CLO funds, as well as 120 professionals, for $1 billion.

GETTING HIRED

Most senior investment professionals had a career before joining Blackstone. Whilea third of them went to investment banking, the recruiting is much more diversified,with a significant proportion coming from industrial sectors. The main differencewith other players is the absence of accountants.

Half of the senior private equity team holds an MBA, predominantly from Harvardand the other top US universities, as most of the team is still located in the US.


63


0

3

6

9

12

15

Georgetown (3)

Columbia (3)

Stanford (4)

U-Penn (8)

Harvard (13)

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

Goldman Sachs (2)

JP Morgan Chase (2)

Citigroup (2)

Morgan Stanley (2)

Credit Suisse (3)

Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic




Banks (33%)

Other (60%)

Master’s (5%)


PhD/JD/MD (2%)

MBA (53%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

64

To learn more about job opportunities with Blackstone, check out the careers sectionof the company web site. There, the firm provides information on summerinternships and campus recruiting, as well as experienced and international hiring.The group hires recent undergraduates as analysts and recent MBAs as associates.Recruiting typically takes place in the fall for full-time programs and in January forinternships.

US schools on Blackstone's campus schedule include Harvard, University ofMichigan, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas at Austin and Universityof Virginia. Students whose schools Blackstone does not visit can apply for theseprograms online. The recruiting process typically involves an on-campus interviewfollowed by one or two rounds at the firm's New York office. Experienced hires cancontact the firm via an online application.

In Europe, recruitment is handled on a case-by-case basis. However, for those whohave relevant experience and local language skills where appropriate, or havesignificant experience working in the relevant geographic region, they should contactthe London Human Resources department at [email protected] orvisit the How To Apply section for more information on submitting an applicationonline. While Blackstone currently has nine offices in six countries, its private equitygroup operates in London, New York, Hong Kong and Mumbai.

65


1001 Pennsylvania Avenue, NWWashington, D.C. 20004-2505Tel +1 (202) 729-5626

London office:Lansdowne House57 Berkeley SquareLondon W1J 6ERUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7894 1200

www.thecarlylegroup.com

THE STATS

Chairman: Louis V. Gerstner Jr.Managing partners: William E. ConwayJr., David M. Rubenstein, Daniel A.D'AnielloEmployer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: $58bn in 2007 (€9bn in Europe)No. of Employees: 995 (560 investmentprofessionals)No. of Offices: 29 in 21 countries

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:Aerospace & DefenseAutomotive & TransportationConsumer & RetailEnergy & PowerHealthcareIndustrialReal EstateTechnology & Business ServicesTelecommunications & Media

Financial stages: Buyouts, venture capital, real estate, in-frastructure

Types of financing: Majority equity, participation, mezzanine,leveraged finance

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Barcelona • Frankfurt • London • Luxembourg • Milan • Munich • Paris •Stockholm

REST OF THE WORLD

Washington DC (HQ) • Charlotte •Denver • Los Angeles • New York •Newport Beach • San Francisco • Mex-ico City • Sao PaoloBeijing • Hong Kong • Mumbai • Seoul •Shanghai • Singapore • Sydney • Tokyo• Beirut • Cairo • Dubai • Istanbul

KEY COMPETITORS IN EUROPE

Bain Capital • Blackstone • CVC • KKR• Permira • TPG

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Europe: [email protected] States: [email protected]: [email protected]: [email protected]

THE CARLYLE GROUP

THE SCOOP

Carlyle talks baseballWith nearly $58 billion under management before the demise of Carlyle Capital Corp,the Carlyle Group is one of the world's largest private equity firms. It was foundedin 1987 by David Rubenstein, William Conway, Jr., Daniel D'Aniello, Stephen Norrisand Greg Rosenbaum and named after the New York City hotel. Since then, thegroup has invested around $20 billion of equity in more than 600 transactions. Butthe Washington D.C. based company is quick to tell you that it doesn't "swing forthe fences"—that is, go for home-runs. Instead, the group pursues a conservativeinvestment approach, preferring to hit more singles (and doubles and triples) withfewer strikeouts. Indeed, Carlyle points to its caution as a trait that sets it apart fromcompetitors—that, and its team of 560 investment professionals, with about 50 percent holding an MBA, and 15 per cent a JD, MD or PhD.

Well connectedCarlyle has historically been famous for its political connections. Senior advisors haveincluded former US President George Bush Sr. and former UK Prime Minister JohnMajor. The controversy around its access to funds and government contracts led

66

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

Carlyle Partners V

Carlyle Infrastructure Partners I

$15bn (target)

$1.15bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2008

2007

Carlyle European Partners III

Carlyle Realty Partners V

€5.35bn

$3.00bn

2007

2007

Carlyle Partners IV $7.85bn2005

Carlyle European Partners II €1.80bn2005

Carlyle Asia Partners II

Carlyle/Riverstone Energy III

$1.80bn

$3.80bn

2005

2005

Carlyle/Riverstone Renewable Energy I $0.68bn2005

Carlyle Mezzanine Partners I $0.44bn2004


67

The Carlyle G

roup

Carlyle to review its portfolio and reduce its exposure to companies too dependenton government contracts. It still boasts renowned advisors like Lou Gerstner, theformer CEO of IBM, and Arthur Levitt, the former Chairman of the SEC. Among itsinvestors, Carlyle counts CalPERS, which owns about 5.5 per cent since 2001, and,since 2007, the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund, which took a 7.5 per cent stake that valuedthe group at $20 billion.

Join the clubAlthough the group considers investments in a wide range of industries, it focuseson a few key sectors, including telecom and media, real estate, aerospace, informationtechnology, energy and industrial. The firm dabbles in venture capital, leveragedfinance and real-estate, but the majority of its deals are management-led buyouts. Inthe last three years, the group has increased the size of its investments to focus onjumbo multi-billion dollar club deals with the likes of Blackstone and KohlbergKravis Roberts (KKR). In September 2005, for example, the private equity groupjoined forces with Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equityto acquire Hertz, the world's largest vehicle rental group, from Ford Motor Companyfor $15 billion—beating out other private equity groups vying for the investment.

Just a month earlier, in August 2005, the firm exited an investment in satelliteoperator PanAmSat, which was sold to competitor Intelsat. Back in 2004, the CarlyleGroup, together with KKR and Providence Equity Partners, acquired PanAmSat for$2.6 billion. The $3.2 billion price tag paid by Intelsat represents a $600 million gainfor the private equity consortium. What's more, the investors had already mademillions off the investment by taking 42 percent of PanAmSat public in an IPO thatraised $2.9 billion.

Recently, club deals have increased in size, as evidenced by the acquisitions in 2006of energy infrastructure provider Kinder Morgan for $22 billion, with RiverstoneHoldings LLC, and Freescale Semiconductor with TPG, Blackstone and Permira for$17.6 billion.

Carlyle is currently raising its biggest fund ever with a target of $15 billion for U.S.buyouts. In 2007, it already raised a new €5 billion fund for European buyouts aswell as its first infrastructure fund. Geographically, the Carlyle Group is a globalcompany with 29 offices in 21 countries, and its European and Asian investmentsalready account for a third of its assets. According to Fortune, the buyout activitiesboast an average annual return of 34 per cent. While private equity remains its focus,Carlyle also manages various mezzanine and high yield funds. In 2007 the grouphired a variety of traders from defunct Amaranth Advisors and launched the Multi-

68

Strategy Master Fund, its first hedge fund, with an opening value of $700 million.The timing wasn’t ideal and the performance in the second half of 2007 wasn’timpressive. In 2008, Carlyle was more deeply hit by the bankruptcy of Carlyle CapitalCorporation, its $22bn Euronext-listed credit (i.e., mortgage-backed securities) fund.Carlyle’s CEO had been one of the first public figures to raise the alarm bell on theexess levels of leverage, and the news came as a shock.

Eastern outlookIn 2005, the Carlyle Group announced a significant expansion of its pan-Asianinvestment activities, with the opening of new offices in Beijing, Mumbai and Sydney.In total, the Carlyle Asia buyout group has eight offices. In addition, it set up in 2006the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) group with four offices.

The private equity group first got involved in Asia in 1998 when the firm acquired acontrolling stake in Korea's KorAm Bank for $450 million. In April 2004, KorAm wassold to Citigroup for $2.7 billion, representing a $650 million profit for Carlyle and a250 percent return on investment for the group's investors. So what is the group'srecipe for success? Combine a new CEO and management team with streamlinedoperations, wait three to five years, then sell.

Old EuropeCarlyle is able to leverage its expertise in the defense & aerospace sectorinternationally. In February 2003, it acquired a 30 per cent stake in British defenceresearch company QinetiQ for £150m, becoming a strategic partner with the U.K.Ministry of Defence, the main shareholder. In 2006, QinetiQ was successfully floatedon the London Stock Exchange. In 2007 Carlyle sold its remaining 10 per cent stakefor £140m, contributing to a total profit of at least £240m from its four-yearinvestment in the company.

With 125 investment professionals, fifty of them dedicated to buyouts, the Europeanteam is one of the largest among all private equity firms. While Carlyle’s Europeantransactions tend to be smaller than in the US, the group has been involved in severallandmark deals in Europe. In particular, in 2006, Carlyle partnered with Blackstone,KKR, Thomas H. Lee Partners, Hellman & Friedman and AlpInvest Partners toacquire Dutch publisher and market research giant VNU Group (Nielsen) for $10bn.That same year Bayer sold H.C. Starck to Advent International and The CarlyleGroup for €1.2bn.


69

The Carlyle G

roup

In 2007, Carlyle took a participation of 35 per cent in Numericable and Completel,alongside Cinven. It also acquired Arsys, the Spanish provider of web hosting anddomain registration services, with Mercapital for €160m, and the SpanishCertification Group Applus+ for an enterprise value of €1.48bn in the second largestinvestment undertaken by a Private Equity Fund in Spain to date.

In 2007, Carlyle’s global portfolio included 200 companies across all activities, whichin turn employ more than 280,000 workers and have $87 billion in sales.

GETTING HIRED

The Carlyle Group offers opportunities for investment professionals, supportprofessionals, associates and senior associates. Investment professionals are involvedin the analysis, execution, monitoring and exit of private equity investments. Supportprofessionals are part of the investor services team, which encompasses accounting,administration, corporate communications, human resources, informationtechnology, investor relations and legal. Associates are typically recentundergraduates with a strong GPA and two years of investment banking orconsulting experience. Associates at the Carlyle Group go through a formal two-year program. Senior associates generally hold an MBA and have three to four yearsof private equity, investment banking or consulting experience. Typical formeremployers are McKinsey and BCG in consulting, and JP Morgan and Lazard ininvestment banking. Candidates interested in applying for a position at the CarlyleGroup should send a resume and cover letter to the appropriate region (U.S., Europe,Asia or Japan).

70

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

BCG (4)

Lazard (5)

JPMorgan (5)

McKinsey (5)

LaSalle Bank (7)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

ESCP-EAP (4)

HEC (5)

Cambridge (5)

INSEAD (6)

Harvard (7)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic


Unknown (3%)

PhD/JD/MD (6%)

MBA (23%)

Master’s (20%)



Banks (36%)

Other (50%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

Head office:3 Pickwick PlazaGreenwich, CT 06830Tel: +1 (203) 629-8600

UK office:83 Pall Mall, Fourth Floor London SW1Y 5ES, UK Tel: +44 20 7484-3200

www.generalatlantic.com

THE STATS

Chairman: Steve A. DenningEmployer Type: Private Company2007 Revenue: $6.9bn 2008 Assets under management: $17bn No. of Employees: 150No. of Offices: 9

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:Financial ServicesMedia & ConsumerHealthcareEnterprise SolutionsCommunications & ElectronicsEnergy & Resources

Financial stages:Investments range from $50m to $500min equity for growth, expansions, buy-outs, consolidations and build-ups

Types of financing:Minority to majority equity in private andpublic firms

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London • Düsseldorf

OTHER LOCATIONS

Greenwich (HQ) • New York • PaloAlto • Washington, D.C. (Portfolio sup-port office) • Hong Kong • Mumbai •Sao Paulo (Portfolio support office)


Permira • Summit Partners • TA Associ-ates • TPG

MOST IMPORTANT FUNDS

GA operates with an “evergreen” fundstructure in which its partners make stag-gered long-term commitments.

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Phone: +1 (203) 629-8600For additional contact information, checkthe company website at www.generalat-lantic.com

GENERAL ATLANTIC

71

THE SCOOP

The Atlantic and beyondConnecticut-based General Atlantic is a global private equity group with an exclusivefocus on information technology, process outsourcing and communicationsinvestments. They invest not only in providers of information technology but also inthose companies for which technology is a key competitive differentiator. Foundedin 1980, the firm first began to seek investments outside the U.S. in the 1990s. Sincethen, it has established offices in London, Dusseldorf, Hong Kong, Mumbai, SaoPaulo and Singapore and has invested in more than 160 companies. Today, nearlyhalf of the firm's portfolio investments are foreign companies. General Atlanticgenerally invests in eight to 12 companies per year, for an annual investment targetof $1 billion, and currently boasts over 50 companies in its portfolio. Its portfolioincludes holdings in Hewitt Associates, NYSE Euronext and Lenovo. All in, the techprivate equity group has around $15 billion in capital under management. The firmdistinguishes itself with its evergreen funding structure and its long-term investmenthorizon. They only make investments where they believe that they can help themanagement team build a market leader over five to 10 years.

Succession plansIn February 2005, co-founder and chairman of the firm's executive committee StevenA. Denning was named chairman, and William E. Ford, a managing director andchairman of the firm's investment committee, was named president. The two newly-created positions reflect the company's succession plans—Denning continues tooversee strategy and capital raising, while Ford assumes responsibility for the group'soperations, continuing to manage its investment activities. Before joining GeneralAtlantic in 1991, Denning was a consultant with McKinsey & Co and Ford was aninvestment banker with Morgan Stanley. They both received their MBAs fromStanford.In the same month, General Atlantic announced a name change. Thecompany, previously known as General Atlantic Partners, dropped the "partners" toreflect the fact that it is a limited liability company, not a partnership.

72

In the pitsIn February 2007, General Atlantic invested a rumored $800 million for NetworkSolutions, the original domain name registrar that was part of Verisign before beingspun off in 2003. Since that time, they’ve lost significant market share to discountoperations like eNom or GoDaddy. They now have about 6.6 million domain namesunder management.

In May 2007, General Atlantic took a minority equity share in GETCO, a leadingelectronic liquidity provider and trading firm. Two months later, it acquired Dutchcompany GlobalCollect, the world’s premier full-service international e-payment serviceprovider, from Waterland Private Equity Investments and Prime Technology Ventures.

In Germany, in December 2005, the firm took a minority stake in Navigon, one ofEurope's leading suppliers of mobile navigation systems. It had also invested inCompuGroup AG, LHS AG and TDS AG. General Atlantic, which had been a strategicTDS partner since its 1998 IPO, increased its equity holding from 27 per cent to 71 percent in 2003 at €2.35 per share. In December 2006, it sold its stake to Fujitsu Services,the European IT services arm of the Fujitsu Group, for a price of €2.80 per share.

The firm has also been active in the UK; they acquired a third of Torex RetailHoldings Limited, the world’s leading provider of retail systems solutions with 2,100staff across 19 countries, from Cerberus in August 2007. Torex provides software,hardware and services to major UK retailers like Tesco, Selfridges and Argos. Whilethe terms of the transaction were not disclosed, Cerberus had bought it out ofadministration in June for £204.4 million.

In 2006, the media reported that UK-based Northgate Information Solutions hadreceived several acquisition offers, one of which was believed to be a £600m offerfrom General Atlantic, a minority shareholder. Shortly after, Northgate formallyterminated “any discussions with a third party that may have led to its acquisition”.In December 2007, GA agreed to sell its stake to KKR, who paid £593m for the wholeof Northgate, a 40 per cent premium to the company’s share price even after itannounced it was in bid talks again.

Altogether, in 2007 General Atlantic acquired twelve new companies for total capitalof $2.1 billion.

General A

tlantic

73


GETTING HIRED

While General Atlantic offers a few internships in the US, the European operationswith only thirteen investment professionals are too small to justify it.

The global team is heavily weighted with former investment bankers, mainly fromMorgan Stanley, and consultants, mainly from McKinsey, these two happening tobe the former employers of the Chairman and of the President.

General Atlantic does not provide information about job opportunities on its website. Interested individuals should contact the firm's offices directly.

PhD/JD/MD (1%)


Unknown (7%)

MBA (46%)

Master’s (12%)



Banks (41%)

Other (37%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

74

0

3

6

9

12

15

Deloitte (5)

Citigroup (5)

Goldman Sachs (5)

McKinsey (8)

Morgan Stanley (15)

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

Stanford (2)

ESCP-EAP (3)

Oxford (3)

Harvard (4)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

General A

tlantic

75


76



The Stats

Chairman: Peter A. BrookeEmployer Type: Independent PrivateCompany Total private equity funds undermanagement: about €11bn (2008)Employees: 130 investment professionals,of which 65 in Europe (2008)No. of Offices: 15

Company Focus




European Locations

London (HQ)Amsterdam • Bucharest •Frankfurt •Kiev • Madrid • Milan • Paris • Prague •Warsaw • Bratislava (affiliate) • Oslo(affiliate)

Rest of the World

Boston (HQ)Tokyo • Singapore (affiliate) • BuenosAires • Sao Paulo • Mexico • Furtheraffiliates in five other countries

Key Competitors


Employment Contact



10-15 Newgate Street, ChristchurchCourt LondonEC1A 7HD United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 7774 1000

www.goldman-sachs.ro/services/invest-ing/private-equity

THE STATS

Co-heads of PIA Europe: Sanjay Pateland Hughes LepicHead of European Private Equity GroupEurope: Mark BoheimEmployer Type: Division of publicly listedGoldman Sachs (NYSE)Ticker Symbol: GSTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: About $50bn (globally)Employees: 85 (PIA in 2007)No. of Offices: 5

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:All sectors

Financial stages: Bridge, Expansion - development, Largebuyout ($150m-$300m equity), Megabuyout (>$300m equity), Mid marketbuyout ($15m-$150m equity), Otherearly stage, Privatisation, Public to pri-

vate, Replacement, Seed, Small buyout(<$15m equity), Start-up, Turnaround –restructuring, Infrastructure, Funds offunds

Types of financing: Main: Majority Equity, Minority Equity,Mezzanine

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London

REST OF THE WORLD

New York (HQ) • San Francisco • HongKong • Tokyo


Bain Capital • Blackstone • Carlyle •KKR • Permira • TPG

CAREERS CONTACT AND WEBSITE

[email protected] (Private Equity Group)http://www2.goldmansachs.com/careers/

GOLDMAN SACHSPRINCIPAL INVESTMENTAREA

Goldm

an Sachs Principal Investment A

reaVault Career Guide to Private Equity

77

THE SCOOP

Goldman Sachs, the pre-eminent investment bank, has been an active private equityinvestor for more than twenty years. Since 1986, Goldman Sachs' PrincipalInvestment Area has formed 13 investment vehicles aggregating $56 billion of capitaland investing in over 600 companies. The firm’s Principal Investment Area has over125 professionals split across offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Hong Kongand Tokyo, with separate divisions handling different classes of investments, namely:

• Goldman Sachs Capital Partners is the private equity arm of GoldmanSachs, dealing with privately negotiated equity investments

• Infrastructure Investment Group manages Goldman’s infrastructure fund,aimed at making direct investments in infrastructure or infrastructurerelated assets

• Goldman Sachs Mezzanine Partners manages the largest dedicatedmezzanine fund in the world, and looks to provide mezzanine finance tolarge complex deals

• Real Estate Principal Investment Area, through the Whitehall Funds, hasraised around $24 billion to invest alongside partners in real estate assets

• Real Estate Alternatives currently manages a single fund with $650 millionallocated to identifying interesting real estate investments

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

GS Capital Partners VI

GS Mezzanine Partners 2006

$20.3bn

$9bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2007

2006

GS Infrastructure Partners I

GS Capital Partners V

$6.5bn

$8.5bn

2006

2005

GS Mezzanine Partners III $3.5bn2003

78

• Technology Principal Investment Area invests from various funds,including GS Capital Partners VI, targeting technology companies in allstages, investing anywhere from $2 million in early stage ventures to $250million in mature private equity situations

• Urban Investment Group is the primary investment vehicle for GoldmanSachs to invest in companies owned or operated by ethnic minorities, orreal estate developments targeting urban areas

• Goldman Sachs Private Equity Group mainly manages funds of privateequity funds, although also makes secondary and direct co-investments

Rise of the tradersEstablished in 1991, the GS Capital Partners Funds are part of the firm's PrincipalInvestment Area in the Merchant Banking Division. Goldman Sachs Capital Partnersis the direct private equity arm of Goldman Sachs, having invested $17 billion in thetwenty years from 1986 to 2006.

In 2005, GS Capital Partners closed their fifth fund at $8.5 billion, with 30 per centcoming from Goldman, in line with their proprietary investment approach. Shortlyafter, the fund teamed up with Cinven to acquire Ahlsell AB, the Nordic distributionbusiness, in a deal that is estimated to have valued the company at €1.4 billion. Italso bought wind generation company Zilkha Renewable Energy and sold it twoyears later as Horizon Wind Energy to Portugal’s largest utility, EDP, for more than$2.1 billion, with a profit of $900m.

That same year, Richard Sharp, then European head of the principal investment area,was nominated as one of the 100 most influential people in European capital marketsby The Financial News. In the UK, Sharp and his team had been aggressively targetingcompanies such as BAA, ITV, AB Ports, London & Continental Railways andMitchells & Butlers pubs, threatening them with takeovers. In the case of ITV,Goldman, together with Blackstone and Apax, intended to replace the chief executivewith their own candidate. When the ITV board rejected the consortium’s offer, theyappealed directly to shareholders. At one point, Goldman’s top management realisedthe danger of too aggressive a move, especially when competing with and upsettingits investment banking and private equity clients. In 2006 former CEO Paulson calledoff the “London dogs” and Sharp stood down as chairman for Private Equity.

Members onlyInvariably, Goldman's success raises questions about conflicts of interest. Will thefirm be tempted to keep the sexiest deals for itself? The management argues that they


79

Goldm

an Sachs Principal Investment A

rea

rarely pursue deals on their own but rather in club deals. Moreover, they demonstratetheir commitment to the clients in investing alongside them while helping them raisethe funding for their acquisitions.

Goldman doesn’t always hunt in herds. In 2005 for example it snapped up the cablecompany Pirelli, now renamed Prysmian Cables & Systems, for €1.3 billion,outbidding Bain Capital and Texas Pacific. But most of the significant transactions areclub deals. Back in 2002, a consortium made up of Texas Pacific, Bain Capital andGoldman Sachs bought Burger King from Diageo, the British drinks company, for$1.5 billion. After bringing in new management and streamlining the operations, thethree firms raised $393 million through an IPO in 2006, retaining a majority stake inthe company.

Other recent club deals include: the 2005 privatisation, along with EQT, of ISS, aDenmark-based integrated service company, for DKK 22.1 billion (€2.97 billion); the2006 take private of Kinder Morgan, a pipeline company, with the Carlyle Groupand Riverstone Holdings for $22 billion; and that same year, the acquisition of Linde’sforklift division KION Group together with KKR for €4 billion. In 2007, GS CapitalPartners teamed up with TPG Capital in an offer to buy telecommunications giantALLTEL for nearly $25 billion in the largest ever leveraged buyout at that time.

Also in 2007, Goldman and KKR agreed to the $8 billion buyout of upscale audioequipment maker Harman International Industries. In a sign of the changing timesand amid tightening global credit conditions, the two bidders decided later that yearto pull out, invoking a clause regarding "a material adverse change in Harman'sbusiness”. In October they agreed with Harman to end their buyout and instead buy$400 million of the company’s bonds.

In 2007, GS Capital Partners closed its sixth fund, GS Capital Partners VI, at a cool $20billion, $9 billion of which came from within Goldman itself. GS Capital Partnersdoes not focus on specific sectors, but has traditionally targeted the $1 billion plusmega-deals. In September of 2007, Goldman announced that the new VI fund wouldsee a shift in strategy, moving away from the blockbuster deals that the credit crunchhas all but halted and towards smaller investments, ideally Private Investments inPublic Entities (PIPEs). The change in deal size will not slow the pace of investmentthough, with the $20 billion pool of money expected to last only two to three years.

Universal soldierThe firm is also a leading player in the mezzanine area. In 2006, GS MezzaninePartners closed their fourth fund, GSMP 2006, with a staggering $9 billion of

80

committed capital, making it the largest mezzanine fund in the world. The fund willtarget the Americas and Europe, making large mezzanine investments from $40million to $500 million. The firm invests in leading companies with enterprise valuesranging from $500 million to $10 billion, aimed at partnering with sizeable equityinvestors to structure complex transactions.

Goldman Sachs Private Equity Group (PEG) is a leading investor in private equityfunds, while also retaining the capacity to act as a co-investor for particular directinvestments. The PEG manages over €16 billion, with over 85 professionals, andprimarily invests in PE funds from the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia, with avariety of strategies and sector focuses. The PEG is subdivided into three separateprogrammes: GS Private Equity Partners is the global primary fund of funds; GSVintage funds participate in secondary market transactions and portfolios of directinvestments; GS Distressed Opportunities focuses on distressed debt and equityinvestments in private equity partnerships.

GETTING HIRED

The Merchant Bank division offers 10-week summer analyst and associate internshipsin its locations worldwide. This represents a couple of positions in the London PIA.Interns get an opportunity to learn about principal investing activities and increasetheir chances to get invited to interview upon graduation.

The division recruits undergraduates as analysts, graduates as associates and someexperienced hires. Their background and previous academic and professionalachievements tend to be stellar. Analysts go through a two- to three-year programwhile associates start with a five-week trainee program to refresh the theory andfamiliarise them with the tools and the working environment. Analysts andassociates are assigned a mentor to assist in their professional development.

Goldman Sachs is universally famous for the quality of its recruiting services. It’s nodifferent in merchant banking. They hire the best of the best, after a long processwhere candidates meet a number of employees proportional to their prior experience.Strong achievers from any background have their chance but somehow, they tend tobe Oxbridge or Harvard graduates with a stint at Bain or McKinsey. Candidatesinterested in joining the private equity area will find all information atwww.goldman-sachs.ro/careers/our-firm/divisions/mbd/index.html

81


Head office:9 West 57th StreetSuite 4200New York, NY 10019Phone: +1 (212) 750-8300Fax: +1 (212) 750-0003

London office:Stirling Square7 Carlton GardensLondon SW1Y 5AD+44 (0)20 7839 9800

Paris office:24 rue Jean Goujon75008 Paris+33 (0)1 53 53 96 00www.kkr.com

THE STATS

Founding Partners: Henry Kravis &George Roberts (Jerome Kohlberg left in1987 and founded Kohlberg & Co.) Chief executive: Johannes HuthEmployer Type: Private CompanyTotal equity assets: €86bn (As of Octo-ber 2007)No. of Employees: 400No. of Offices: 6

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors: (Organised into nine primary industrygroups globally)Chemicals

Consumer ProductsEnergy & Natural ResourcesFinancial ServicesHealth CareIndustrialMedia & CommunicationsRetailTechnology.

Financial stages:Leveraged buyouts

Types of financing:Majority equity, co-investment in major-ity equity, debt

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London • Paris

REST OF THE WORLD

New York • Menlo Park • Hong Kong •Tokyo


Bain Capital • Blackstone • GoldmanSachs • Permira • TPG

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

London: +44 207 839 9800New York: +1 212 750 8300Menlo Park: +1 650 233 6560

KOHLBERG KRAVIS ROBERTS& CO. (KKR)

82

THE SCOOP

Head honchoKohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., commonly known as KKR, is a recognised leader inthe private equity world. Founded in 1976, the firm quickly built a reputation foritself as both innovator and head honcho. Its achievements include the first billion-dollar buyout transaction, the largest buyout transaction over two decades and stillthe largest ever in real dollars (RJR Nabisco for $31.4 billion in 1987), the largestbuyout in Europe and two of the largest Canadian buyouts. All in, KKR hascompleted more than 160 transactions worth $410bn. The private equity guruemploys 100 professionals based in New York, Menlo Park, London, Paris, HongKong and Tokyo. Of these, 26 are what the firm calls "members," who have anaverage of 16 years with the firm. In 2007, the firm owned 40 companies thatgenerated more then $100 billion revenue with 560,000 employees. The firm is verystrong in Europe where it controls or owns stakes in 18 companies with about $50billion in total revenue.

The KKR waySo what's the secret behind KKR's success? For one, the firm has a long-standingreputation that works to its advantage when going after deals. KKR also boasts anetwork of key relationships in "Main Street" industries, as well as throughout WallStreet. Diversification is another key factor for the private equity group, which hasinvested in both fledgling start-ups and established corporations, traditionalindustries and less conventional sectors. The firm's industry experience includeschemicals, communications, consumer products, energy, financial services, healthcare, homebuilding, hospitality and leisure, industrial and manufacturing, media

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

KKR European fund III

KKR Millennium II

€8 (target)bn

$16.6bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2008

2007

KKR PE Investors (Euronext Amst.: KPE)

KKR European Fund II

$5.3 (NAV)bn

€4.5bn

2006

2005

KKR Financial (NYSE: KFN) $18 (NAV)bn2004


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Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & C

o. (KKR)

and retail. KKR dealmakers are divided into these 11 industry groups, which focuson 100-day plans. Yet another reason for KKR's success is its long-term view: thefirm's average investment period is seven years, although the firm has held a handfulof companies for more than 10 years. Finally, KKR brings a certain level of expertiseto the table in terms of managing its portfolio companies. This know-how includesthe ability to attract strong management, "incentivise" management and employees,pursue acquisitions and divestitures, arrange financings, provide effective oversightand maximise value when exiting investments. Most importantly, the firm boasts anannual rate of return of roughly 27 per cent according to Fortune. In 2000, KKRlaunched Capstone, a consulting firm that works exclusively for them and helps withimproving operations and measuring company performance.

The next frontierThe private equity firm's European division has been busy in recent years. TheLondon-based team led by Johannes Huth added a new record with the biggestprivate equity transaction ever in Europe, an £11 bn ($22bn) acquisition of Alliance-Boots in 2007, the leading pharmacy network in the UK. However, the majority ofKKR’s eighteen European acquisitions have been outside of the UK, with currentportfolio companies in several countries: Legrand, an electrical device manufacturer,Tarkett, a flooring products company, and PagesJaunes, the French directoryprovider, were all acquired through the Paris office, which was only established in2005; in the Netherlands, KKR owns five companies including NXP, Maxeda andNielsen; in Germany, KKR owns another five companies including Kion Group andthe ProSeibenSat1 media company; in addition, the firm owns TDC, the Danishtelecom operator.

One of the group's earliest acquisitions, banking information systems specialist WincorNixdorf, has staged a remarkable turnaround. Wincor more than doubled its workerforce after KKR took over in 1999, and the company recently ranked No. 8 in Germanjob creation between 2000 and 2005. Since going public in 2004, Wincor posted anannualised return above 50 per cent. Still, KKR would do well to proceed with cautionin Germany, as the current attitude toward foreign buyout firms is none too friendly.Franz Muntefering, chairman of the Social Democrats, likened private equity firmssuch as KKR to "swarms of locusts sucking the substance" from German companies.

Asia is one arena in which KKR is not a top dog. While competitors like the CarlyleGroup have been in Asia since the late 1990s, KKR has been late to get into the mix.That has changed in the last two years with the opening of offices in Hong Kong andTokyo, and several recent investments in Asia.

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On the selling blockSpecialty publishing and targeted media company Primedia is one of KKR's longestrunning investments. The private equity group has made a number of investments,dating back to 1989 when Primedia was first getting its feet on the ground. In fact,the media company was originally known as K-III Communications, reflecting thestart-up's financial backers (KKR). As of late, Primedia has been engaged in a fairamount of buying and selling, beefing up its portfolio of magazines while selling offkey assets. A major sale came in 2005, when Primedia sold its About.com web siteto The New York Times Company. Other transactions that year include the sale ofBankers Training & Consulting Company to BAI, the acquisition of the Auto InteriorsExposition & Conference from VNU, and the purchase of NHU Publishing. The nextyear, it sold Gems Group to Aspire Media's Interweave Press. It also announced thediscontinuation of its Education Segment and retained Goldman Sachs and LehmanBrothers to explore the sale of its Enthusiast Media segment (PEM), the No. 1 specialinterest magazine publisher in the U.S. In 2007, it had already sold its hunting,shooting and fishing titles to InterMedia Partners and Films Media Group (FMG) toInfobase Publishing Co. In August, PEM was finally sold to Source InterlinkCompanies for close to $1.2bn.

Toy storyKKR may not have competitors. Lately, it has been partnering with the other buyoutgiants, for example the joint acquisition with Blackstone, Goldman Sachs and TPG ofBiomet in Poland in September 2007, or with Permira in December 2006 to acquireProSiebenSat1 in Germany. KKR is not new to partnering: in 2005 for example, theprivate equity group teamed up with Silver Lake Partners to acquire Agilent'ssemiconductor business for $2.65 billion and with Permira to buy SBS BroadcastingS.A. for approximately $2.55 billion. That year also marked the completion of the $6.6billion acquisition of Toys “R” Us. Originally, KKR had planned to go it alone,targeting the retailer’s toy business by itself, but later joined forces with Bain CapitalPartners and Vornado Realty Trust to buy the whole company (including its baby-products stores). Experts say part of the retailer's appeal was its real estate, whichincludes 1,500 stores around the world, with 681 in the U.S.

While stockholders clearly had faith that the takeover was a good thing for thecompany (the stock increased dramatically prior to the completion of the deal), othersremain skeptical about the investors' ability to turn things around. For one, Toys RUs faces increasing competition from the likes of Wal-Mart and Target. Furthermore,the bricks and mortar retailer has yet to find an online strategy that works. A newissue came in 2007 as the company, as well as the rest of the U.S. toy industry, faced


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Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & C

o. (KKR)

intense scrutiny after global recalls of millions of toys made in China over excessivelead paint levels that sparked safety concerns.

The year of the mega dealsIn 2007, KKR partnered with Clayton, Dubilier & Rice to complete the acquisition ofU.S. Foodservice from Ahold in a $7.1bn transaction, and with Goldman Sachs andCitigroup to acquire Dollar General for $7.3bn. It also partnered with TPG for a newrecord with the acquisition of Dallas-based energy company TXU Corp. in atransaction valued at $45bn. The company, previously listed on the New York StockExchange and the Chicago Stock Exchange, was renamed Energy Future HoldingsCorp., a holding company with three separate and distinct business units withseparate boards, management teams and headquarters: TXU Energy, a competitiveelectricity retailer; Luminant, a competitive power generation business; and Oncor,a regulated electric distribution and transmission business. With this operation, KKRregained the crown for the largest buyout from arch-rival Blackstone before losing itagain a few months later following the announcement of the $51.7 billion acquisitionof Canadian Telco BCE by Teachers’ (the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan).

Gate closedAfter the credit crunch of 2007, business had to slow down. The difficulty to financeor refinance the debt led to the sudden death of multi-billion dollar LBOs. No oneknows how long it may last, but firms like KKR are forced to pursue smaller targetsor focus on their existing portfolio. The day before Christmas, KKR announced theacquisition of Northgate Information Solutions, a provider of specialist software,outsourcing and information technology services, and a market leader in humanresource and payroll processing, for approximately £593 million. This ends a longsaga that commenced a year earlier with the termination of takeover discussions withits largest shareholder, General Atlantic, for a rumoured £600 million. Northgateworks on one in three UK workers' salaries and fields most 999 calls made to thepolice; its long-term contracts, recurring revenue and high levels of cash flow wereparticularly attractive to private equity companies.

Defectors at the gateKKR prides itself on a low turnover rate among its employees, which is why the firmwas not very happy to lose many of its original partners, including Saul Fox, TedAmmon, Ned Gilhuly, Mike Tokarz and Scott Stuart who were instrumental inestablishing KKR's reputation and track record in the 1980s. Scott Stuart and EdwardGilhuly left the firm in September 2005 in order to start their own investment fund.

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Insiders suspect that the move may have been triggered by the founding generation'sreluctance to give up the reins. KKR is run by Henry Kravis and George Roberts,both 63 with no plans to retire, and is considered one of the most closely controlledprivate equity firms in the business. Stuart and Gilhuly, roommates at StanfordBusiness School, told The Wall Street Journal that their departure had nothing to dowith the founding partners, describing Kravis and Roberts as "fully engaged and theright guys to run KKR". Two years later, some people still wonder if KKR has spentsufficient time dealing directly with succession.

What next? Over the years, KKR has expanded beyond equity financing for buyoutsand has launched several credit vehicles, including KKR Financial, listed on theNYSE. In 2006, it successfully raised more than €4 billion with the public listing of afund on Euronext Amsterdam. In June 2007, KKR filed a registration statement withthe SEC for a proposed $1.25bn IPO of its “common units representing limitedpartner interests in its partnership”. The firm intended to apply to list its commonunits on the NYSE under the symbol “KKR”. While the firm filed an amendedprospectus six months later in November, following the bad performance ofBlackstone’s IPO, the credit crunch and the losses in the mortgage holdings of KKRFinancial, KKR's publicly traded affiliate, it is still yet to happen.

GETTING HIRED

KKR does not provide employment information on its web site. Its staff in Europe aretypically former employees from the likes of Goldman Sachs and McKinsey (the latterat Capstone in particular), most with an INSEAD or Harvard MBA. Candidatesinterested in working for the private equity firm in Europe should contact the firmdirectly at its offices in London and Paris.

301 Commerce Street, Suite 3300Fort Worth, TX 76102United StatesTel +1 (817) 871-4000

London office:2nd Floor, Stirling Square5-7 Carlton GardensLondon, SW1Y 5ADUnited Kingdom Tel +44 (0) 20 7544 6500

www.tpg.com

THE STATS

Managing Partners: David Bonderman,Jim Coulter & Bill PriceEmployer Type: Private CompanyPrivate equity assets under management:$50bnNo. of Employees: 150+ investment pro-fessionalsNo. of Offices: 17

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors: Industries undergoing change created byindustry trends, economic cycles or spe-cific company circumstances

Financial stages: Through TPG Capital, global public andprivate investments executed throughleveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, spin-outs, joint ventures and restructurings.The firm’s growth platforms, TPG

Growth and TPG Biotechnology addvalue to companies in their early andgrowth stages.

Types of financing: Private equity, venture capital, public eq-uity and debt investing

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London • Luxembourg • Paris •Moscow

REST OF THE WORLD

Fort Worth (HQ) • Menlo Park • Min-neapolis • New York • San Francisco •Washington, D.C. • Beijing • HongKong • Mumbai • Shanghai • Singapore• Tokyo • Melbourne


Bain Capital • Blackstone • GoldmanSachs • KKR • Permira • Apax

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Phone: +44 (0) 20 7544 6500

TPG

87

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

TPG Partners V

TPG Partners IV

$15bn

$5.8bn

Buyout funds

VINTAGE YEAR

2006

2003

THE SCOOP

On a rollFounded in 1993, TPG is a leading private equity firm with some $50 billion in assetsunder management and more than 120 transactions under its belt. The companies inits portfolio represent a total of about 500,000 employees. These days, say insiders, thefirm is bigger and busier than ever. Of late, TPG has partnered with other firms tobuy luxury retailer Neiman Marcus; a stake in Lenovo Group, China’s largestcomputer maker; SunGard Data Systems and, together with KKR, TXU, which wasshortly the largest LBO since the RJR Nabisco buyout in 1989. The firm also investedin Washington Mutual, purchased Midwest Airlines and Canadian pharmaceuticalcompany Axcan. In 2006, the company closed its fifth fund at $15 billion of capitalcommitments, a significant landmark for TPG considering it launched its first fundin 1993 with $720 million. It was also the most active private equity player in 2006as it struck deals worth about $101 billion.

In the past, TPG has pursued distressed companies, the ones other investors wouldn'tget anywhere near—think Burger King. These days TPG is also focusing ondistressed investing now that take private transactions are very difficult in the currentcredit environment. Up until recently, more than half of the group's capital had gonetoward high-quality, low-risk investments such as SunGard, Neiman Marcus andPetco Animal Supplies. Investments have included technology (Seagate Technology),consumer products (Ducati), retail (J. Crew), airlines (Continental), media(Univision), entertainment (Harrah’s) and energy (Energy Future Holdings—formerly TXU, Texas Genco Holdings). Its previous experience in the utility sectorwas less fortunate as it failed to buy Portland General Electric in 2005 because of apushback from the Oregon Public Utility Commission.

88

EvolutionFrom the very beginning, TPG showed a distinctive ability to identify lucrativeinvestment opportunities, which started with Continental Airlines in 1993. With anew management team focusing on lucrative business and a better aircraft utilization,TPG generated an 81 per cent gross IRR. TPG's total return on its $64 millioninvestment was nearly $700 million. TPG’s interest in airlines has been a constantfeature over the last 15 years. The firm also invested in America West Airlines andSingapore airline Tiger Airways Pte and, in 2007, TPG acquired Midwest Air Groupin a $451 million transaction backed financially by Northwest Airlines.

Outside of the US, airlines have been more difficult to acquire. In 2007, TPG wasunable to get the necessary shareholder approval and failed to acquire Australianairline Qantas. In May 2007, it was said to be bidding for at least 39.9 per cent ofItaly’s state-controlled airline Alitalia along with MatlinPatterson and Mediobancafor a reported €5bn. It has finally thrown in the towel in November, after failing toput together a consortium with a majority of Italian investors. In 2007, TPG ledanother consortium including British Airways to acquire Spanish airline Iberia for areported €3.4bn, but officially withdrew in December.

Go EuropeTPG is based in the Lone Star State, although the private equity group is no ingénuewhen it comes to the rest of the world. Out of its 17 offices, four are in Europe andseven in Australasia, most of them opened in the last three years. In fact, TPG wasone of the first major U.S. private equity firms to establish a European business; pasttransactions include Ducati Motor, Punch Taverns, Scottish & Newcastle Retail andFindexa. In 2003 and 2005, TPG won Thomson's European buyout deal of the yearfor its acquisitions of UK retailer Debenhams for £1.7 billion, and the first buyout inGreece with the acquisition of 81 per cent of TIM Hellas for €1.1 billion. Debenhamswas floated on the London Stock Exchange in June 2006 and TPG remains thecompany’s largest shareholder. TPG realised strong gains on its investment in TIMHellas when the company was sold to Weather Investments in February 2007. Finally,in October 2006, TPG took a 42 per cent stake in French television firm TDF.

And that was it. According to FinancialNews, TPG has failed to win the €40bn worthof European deals it bid for in 2007. Still, 2007 was a good year for TPG. In spite ofall the turmoil in the market, the company managed to close the largest buyout everat the time—TXU (now called Energy Future Holdings). It also finalised severalbillion plus in other deals: the acquisition of Sabre Holdings with Silver Lake for $5.4billion; the acquisition of Harrah's Entertainment with Apollo for $31 billion; the

TPG

89


acquisition of business communications specialist Avaya, again with Silver Lake, forabout $8.3 billion; and finally, the privatization of Alltel for $27 billion, together withGS Capital Partners.

More hits than missesWhen you take a gamble on down-and-out companies, you're bound to have somemisses from time to time. Some of TPG’s lower-returning investments include GateGourmet Group, Bally and Ducati Motor, but these have still proven to be quiteprofitable for the firm. In 2004, TPG and another private equity group sold off Petcofor a gain of nearly six times their initial investment of $190 million just four yearsearlier. And Burger King, bought in 2002, looks like a success story. By mid-2005, thefranchise had already earned more money than it had in all of 2004. In May 2006, theIPO was a success and in February 2007 TPG recovered its initial investment byselling some shares. TPG’s third fund is one of its most successful.

Rumor has it that, like other major private equity firms, TPG has been scrutinizingthe Blackstone $4bn IPO and is exploring the sale of a minority stake in the firm oreven a public offering. In a December 2007 interview with Reuters, managing partnerDavid Bonderman stated that, while he has no immediate plans to take his firmpublic, he expects that most major private equity firms will probably be publiccompanies within five years. "Being public is not my favorite thing," Bonderman said,“and I hope that TPG will be one of the last ones.” In the meantime, as of April 2008,TPG is nearing a deal to buy a $5 billion stake in a public company: troubledmortgage lender Washington Mutual.

GETTING HIRED

TPG doesn’t disclose the profiles of its team. Insiders tell us that the London team isdiverse, with a majority of investment managers hired from other private equityfirms or from investment banks.Candidates interested in learning more about job opportunities with TPG shouldcontact the office of their choice at www.tpg.com/contact.

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91


16 Palace StreetLondon SW1E 5JDUnited KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 79 28 3131

www.3i.com

THE STATS

CEO: Philip Yea Employer Type: Public listed company(LSE)Ticker Symbol: IIITotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €10.7bn (As of March 2007)2006 Revenue: €4.15bn2005 Revenue: €4.18bnEmployees: 750 investment professionalsin 2008No. of Offices: 24 in 14 countries

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:All sectors, with specialist global teams inOilGas & PowerTechnologyMediaBusiness ServicesFinancial ServicesHealthcare and Consumer.

Financial stages: Mid-market buyout up to €1 bn equity),Growth Capital, Infrastructure andQuoted Private Equity.

Types of financing: Main: Majority EquityOther: Minority Equity, Debt, Investmentin third party fund, Mezzanine, Share-holders loans

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Amsterdam • Barcelona • Copenhagen• Frankfurt • Helsinki • London • Lyon •Madrid • Milan • Munich • Paris • Stock-holm • Stuttgart • Zurich

REST OF THE WORLD

New York • Menlo Park • Beijing •Hong Kong • Mumbai • Shanghai • Sin-gapore

KEY COMPETITORS

Advent International • Apax • BarclaysPrivate Equity • Bridgepoint • Montagu

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

www.3i.com/careers/current-opportuni-ties.html

3I GROUP

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THE SCOOP

With 750 professionals, 3i is one of the largest European private equity companies byassets under management and the largest by number of transactions. In 2006, thecompany had €10.7 billion under management and in the last five years hascompleted 400 trade sales and 46 public offerings. The firm is a true generalist andalong with being one of the oldest British firms, it is probably the most diversified.

A brief look into the pastIn 1945 the demand for risk capital for growing independent businesses in the UnitedKingdom was quite high. Back then, William Piercy was the first to lead the 3i Groupin England.

In 1967, the firm made its first venture capital investment by buying a share of OxfordIndustries for £90,000, which it went on to sell for £4.7 million. In the following years,3i invested mainly in Europe, the US and Japan and was listed on the London StockExchange in 1991 with a market capitalisation of £1.5 billion. Shortly after, thecompany was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and at its current value of £6.5billion is the only private equity firm included in the FTSE 100.

In 1999 the company raised €2 billion for its second European fund. 3i was badly hitby the technology bubble burst of 2000 and in 2001 restructured its organisationtowards a three sector strategy, in order to efficiently develop each business unit:Buyouts, Growth Capital and Venture Capital. In 2005, 3i sold the world’s largestforeign exchange specialist – Travelex – for £1 billion to Apax, generating a 10 timesreturn on investment. It had bought the company on 30 December 1998—just daysfrom the formal introduction of the Euro that many thought would destroy thebusiness. Recently, 3i launched its fifth and largest European fund, with €5 billion ofcommitted capital.

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

3i eurofund V

3i eurofund IV

€5bn

€3.3bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2006

2004

3i eurofund II €2bn1999


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3i Group

Presence in all stages of private equity The venture capital unit operates in Europe and the United States, investing between€1 million and €75 million per transaction. Its main focus is on start-up and early-stage operations.

Today, the rest of the private equity business is divided into Growth Capital andBuyouts, with the newly formed Infrastructure and QPE groups completing the picture.

• Growth Capital focuses on minority holdings in emerging markets such asAsia. The team normally invests between €10 million and €150 million pertransaction and is currently the fastest growing division of 3i.

• Buyouts is the largest team with 90 professionals. It takes controllingpositions in European mid-market companies and has achieved animpressive 40 per cent yearly IRR since 2001.

• The Infrastructure team invests amounts of €70 to €400 millions ininfrastructure assets, defined as asset-intensive businesses that provideessential services over the long term, often regulated or with significantlong-term contracts

• The newly formed QPE team or quoted private equity unit will invest inmajority holdings of mid sized companies with enterprise value of €100million to €2 billion. The infrastructure unit is truly global whereas the QPEteam operates in Europe only.

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While growing in size and reach, the company remains committed to the mid-marketsand won the Private Equity News’ mid-market firm of the year award in 2006.

There is also an SMI team of 17 professionals that manages minority holdings, witha combined market value of €600m, in more than 250 British and German smallcompanies.

Thanks to its long existence and to the diversity of its geographic, sector andfinancing experience, 3i offers a rare access to the widest range of local businesscommunities, entrepreneurs, experts and multinationals.

Expansion plans3i expanded early throughout Europe, and for the last 10 years, the focus has been ondeveloping their presence in Asian and Nordic markets. The company expanded itstarget acquisition regions to Finland, Sweden and Denmark as well as Greater China.In addition, 3i opened a new office for its Growth Capital unit in New York.

In 2007, 3i sold its shares in Nordic Modular to Kungsleden AB, a Stockholm-listedreal estate company, for about €100 million, making ten times its initial investmentof 2005. Eastern Europe is another area that private equity firms, 3i in particular, aretrying to break into. In 2007, 3i formed a CEE team and acquired EDS, the leadingweb-offset printer in the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. A few months later,the team was reinforced with a first appointment in Warsaw.

In 2007, 3i has conducted business in 20 regions and various growth sectors. Sinceits creation in the United Kingdom in 1945, it has expanded to 14 countries acrossthe world. 3i understands the potential of growing markets around the world butstill remains strong in its traditional European regions.


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3i Group

Infrastructure fund In 2007, 3i established an infrastructure fund which made its first public investmentof €305 million, when it bought three oil tanking businesses, one being Oil Tanking,a German business in which 3i acquired a 45 per cent stake. The 3i Infrastructurefund has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since March 2007, and has so farraised €1 billion.

GETTING HIRED

3i wants to attract “people with an international mindset, people who thrive in amultidisciplinary and challenging environment and people with a highly focusedand ambitious mindset”. Candidates are expected to demonstrate an ability to worktogether across business lines and national boundaries. 3i has a varied Europeanculture which makes flexibility and cultural openness particularly important.Compared to other global players, its employees tended to study predominantly inEurope rather than in the US.

Due to the strong UK presence, over 10 per cent of all employees studied atCambridge or Oxford. In France most employees studied business at HEC, and in theNordic region, at the Helsinki University and the Stockholm School of Economics.3i’s percentage of graduate degrees is relatively high compared to other privateequity companies. INSEAD and London Business School account for more than 25per cent of all MBAs at the firm.

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Strategy consulting 11%

Audit & transaction services 17%

Banks 21%

Other 51%

Bachelor’s only 32%

Unknown 7%

PhD/JD/MD 6%

MBA 28%

Master’s 27%



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

0

5

10

15

20

JPMorgan (6)

Deloitte (9)

McKinsey (11)

Anderson (16)

PWC (17)

0

5

10

15

20

HEC (9)

LBS (10)

Cambridge (16)

Oxford (17)

INSEAD (18)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic


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3i Group

3i is composed of a diverse group of 250 professionals. Only half of them had theirprevious jobs in professional services (mostly consulting and transactions services)or investment banking. Almost a quarter come from the industry. The main previousemployers are the Big Five and McKinsey.

The largest team is based in London, where it recently moved to new premises nextto Buckingham Palace, closer to the traditional private equity establishment in StJames. The new office is designed to favour the interaction between managers andentrepreneurs and has achieved the desired mix of startup and professionalenvironment.

Candidates will find that 3i provides plenty of information on recruitment andcareers on their website.

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Königinstraße 1980539 Munich GermanyTel: +49 (0)89 38 00 19900

www.acp.allianz.comwww.apep.allianz.comwww.agfpe.com

THE STATS

Managing directors: Mr. Stefan Sanne(ACP), Mr. Jonny Maxwell (APEP)Employer Type: Subsidaries of AllianzAGTotal private equity funds under man-agement: €2bn (direct), €7bn (funds offunds) and €2bn (AGF PE)Employees: 200 in 2004 (Allianz PrivateEquity Holding)No. of Offices: 4

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:AutomotiveSpecialty ChemicalsRenewable EnergyHealthcare

Financial stages: ACP: Private Equity direct investments(MBO, expansion, financial restructur-ing)APEP: Funds of funds AGF PE: Funds of funds and VC

Types of financing:Majority equity, co-investment, mezzanine

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Munich (HQ) • Paris (Allianz AGF Pri-vate Equity) • London

REST OF THE WORLD

New York • Singapore

KEY COMPETITORS

3i • Apax • AXA Private Equity

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Tel: +49 (0)89 38 00 70 10

ALLIANZ CAPITAL PARTNERS/ALLIANZ PRIVATE EQUITY PARTNERS/ALLIANZ AGF PRIVATE EQUITY

Allianz C

apital Partners/ Allianz Private Equity Partners/ A

llianz AG

F Private EquityVault Career Guide to Private Equity

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THE SCOOP

In 2002, Allianz Private Equity Holding was formed to integrate the various privateequity activities of the Allianz Group and of its banking arm Dresdner. It includedAllianz Capital Partners (ACP) for direct investments, Allianz Private Equity Partners(APEP), the funds of funds and some venture capital activities.

Allianz Capital PartnersACP manages only its parent’s own funds, with €2bn spread across 20 investmentsin the last 10 years. ACP has an edge over independent PE firms in that it can tap thefull resources of the Allianz Group to enhance their portfolio companies’ value whereother firms may have struggled.

ACP was established in 1998 and has since grown to include 40 professionals basedin Munich, who occasionally partner with colleagues in London on selectinvestments. The team invests in European assets in the realm of €30 million-€350million, but only in certain asset classes. While it presents itself as generalist, the teamtypically does not make direct equity investments in real estate, insurance, bankingor content media.

They will consider conglomerate restructuring, developing German middle-marketcompanies, privatizations and public-to-private MBOs relying on equity ormezzanine financing; however, they shy away from start-up financing andoperational restructuring.

Thomas PueterAs Germany’s most senior private equity investor, Thomas Pueter is seen as acharming and eloquent spokesman of the industry. Along with running ACP he isalso head of Allianz Alernative Asset Holding, a business unit created in 2005 to tietogether the group’s alternative assets ranging from private equity to real estate toalternative energy. In the debate that is currenlty shaping the German economicoutlook, he is seen as a calm voice that carries a measure of influence.

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Team powerACP conducts only a few key transactions every year. In 2004, together with Lufthansaand Apax, ACP sold Tank and Rast, the German motorway service operator that hadbeen privatised in 1998, to Terra Firma. In 2006, it sold Four Seasons Healthcare, aleading UK nursing homes operator, for £1.4bn to Three Delta, representing 14 timesEBITDA, having bought it for £1.15bn from Alchemy in 2004. In May 2007, ACP boughtSelecta, the European vending business of Compass Group, for a consideration of£772.5m. Selecta operates as many as 150,000 vending machines.

Like most other major buyout players, ACP is increasingly teaming up to wintransactions; in 2007, it partnered with ABN AMRO Capital to acquire Sdu, a leadingpublishing and security identification group, from the Dutch State for €415m, and with3i and a strategic investor, Deutsche Seereederei, to purchase ferryshipping companyScandlines Group. To convince the previous state owners, the consortium has agreednot to lay-off any employees for operational reasons until December 31, 2010.

Allianz Private Equity PartnersAllianz Group investors who wish to invest indirectly into the private equity sectorare channelled through Allianz Private Equity Partners. As a ‘fund of funds’ theirmain responsibility is to efficiently invest a pool of funds in various PE firms; thisinvolves conducting due diligence of PE partnerships, valuations of unrealised PEportfolios, research on the private equity market and presenting their ideas to aninvestment committee.

A little bit of historyAPEP was formed in 1996 when Allianz started its private equity program, with theexpansion of a New York office and an acquisition of Dresdner’s private equity fundsportfolio following in 2002 and 2003, respectively. With 48 professionals spreadacross offices in Munich, New York, Singapore and AGF Private Equity in Paris, theteam has a truly global investor base.

In July 2007 Allianz announced that they were forming an indirect PE investmentbusiness group in London, headed by the controversial former head of Standard LifePE Jonny Maxwell. The then CEO Wanching Ang was appointed to the managementteam, and subsequently resigned from Allianz in November to ‘pursue personalinterests’, leaving Mr. Maxwell to take over her duties.

Allianz C

apital Partners/ Allianz Private Equity Partners/ A

llianz AG

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Top of the Deutsche leagueThe current assets under management are in the region of c. €7 billion with an annualcommitment rate around c. €1.3 billion, which is spread across 10-20 investments peryear. In February 2007 APEP announced it was closing its first fund of funds toinvestors at €823 million, making it the most successful German fund of funds todate. Allianz Group companies invested about €200 million, with the remaindercoming from institutional and private investors.

Allianz AGF Private Equity Since Allianz bought French Insurance company AGF, French operations had kepttheir name while being slowly integrated. In 2008, AGF Private Equity becomesofficially Allianz AGF Private Equity and brings its private equity activities in fundsof funds, secondaries, co-investments and venture capital to the group.

GETTING IN

Allianz Capital Partner’s investment team consists of specialists from seven countrieswho provide extensive knowledge of local markets. The firm doesn’t disclose theprofiles of the team. However, out of 40 ACP employees in Munich, there are fiveINSEAD graduates (with another five in the other PE divisions of the group).

APEP is divided into four teams: Management Team, Investment Team, Clients andProducts team, and Business Operations team. They are located in Munich, New Yorkand Singapore, with a diversified sector experience in private equity, industrialcorporations, investment banking, and professional services. There is a largeproportion of employees who joined with prior private equity experience. The sameapplies to the smaller French team of eight in the funds of funds and secondaryinvestments of AGF Private Equity.

Allianz’s top graduate university is Munich University, which is to be expected sincetheir only true office in Europe so far is in Munich. The team is becoming moreinternational as both ACP and APEP pursue more European investments. With theopening of the London office and the integration of AGF Private Equity, Allianz couldsoon become a true pan-European player and catch up with its dynamic archrival AxaPrivate Equity.

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The Stats


Company Focus




European Locations


Rest of the World


Key Competitors


Employment Contact



103

33 Jermyn StreetLondon SW1Y 6DNUnited KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 78 72 6300

www.apax.com

THE STATS

CEO: Dr. Martin HalusaEmployee Type: Independent PrivateCompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: $35bn in 2008Employees: 132 investment professionalsin 2008No. of Offices: 10

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:Tech & TelecomMediaRetail & ConsumerHealthcareFinancial & Business Services

Financial stages:Mega buyout (>€300m equity), Largebuyout (€150m-€300m equity), Midmarket buyout (€15m-€150m), Privatisa-tion, Public to private, Small buyout(<€15m equity)

Types of financing: Main: Majority Equity Others: Minority Equity, Shareholders loans

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Madrid • Milan • Mu-nich • Stockholm • Paris (Apax PartnersFrance)

REST OF THE WORLD

New York • Hong Kong • Mumbai • TelAviv

KEY COMPETITORS

Warburg Pincus • Carlyle • TPG • Prov-idence • KKR • Blackstone • Advent In-ternational • BC Partners • Cinven •CVC • Permira

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Email: [email protected]

APAX PARTNERS

104

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

Apax Europe VII

Apax US VII

€11.2bn

$0.8bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2007

2007

Apax Europe VI

Apax Europe V

€4.3bn

€4.4bn

2005

2002

THE SCOOP

Apax Partners is one of the few European private equity firms that has globalambitions. Based in the UK with European offices in Munich, Milan, Stockholm andMadrid, the firm also has a large presence in the U.S. as well as offices in Hong Kongand Mumbai. The firm was co-founded in 1972 by Sir Ronald Cohen, the “father ofBritish venture capital” and high profile Labour supporter, Maurice Tchenio,currently the French office Chairman and CEO, and Alan Patricof, an early investorin Apple and AOL.

Over the last three decades the firm has raised in excess of $35bn and has investedin almost 400 companies, 275 of which are currently in their portfolio, including wellknown names like Tommy Hilfiger, Somerfield and Travelex. After closing the mostrecent Europe VII fund at €11.2bn Apax overtook Permira as the largest European PEfirm, leaving CVC in third. Until the acquisition of Alliance Boots by KKR in 2007,Apax also had the distinction of leading the consortium that pulled off the largestLBO in Europe: a $15.3 billion deal in 2006 for Denmark’s incumbent telecomoperator TDC. In the last twelve years Apax has listed over 65 companies on globalstock markets, with a total value of $35bn at initial offering.

Still kickingApax Partners is a veteran in the private equity biz, tracing its roots back to 1969when the investment firm was known as Alan Patricof Associates. In 1977 theFrench/British venture known as Multinational Management Group merged withAlan Patricof’s American Investment Company, forming the basis of Apax Partners


105

as we know it. As with many international mergers the offices initially operated asrelatively separate entities until the late 1990s. In 2002 the global assimilation wasmade official when the firm changed its name to Apax Partners Worldwide LLP. In2005 the company looked to enhance its expertise in fast buyouts, and acquired thespecialist firm Saunders, Karp & Megrue.

French exceptionUnder the leadership of Maurice Tchenio the French office has always had a largedegree of independence, and, in its current form of Apax Partners SA, is fully ownedby its 10 French partners and 28 investment professionals. The decision making iscompletely centralised in Paris, and their focus is shifted towards growth companiesand mid-market buyouts. Funds managed by the French office exceed €2bn, withover 40 companies currently under management. The firm has always been one ofFrance’s pioneering private equity firms, creating the first ‘Fonds Commun dePlacement a Risque’ (FCPR) and co-founding the French Private Equity Association(AFIC). In 2007 it merged two of its investment vehicles, Altamir & Cie and AmboiseInvestissement, to create a Euronext-listed vehicle with a market capitalisation ofabout €250m. The French office can invest alongside the other funds of the firm, butinsiders claim that the lack of integration can be an issue when competing on pan-European transactions against more thoroughly integrated competitors.

Global powerhouseIf you ask John Megrue, co-CEO of Apax Partners' U.S. operations, the private equityindustry is undergoing a polarization of sorts. On the one hand, there are firms thatwant to become global leaders; on the other, there are those that want to becomeniche specialists. Apax Partners, says Megrue, wants to be in the first group. With10 offices spread across the U.S., Europe and Asia and a strong history to build on,the private equity group is well-positioned. Funds advised by Apax Partners investglobally in large businesses with an enterprise value of between $1 billion and $5billion. As a whole, Apax targets deals in five sectors: tech and telecom, consumerand retail, media, healthcare and financial services.

The times they are a-changin'Although many private equity firms have struggled with the transition from onegeneration to the next, Apax Partners is an exception. Sir Ronald and other partnerswere already discussing succession back in the late 1990s, ultimately agreeing to aretirement age ceiling of 60. So in January 2004, less than two years from his 60th

Apax Partners

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birthday, co-founder Sir Ronald Cohen stepped down as chief executive, namingMartin Halusa as his successor. Sir Ronald stayed on as chairman, maintaining aleadership position but giving Halusa significant breathing room, and retired fromthat office in August 2005. While some wondered how the firm would fare with SirRonald gone, Halusa wasn't exactly a newbie; he had been with Apax Partners for 15years and described the management changes at Apax as "organic, rather thanrevolutionary”.

The private equity group's merger with SKM in the US is another sign of changingtimes. In the past, the firm's US division has been focused on smaller venture-capitalstyle investing—think first/second-stage and mezzanine financing to high-tech, retailand communications companies such as America Online, Apple Computers andOffice Depot. The combination with Connecticut-based SKM allows Apax to handlebigger buyout deals in the U.S. In June 2005, Halusa told Real Deals, "You have tobe at the venture capital stages to be able to do a large deal because that is where alot of the industry knowledge comes from”. In 2007 however, after raising its newfund, Halusa shut Apax's Silicon Valley office in California, resigned from theNational Venture Capital Association and announced, as reported by Bloomberg,“Our next fund will be 100 per cent buyouts. Our venture results have been veryvolatile, and our focus is on the more stable end of the business''. Now the companyemploys the same investment strategy across its global platform: investing in largestable businesses with the capacity to expand.

Apax keeps an interest in VC though. In 2005, it set up the Apax Foundation tosupport “entrepreneurial, social investment and educational initiatives that worktowards the alleviation of poverty in deprived communities worldwide”. One of thefoundation’s key investments is in Bridges Community Ventures, a venture capitalcompany with a social mission co-founded by Apax Partners in 2002 and chaired bySir Ronald Cohen.

Killer dealsApax history has its count of killer deals. Alan Patricof was involved in the very earlyfinancing of Apple Computers and extracted significant value when the companyexpanded. In 1998, Apax turned a $3 million investment in Autonomy Corporationinto a $900 million payout, one of the largest returns in European Venture Capitalhistory.

In 2007, the firm made 40 times its investment on the sale of UK Healthcare at Hometo mezzanine provider Hutton Collins. In the same year it also realised a profit onSwedish medical product company Mölnlycke Health Care Group, when it was sold

Apax Partners


107

to Investor AB and Morgan Stanley Principal Investments for €2.85bn, raising aboutten times the initial investment.

Compulsive shopperApax is organised along five sector areas and closes 12-15 acquisitions a year, manyof them being take-privates. Its main sector of activity is technology and telecom withmore than 70 companies in the portfolio. Lately it has been particularly busy in themedia and healthcare sectors.

In August 2006 Apax joined the private equity consortium headed by KKR to acquirean 80.1 per cent stake in the Semiconductor Division of Royal Philips Electronics,now known as NXP Semiconductors. It was also a co-investor in Greek mobiletelecom group TIM Hellas, which sold to Weather Investments for €3.4bn.

Apax has recently increased its focus on media assets in Europe. It took UK toy andmedia firm HIT Entertainment private in June 2006. In December 2006 it completedthe de-listing of British specialist business information provider Incisive Mediaalongside management. In March 2007 it acquired a 49.9 per cent stake in TraderMedia Group from Guardian Media Group and, in December, partnered withGuardian Media Group to acquire publisher Emap for £2bn.

After acquiring Swedish healthcare operator Capio in 2006 and delisting it from theStockholm Stock Exchange, it took control of Unilabs of Switzerland and intends todelist it from the SWX Swiss Exchange. The combined group is a European leader inmedical diagnostic and several other areas of healthcare services. Because it alreadyowned GHG, the largest private hospitals operator in the UK, Apax had to divest theCapio hospitals in the UK. In November 2007 it completed the acquisition of Qualitestand Vintage Pharmaceuticals, a leading distributor and manufacturer of genericpharmaceuticals in the US.

Looking EastSurprisingly for a firm this size, Apax doesn’t have a strong track record in EasternEurope. Part of the explanation may be in the “Private Equity in the Public Eye”report it published with the Economist Intelligence Unit in July 2007. The reportreviews the private equity operating environment for 33 countries and underlinesthe difficulty of operating in the region.

In 2006, though, Apax invested $190m to acquire an interest in CME, a TVbroadcasting company traded on the NASDAQ and the Prague Stock Exchange with

108

leading television stations located in Croatia, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia,Slovenia and Ukraine and reaching an estimated 82 million people Eastern andCentral Europe.

In 2005, the company opened an office in Hong Kong, headed up by senior partnerMax Burger-Calderon. The next year, it opened its second Asian office in Mumbai,headed by Neeraj Bharadwaj. In 2007, it teamed up with Prathap Reddy, one ofIndia's most prominent entrepreneurs, to give it a stake in India’s fast-growinghealthcare industry. Newspaper reports also announced a plan to take a stake inIndia's Patni Computer Systems, together with TPG.

GETTING HIRED

Apax staff is organised in in-house knowledge centres and fund managers organisedin sector teams. Unlike many competitors, managers don’t get to work acrossindustries. This organisation shows Apax’s focus on knowledge-based business, andallows the private equity firm access to exclusive information.

Apax investment professionals were educated at the very best universities, mostly inthe US, the UK and France. MBAs from Harvard Business School alone represent astriking 22 per cent of this workforce. In Paris, HEC is the most frequent graduatediploma, often complemented with an MBA. However they tend to join Apax afterseveral years of experience, mostly in investment banking, strategy consulting orboth. Strategy consulting has an unusually high presence, with McKinsey the largestprevious employer (15 per cent of the professionals) and pretty much every top 10strategy consultancy represented.


109


Banks (32%)

Other (28%)



Unknown (2%)

PhD/JD/MD (8%)

MBA (54%)

Master’s (23%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

0

5

10

15

20

Deutsche Bank (5)

Morgan Stanley (5)

Goldman Sachs (8)

BCG (8)

McKinsey (29)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Oxford (9)

Wharton (13)

Cambridge (13)

INSEAD (14)

Harvard (29)


Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic


Apax Partners

110

Candidates can contact the Apax human resource department to read their HR insidereport on the private equity industry. Apax warns however that “due to volumes ofemails [they] are only able to respond to those invited for interview”.

111



The Stats


Company Focus




European Locations


Rest of the World


Key Competitors


Employment Contact



20 Place Vendome75001 ParisFranceTel: +33 1 44 45 9200

www.AXAprivateequity.fr

THE STATS

Chairman & CEO: Dominique SenequierEmployer Type: Subsidiary of AXATotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €15.7bn (2008) of which €5bn isin direct fundsEmployees: almost 200 No. of Offices: 6

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:All

Financial stages:Mega buyout (>€300m equity), largebuyout (€150m-€300m equity), midmarket buyout (€15m-€150m equity),public to private, infrastructure. Expan-sion capital, small buyout (<€15m eq-uity), seed and other early stage. Primary,early secondary and secondary funds offunds.

Types of financing:Majority equity, co-investments, mezzanine

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Paris (HQ) • Frankfurt • Milan • London(infrastructure, fund of funds)

REST OF THE WORLD

New York • Singapore

KEY COMPETITORS

3i • Advent • Barclays Private Equity •Montagu • PAI • Sagard

CONTACT FOR RECRUITMENT

Anne Marion-Delpont, Head of [email protected]. +33 (1) 44 45 93 10

AXA PRIVATE EQUITY

112

AXA Secondary Fund IV

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

AXA LBO Fund IV

AXA Co-Investment Fund III

€ ~1.60 (estimate)bn

€~1.50 (estimate)bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2007

2007

AXA Expansion Fund II €0.35bn

€2.10 ($2.9)bn

2007

2007

AXA Mezzanine Fund I €0.72bn2006

AXA Secondary Fund IV €2.10 ($2.9)bn2007

AXA Mezzanine Fund I €0.72bn2006

AXA Co-Investment Fund II €0.55bn2006

AXA LBO Fund III €0.50bn2005

THE SCOOP

AXA Private Equity is a subsidiary of AXA, one of the major global insurancecompanies. It was founded in 1996 after Claude Bebear, then powerful CEO of AXA,handpicked Dominique Senequier to build a private equity arm. She had started hercareer in the civil service and quickly rose to become one of the most powerfulwomen in the industry. She grew the business into one of the major buyout firms incontinental Europe. In 2007, the firm raised $7 billion in all its business activities, up45 per cent since December 2006. The bulk of it is for direct investments and the firmnow manages $22 billion out of its main office, a magnificent “hotel particulier” onthe Place Vendome in the centre of Paris.

The strategy and goals are clearly setToday, AXA PE has six relatively independent offices across the globe. The majorityof the business is conducted through the French office in Paris, but the firm is tryinghard to expand internationally and break into the top ten buyout firms globally. Overthe last ten years, AXA has been one of the most active continental European players,with 40 buyout transactions mostly in France; however, 30 per cent of the previousfund was allocated to Germany, where the firm opened an office in 2001. The firm isnow building up its Italian team to allow for a more pan-European approach to


113

opportunities on the basis that private equity has an important role to play in makingEuropean business more competitive.

In 2004, AXA PE decided to enhance its global reach by opening an office inSingapore. The Asian office has three functions: providing a platform for the Fundsof Funds activity in Asia, growing the Venture activity in Asia by backing innovativecompanies already in the firm’s portfolio, and supporting some Euro zone companiesin the Buyout funds which are either involved in joint ventures in China or aredelocalising their activities there. The internationalisation of the business is on theright track with 42 per cent of direct investments in 2007 coming from outside France.

AXA PE’s funds span all financial stages, from VC to relatively large buyouts (“uppermiddle”), through mezzanine and funds of funds. The firm also focuses on largesecondary fund transactions and has become one of the major players in thatsegment.

AXA PE is committed to achieving an excellent return on investment for all investors.According to internal AXA information, the funds achieve top quartile performance,with a net IRR ranging from 30 per cent to 35 per cent in the first three generationsof LBO funds and from 30 per cent to 85 per cent in the first three generations ofsecondary funds of funds.

Its strategy, which consistently produces sustainable returns and a confidentialloyalty towards the investors, has won AXA PE some of the world’s most importantinvestors for its various funds. It is said to have successfully developed a fine tunedvaluation measurement system based on its pool of experts and its experience, inorder to allocate and evaluate the right investments. AXA was one of the fivenominated firms for the 2007 Financial News award of French Private Equity Firm ofthe Year, but lost to PAI Partners.

Strong firm values Much of the success of the firm may be traced to Senequier’s forthrightness that issaid to often make men uncomfortable. She is a tough and no-nonsense manager,afraid of no-one and nothing, and she doesn’t hesitate to refuse to sign off oninvestments when in doubt. She traces part of her success to her previous experience,saying: “whoever understands the balance sheet of an insurance company canquickly understand the balance sheet of any company”.

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She has also championed the four company values: performance, expertise,international experience and transparency. These values are part of the internalstructures, but are also reflected in the way the firm relates to investors, portfoliocompanies and funds. The firm benefits from its diversified activities; the small capsteam may have historical knowledge of a target analysed by the mid cap team, thelarge cap team can leverage the infrastructure one, fund of funds and co-investmentsmay pass leads to each other.

All in the familyThe relationship between AXA PE and its parent company, AXA Group, has alwaysbeen very strong; AXA Group insurance companies are the lead investors in AXAPE’s funds, with an average stake between 20 per cent and 33 per cent of each fund.AXA PE benefits from this strong relationship, gaining access to a wider range ofdeals and improved fundraising opportunities. This link means that AXA Group isexposed to the reputational risks associated with large private equity firms, whichmeans a particular emphasis is placed on transparency at AXA PE. In their publicpresentations, they emphasise that they differentiate themselves “via a policy ofethical and responsible investments”.

AXA PE gained recognition for this transparent approach, being the first Frenchcapital investment company to conform to the Global Investment PerformanceStandards (GIPS). The standards represent international ethical norms for anobjective presentation of performances, with a particular focus placed ontransparency within the investment industry.

Playing with the big guysThe firm is now an established player and doesn’t hesitate to partner with the majorinternational private equity firms, taking part in the biggest auctions. In 2006, AXAPE initially teamed up with KKR, who later joined the rival consortium formed byEurazeo and Goldman Sachs, in an effort to acquire a 52 per cent stake in FranceTelecom directories subsidiary PagesJaunes. It subsequently withdrew from the deal.However, in the autumn of 2006 the firm made the headlines with its €4.9 billionacquisition, together with TPG, of TDF (formerly Télédiffusion de France), the largestowner of broadcast and telecoms infrastructure in continental Europe.

Recently, the firm has been particularly active in the chemical and related industries.The final acquisition of CABB GmbH, one of the world's leading suppliers ofchemical building blocks and specialty intermediates, kicked off 2007. Later in theyear, CABB acquired the Swiss specialty chemicals firm SF-Chem AG. Since 2006,


115

AXA PE has owned Eliokem, a specialty chemical company it bought for €130m.Eliokem followed through the next year with the acquisition of the Polymer Divisionof Indian-based Apar Industries. The same year, AXA PE completed the acquisitionsof Diana Ingredients, a major natural ingredients producer for €710m, and Synerlab,one of the leading French pharmaceutical sub-contractors.

Construction is another industry of particular expertise with recent transactionsincluding Champeau/Gau (divested in 2004, reinvestment in 2006), Gerflor (boughtin 2006) and Larivieres (sold for €300m in 2007).

Today, AXA PE offers its international expertise to help European companiesdevelop realistic expansion strategies to Asian or American markets, bringinginternational market knowledge into management board decisions to create stabilityand security in portfolio companies.

GETTING HIRED

AXA PE has about 200 employees with a diverse range of backgrounds and regionalexpertise. Support functions account for half of the headcount of the company.

The recruitment seems to be more diverse than at most competitors. Among theemployees, one can find a medical doctor and a jetfighter pilot and there is no strongmajority of investment bankers, strategy consultants or transaction services advisors.Insiders confirm that all profiles are likely to be considered as long as they candemonstrate strong achievements. Women represent almost half of the workforce, amuch higher proportion than the industry average.

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A Private Equity

116

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

ABN Amro (2)

HSBC (2)

Axa Group (3)

Credit Agricole (4)

BNP Paribas (6)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Bocconi (4)

ESCP-EAP (4)

Dauphine (6)

HEC (6)

ESSEC (8)

Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic




Unknown (3%)

PhD/JD/MD (10%)

MBA (15%)

Master’s (70%)

Insurance (8%)


Banks (33%)

Other (54%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic


117

AXA PE regularly employs interns for periods of up to one year. They tend to bemaster’s students from the top business schools in Paris, with a preference forinternational backgrounds, and are often recruited after their internship. In 2007,interns represented over 13 per cent of the total workforce.

The international factor is rated highly within AXA PE´s application measurements.Because of their various foreign offices and the international strategy, the companyfocuses on employees that are able to build on specific geographical marketknowledge from the very beginning.

Because AXA PE has many separate activities, it is possible for a candidate to end upbeing interviewed by a completely different product team depending on the currentrecruiting needs.

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A Private Equity

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The Stats


Company Focus




European Locations


Rest of the World


Key Competitors


Employment Contact



5 North Colonnade, 8th Floor London E14 4BB United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 75 12 9900

www.barclays-private-equity.com

THE STATS

Co-Heads: Tom Lamb, Gonzague DeBlignières and Peter HammermannEmployer Type: Subsidiary of BarclaysBankTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: about €5bn (2008)Employees: 59 investment professionalsin 2008 (including 12 in infrastructure)No. of Offices: 8

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:All sectors

Financial stages:Mid market buyout (€15m-€150m eq-uity), expansion capital, privatisation, re-placement, infrastructure

Types of financing: Majority equity, equity co-investment

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Birmingham • Manches-ter • Milan • Munich • Paris • Reading •Zurich

KEY COMPETITORS

3i • Advent International • Apax • AxaPE • Bridgepoint • European Capital •HgCapital • Montagu • Sagard

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Tel: +44 (0)20 75 12 9900

BARCLAYS PRIVATE EQUITY


119

Barclays Private Equity

THE SCOOP

Barclays Private Equity, a subsidiary of Barclays bank, is a leading pan-Europeanfirm that focuses on lower mid-market transactions. With offices spread throughoutthe UK, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, investments are typically from theselocal markets. The firm is headquartered in the UK but has a strong presence inFrance and is technically run by co-heads from the UK, French and German offices.

The investment strategy is mid-market (under £500 million). Since their firstinvestment in 1982 the firm’s 45 professionals have invested in over 350 transactions,with an average of 10-15 per year. The firm also has an Infrastructure team of 12investment professionals based in London and, in addition to its own UK andEuropean infrastructure funds, has established a £450 million Infrastructure Investors(I2) Fund in partnership with Societe Generale and 3i.

Third time luckyBPE’s most recent fund, the Europe III fund, raised its target €2.4bn (of which €1.7billion comes from blue chip investors) earlier than anticipated, possibly reflectingthe shift towards mid-market deals in the ongoing credit crisis. But insiders reckonthat BPE’s excellent track record made it very easy to reach its target. The fund isstructured in a “semi-captive” way, meaning the remaining €650 million investmentcame from the parent company, Barclays plc.

In line with previous funds, Barclays PE will invest Europe III predominantly in theUK, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. The UK investments focus on corestrengths that have been developed in the Financial Services, Healthcare, SupportServices and Consumer & Travel; whereas the continental offices take a moregeneralist approach when evaluating potential investments.

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

BPE European Fund III + Barclays PLC

Barclays European Infrastructure Fund II

€2.4bn

$0.417bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2007

2006

BPE European Fund II + Barclays PLC

BPE European Fund I + Barclays PLC

€1.65bn

€1.25bn

2005

2002

120

Nottingham leads the wayIn a pioneering move back in 1986 Barclays, along with Deloitte, set up the firstEuropean MBO think-tank at Nottingham University. The Centre for ManagementBuy-Out Research, or CMBOR for short, is a data collection and analysis pool to trackthe proliferation of Management Buy-Outs throughout Europe, with records coveringover 25,000 companies. The centre is a leading commentator on private equity activitythroughout Europe, and recently released statistics highlighting the detrimental effectof the credit crisis on private equity deal flow.

The rise and rise of buy-and-buildBarclays Private Equity has a long and successful track record of pursuing rapid buy-and-build strategies across Europe:

In France, since 2005, it has owned Médi-Partenaires, the third largest player in theFrench private hospital market with 18 clinics and 2,370 beds. Four clinics werealready acquired in 2005/2006, and four in the first half of 2007.

In September 2006, the firm acquired a majority stake of Euro Fiditalia, a marketleader in the provision of secured personal loans in Italy. Since then the companyhas made six acquisitions in the same sector.

In February 2007, it acquired Belgo-Italian company Desmet Ballestra, the worldleader in the fields of engineering and supply of plant and machinery to the edibleoil, chemical and biodiesel industries, with a turnover of €430m. A first post-dealacquisition was completed in France in June 2007 and a second one is expectedabroad in the coming months.

In Germany, it sold HR services firm TUJA Group to Adecco in June 2007 for €800million after only 15 months. It had acquired 90 per cent of TUJA in March 2006 fromBerlin-based Odewald & Compagnie and supported the company through anaggressive buy-and-build strategy in which headcount increased by 12,000 in 12months. At the time of the sale, TUJA was one of Germany's leading temporaryemployment agencies and operated a network of 127 branches in Germany,Switzerland and Austria.

A smaller but typical transaction is the sale in December 2007 of UK retailer TheOriginal Factory Shop via a £68.5 million secondary MBO led by Duke Street Capital.Barclays Private Equity had invested £18.42 million in the BIMBO of the business in


121


November 2004 and doubled the warehousing capacity of the retailer in three years.

In October 2007, BPE announced an acquisition in Switzerland, its fourth country ofoperation. PREMIUM communications is a provider of multilingual services fortechnical support, user helpdesks & services for SMEs. BPE sees the investment as abase on which to build significant growth through acquisitions in Switzerland andother German speaking countries.

Other highlights include the buyout of Converteam from ALSTOM in November2005—Converteam is a world leader in power conversion engineering, developingsystems and equipment which convert electrical energy into mechanical energy,including drives, controls, motors and generators. The acquisition was performed in apost recovery situation and has been followed by a successful phase of both organic andexternal growth. Another landmark deal is the successful listing of LSL PropertyServices plc (UK) on the London Stock Exchange in November 2006. The marketcapitalisation at listing was £211 million. LSL is one of the UK’s leading estateagency/surveying companies. Barclays Private Equity arranged the £60 million MBOin July 2004, and its managed funds retained a 29 per cent stake at the time of listing.

AwardsOne of Barclays Private Equity's most publicised exits is that of Admiral—the directmotor insurer. The company went public on the LSE in a €1 billion flotation inSeptember 2004. Barclays Private Equity achieved a total return of 15 times its originalinvestment and an IRR of 87 per cent over nearly five years. In recognition of this andother divestments, such as Hobbs, Salter Houswares, Edotech and GLS EducationalSupplies, the firm was named “UK Private Equity Firm of the Year,” and “EuropeanPrivate Equity Firm of the Year” at the Financial News Awards for Excellence in PrivateEquity, Europe 2005 where it also claimed a third award—“European Disposal of theYear”—for Admiral. Barclays Private Equity was also awarded “Private Equity Houseof the Year” by Real Deals/BVCA in 2005 and “Exit of the Year” for Admiral byAcquisitions Monthly, the M&A and buyouts publication. In 2006 Barclays PrivateEquity was voted “Fund of the Year” by the Real Deals/BVCA Private Equity Awards.

122

GETTING HIRED

While Barclays PE managers were educated at top schools in Europe (Cambridgeand ESSEC are the most represented, with the MBA as rather an exception), theygenerally join the firm with significant experience. There is some diversity in theteam, with four PhDs and one lawyer in a buyout team of 47 professionals.

In line with other private equity firms Barclays recruits primarily from InvestmentBanking and Big 4 accountancies (PWC, the late Arthur Andersen and KPMG are themost prominent former employers). The team is very stable, which limitsopportunities for experienced hires. However there are opportunities for analysts:in Paris for example, there is a rolling 6-month intern position that allows businessstudents to get a serious introduction to the sector at a renowned firm, and may leadto a full time position.


PhD/JD/MD (10%)

Unknown (23%)

MBA (8%)

Master’s (34%)

Audit and transaction services (21%)


Other (26%)

Banks (42%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic


123

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

BNP Paribas (2)

Barclays (3)

KPMG (3)

Arthur Anderson (3)

PWC (4)

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

Oxford (2)

EM Lyon (2)

St.Gallen (2)

ESSEC (3)

Cambridge (3)

Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic



Being a subsidiary of a UK firm, Barclays PE obviously has more staff in the UK, withgrowing teams in continental Europe. The Paris and Munich offices have their ownwebsites with contact details for potential candidates.


124



The Stats


Company Focus




European Locations


Rest of the World


Key Competitors


Employment Contact



43-45 Portman Square London W1H 6DA United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 7009 4800

www.bcpartners.com

THE STATS

Managing partner: 9 managing partnersEmployer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €11bn in 2008Employees: 45 investment professionalsin 2008No. of Offices: 6

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:All sectors

Financial stages:Large buy-out, Secondary purchase/re-placement capital, MBO, MBI, Institu-tional BO, Leveraged build up, Public toprivate, Purchase of quoted shares

Types of financing: Main: Majority equity

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Geneva • Hamburg •Milan • Paris • Milan

REST OF THE WORLD

New York

KEY COMPETITORS

Apax • Permira • Cinven • CVC • KKR• Bain Capital • Blackstone

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

[email protected]

BC PARTNERS


125

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

BC European Capital VIII

BC European Capital VII

€5.9bn

€4.3bn

Funds

VINTAGE YEAR

2005

2000

THE SCOOP

The firm was founded as Baring Capital Investors in 1986. In 1995, at about the timeof the collapse of Barings Bank that was famously documented in the movie “RogueTrader”, it became independent through its own MBO and renamed itself BCPartners. It is worth noting that BC Partners has no link with Baring Private EquityPartners (BPEP), which finalised its MBO from parent company and Baring’s ownerING Group in 2004 and invests via four regional fund groups in Russia, Asia, Indiaand Spain.

Since 1986, BC Partners has invested in 66 companies with a total enterprise value ofover €54bn. While they target only two or three acquisitions every year, they cancommit over €2bn of equity to any given one and are ready to contribute significantadditional capital to grow it. Over the next five years, they plan to acquire fifteen totwenty businesses, with enterprise values typically in the range of €300m to €4bn.

NHS goldIn 2000, BC Partners recognised the opportunity for the private sector to becomemore involved in the treatment of NHS patients in the UK. Attractive changes inhealthcare policy further underlined potential growth prospects. To take advantageof this opportunity, it bought General Healthcare Group from Cinven for €2.2 billion.GHG was the largest acute care hospital provider and leading independent providerof specialist psychiatric care services in the UK. Over the next six years, the newowner supported considerable organic growth and made two significant hospitalacquisitions to optimise national coverage.

In 2005, it sold separately the health screening and occupational health operationBMI Healthcare services to The Capita Group Plc, and the Partnerships in Carepsychiatric operation back to Cinven for about £560m, allowing management to focus

BC Partners

126

on its core business. In 2006, it sold the acute care hospitals for £2.35 billion to aconsortium led by Netcare, a leading South African hospitals group. At that time,the transaction was the largest ever deal in the European healthcare services sector.

Contrarian outlookIn 2007, BC Partners acquired two corporate companies: Bureau van Dijk ElectronicPublishing from Candover for a rumoured €700m, and a combination of leadingLondon estate agency Foxtons, also comprising mortgage broker Alexander Hall, foran estimated £390m. Amid fears of a slowdown in the UK real estate market, thedecision to acquire the business may show BC Partners’ bet that the long-termfundamentals of the market remain good. It may also be a sign that there will beopportunities to streamline and consolidate a sector built on a 15 year growth wave.One thing is for certain though, everyone will be scrutinising how the new ownerwill adapt to a fast changing environment.

Well established on the continentBC Partners has a strong foothold in Germany, where they are invested in Brenntag,which at €3bn was the second largest LBO in Germany to date. They also hold a 38per cent stake in Unity Media, which acquired exclusive pay-TV broadcasting rightsfor Bundesliga football.

Another landmark transaction was the joint acquisition with Cinven of Amadeus in2005 for €4.3bn, the largest LBO in Spain to date. Amadeus is a leading globaldistribution system and technology provider for the travel and tourism industries.

In France, the firm operates Medica, the third largest operator of nursing homes andrehabilitation clinics, and Picard, the leading frozen food distributor and a formersuccess story in the French PE landscape, bought from Candover in 2004 for €1.3bn.

In Greece, it owns Regency Entertainment, the leading casino operator inSoutheastern Europe—which was the largest public to private LBO in Greece. InTurkey, it recently announced the acquisition of a majority interest in Migros, thecountry’s largest food retailer.

In 2008, funds advised by BC Partners completed the acquisition of Intelsat, a worldleader in fixed satellite services, for US$16.5bn despite the turmoil in the credit markets.

GETTING HIRED

BC Partners investment managers work as one team across its six country offices.Teamwork skills, international exposure and the ability to operate in severallanguages are therefore highly valued. Investment managers are not recruitedstraight from school. They must accumulate significant experience before joining,mostly in strategy consulting and investment banking.

BC Partners doesn’t advertise for recruiting.


127


Banks (32%)

Other (26%)



PhD/JD/MD (2%)

MBA (40%)

Master’s (9%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

BC Partners

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Bocconi (4)

HEC (4)

Cambridge (5)

INSEAD (5)

Harvard (6)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Merrill Lynch (3)

McKinsey (3)

Morgan Stanley (4)

BCG (4)

Bain (8)

Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic



128

130



The Stats


Company Focus




European Locations


Rest of the World


Key Competitors


Employment Contact



30 Warwick Street London WC1B 5AL United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 74 32 3500

www.bridgepoint.eu

THE STATS

Chairman: David ShawEmployer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €8bn in 2007Employees: 60 professionals in 2007No. of Offices: 8

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:ConsumerFinancial servicesHealthcareMediaSupport ServicesTransport

Financial stages:Expansion – development, Large buy-out(€150m-€300m equity), Mid-market buy-out (€15m-€150m equity), Replacement

Types of financing: Main: Majority Equity

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Frankfurt • Luxembourg• Madrid • Milan • Paris • Stockholm •Warsaw

KEY COMPETITORS

3i • Apax • Barclays Private Equity •Cinven • CVC • EQT • Industri Kapital

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

[email protected]

BRIDGEPOINT CAPITAL LTD.


131

Bridgepoint Capital Ltd.

THE SCOOP

Bridgepoint is a UK-based mid-market specialist headquartered in London, withoffices spread throughout seven other major European cities. The firm has a strong25-year track record of investing mainly in Western and Northern European markets,having invested over €8bn in 150 transactions. Bridgepoint is seen as a premiumbrand with consistently solid returns, and has handed back over €5 billion to itsinvestors in the last five years. The 2001 vintage fund alone is said to have returnedover two times investors’ money at a 37 per cent annual return rate, as of June 2007.

Outside looking inOne of Bridgepoint’s unique selling points is their reliance on impartial externaladvice; they have an advisory committee made up of external industry experts whoare present at every investment evaluation. The firm tends to emphasise thistransparency and accountability between investors and management, and is said toencourage an open minded outlook amongst employees. The advisory committee,who recently recruited the dean of INSEAD among their ranks, acts as an overarchingadvisory panel to the local teams who do the work on the ground.

In the land of the blindAlthough global credit conditions have all but put the brakes on large-cap privateequity deals, triggering predictions of a PE market crash, Bridgepoint has announcedthe closure of its fourth fund ahead of even the most optimistic expectations. Thefund is set to close in early 2008, having over-subscribed the €5bn hard cap, eventhough it has yet to make any exits from its 2005 vintage fund.

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

Bridgepoint Europe IV

Bridgepoint Europe III

€4 (target)bn

€2.5bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2008

2005

Bridgepoint Europe II €2bn2002

132

A “proper” European mid-market firm A few years ago, Bridgepoint was already recognised as the exemplar European mid-market firm: it was named “European Mid-Market Firm of the Year” in Private EquityInternational’s Global Private Equity Awards for 2004, as well as “European Mid-Market Buyout Firm of the Year” in Financial News' annual awards for excellence inprivate equity in 2003 and 2004. It also won the award for “Best Middle MarketBuyout” at the 2003 European Private Equity Summit & Awards in Paris.

Lately, Bridgepoint has lived up to its reputation. In 2006, the firm invested €885million and returned €2 billion to investors. Acquisitions include German lens-makerRodenstock (€660m enterprise value), Italian perfumery chain Limoni for €480million, French optical Alain Afflelou for €470 million and UK clothing retailer FatFace for €540 million.

That year, Bridgepoint tripled their investment in the UK storage group Safestoreand made 4.5 times their money on Swedish care services provider Attendo.Furthermore Bridgepoint made a 760 per cent return on the sale of Nordic car parkoperator CarPark. It also sold French nursing home operator Medica to BC Partnersfor €750 million. Less than three years earlier Bridgepoint had acquired the companytogether with Alpinvest for €330 million.

In 2007, Bridgepoint did even better with a record number of acquisitions, includingDutch educational publisher Infinitas Learning (formerly Wolters Kluwer Education)for €774 million, Leeds Bradford International Airport in the UK for €214 million andGlobal Design Technologies, a Franco-American Aerospace component supplier for€254 million. In May, it acquired Gambro Healthcare, Europe's No. 2 dialysis careservices group from Swedish firm Gambro, pre-empting other bidders in anaccelerated process.

Another major event of 2007 was the sale of UK-based diagnostic imaging servicesprovider Alliance Medical to Dubai International Capital for £600m. Bridgepointbought the company in an £86m buy-out transaction in January and has made a fourtimes return on the sale.

The widening of EuropeIn March 2007 Bridgepoint announced the opening of an office in Warsaw to addressthe market in Central and Eastern Europe. In November it acquired Polish CTLLogistics from its founder. CTL is Central Europe's leading private rail logisticscompany and one of the largest private rail operators in Europe with 2,500 employeesand 2006 revenues of €249 million.


133

Bridgepoint Capital Ltd.

GETTING HIRED

Bridgepoint consists of small investment teams with experience in local markets.They have a strong investment background and the top former employer is theformer Natwest Bank, now part of RBS. Bridgepoint also supplements their teamswith a few strategy consultants and transaction service professionals, predominantlyfrom Ernst & Young and PWC.



Banks (35%)

Other (38%)


Unknown (17%)

Master’s (24%)

MBA (32%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

134

0

1

2

3

4

5

GE (3)

PWC (3)

Ernst and Young (4)

UBS (4)

RBS (Natwest) (5)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Harvard (3)

INSEAD (3)

Bocconi (4)

Manchester (4)

Cambridge (7)




Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

Cambridge and Manchester dominate in the pedigree of the UK team, while Bocconi– no surprise – is the most frequent alma mater in the Italian team. MBAs nowaccount for a third of the managers, with INSEAD and Harvard leading the pack.

If you are interested in joining the firm, Bridgepoint invites you to contact theirhuman resources team at [email protected].

20 Old Bailey London EC4M 7LN United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 74 89 9848

www.candover.com

THE STATS

Managing Director: Colin BuffinEmployer Type: Public listed company(LSE) – unique structure with plc owningltdTicker Symbol: CDITotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €3.5bn (of which €2.9bn fromthird parties) Employees: 39 professionals in 2007No. of Offices: 5

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:MediaFinancial ServicesSupport ServicesLeisureHealthcareTechnologyIndustrialOther sectors

Financial stages:Large buy-out (€150m-€300m equity),Mid market buyout (€15m-€150m eq-uity)

Types of financing: Main: Majority EquityOther: Debt, Mezzanine, Shareholdersloans

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Madrid • Milan • Paris• Dusseldorf (may be relocated)

KEY COMPETITORS

Apax • BC Partners • Bridgepoint • Cin-ven • CVC • EQT • Industri Kapital • PAI

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

[email protected]

CANDOVER

135

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

The Candover 2005 Fund

The Candover 2001 Fund

€3.5bn

€2.7bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2005

2002

The Candover 1997 Fund €1.4bn1998

THE SCOOP

Candover is a London based firm specialising in large-cap, and often high profile,buyouts. In 1980 Roger Brooke, a former diplomat turned CEO, met Henry Kravis,co-founder of KKR, to learn about a new kind of transaction that was gainingpopularity in the US: leveraged buyouts. A few months later, he got together £100,000from Electra, 3i and various UK pension funds to set up Candover, the first buyoutfirm in Europe. In one of its earliest transactions, the confectionary unit FamousNames, it made a return of ten times its investment, making people take notice.

While Candover began life as a niche investment firm focusing on UK deals, it hassince grown to be a truly Western European player. The expansion outside of the UKwas slightly behind other firms, although each new office was established with a keypartner in charge. In 2002, Candover hired Cyrille Chevrillon, its longstanding Frenchpartner who had contributed to the successful buyout of Picard, to head the Parisoffice. That same year, the firm appointed Kurt Kinzuis to head up the German team.But Germany would prove to be more difficult, and shortly after, Candoverappointed Jens Tonn to the role. After nine years, in November 2007, following hisdecision to leave the company and head Vestar’s new German office, Candoverappointed Boris Hentze as Head of Germany. Currently, the firm doesn’t have aGerman office anymore and the German team works out of London. Also in 2002,Alejandro von der Pahlen joined the firm as an adviser to originate deals in Spainand Portugal. Candover formally opened an office in Madrid shortly after, and in2006 relocated Aldo Maccari from London to Milan to open the Italian office. Thefirm also named Humphrey Cobbold, a former McKinsey partner, in the newlycreated position of Origination Director with responsibility for coordinatingCandover's deal sourcing activities across Europe.

136

Evaluating investmentsOver the last 27 years Candover has closed nine funds with almost €9bn worth ofinvestor money raised; the firm has taken these funds and completed 134 buyouts todate, valued at €40bn, creating an average rate of return of 34 per cent.

Candover’s managing directors, Colin Buffin and Marek Gumienny, have been withthe firm for close to 20 years. They are unique in that the structure of the company,Candover Investments plc and wholly owned subsidiary Candover Partners Limited,allows for a very transparent investment process. Some initial conclusions about the PEslow down were actually founded on publicly available Candover investment research,which Gumienny has referred to as a “healthy correction” of the market. For manyyears, Candover has been publishing a quarterly barometer of private equity in Europe.

The latest Candover 2005 Fund focused on investments in the European markets,with eight transactions made before 2008. Candover particularly looks for companiesin Benelux and the UK with solid management, good growth opportunities andcompany values between €150 million and €1 billion. For example, the investment inCapital Safety Group, a UK based designer and manufacturer of height safety and fallprotection equipment, was evaluated in May 2007. The deal value was set at £415million and funded by debt, mezzanine and private equity funding, where Candoverprovided the private equity and partnered with other firms to enlarge the equitycommitment. Capital Safety Group has a high quality management team, a strongmarket position and real growth potential. The transaction has an estimated IRR(Internal Return Rate) of 23 per cent over the next 9 years.

An excellent and consistent track record Candover generally acquires three to five companies in a year. They tend to havepan-European activities. While the amounts are often undisclosed, its typicalinvestment has an enterprise value of around €500 million.

In 2007, Candover acquired Capital Safety Group from Electra Private Equity, PLC;Alma Consulting Group, the European leader in cost reduction and tax recoveryservices, from Apax Partners; and Parques Reunidos, a European operator ofattraction parks, from Advent International. It is currently awaiting the result of itspublic offer for Stork N.V. which represents a total value of €1.5 billion.

In 2007, the firm was particularly active with several key exits taking place, whichthey expect to continue into 2008. Candover realised the majority of its investment inWellstream, a leading global manufacturer of flexible pipeline, through an IPO on the

Candover

137


London Stock Exchange, with a return of four times its original investment. It alsosold Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing to BC Partners with a return of 2.3 timesits original investment, and sold Get, the Norwegian cable TV operator, toQuadrangle and GS Capital Partners for €745m, realising an IRR of 50 per cent.

In July 2004, Candover, 3i and JP Morgan Partners acquired Vetco International fromABB Oil & Gas for $925 million. In 2007 the consortium sold it in two parts: VetcoGray to GE Oil and Gas for $1.9 billion and Aibel to Ferd Private Equity (nowHerkules Capital) for $0.9 billion.

In December 2004, Candover led the €465m management buyout of the Thule Group,a Swedish company and the world leader in sports utility transportation. It sold it in2007 to Nordic Capital, realising an IRR of more than 40 per cent.

GETTING HIRED

Candover has built a team of 35 to 40 professionals hired from various industries.Cambridge and Oxford feature prominently among employees’ degrees and 40 percent of them hold an MBA from a prestigious university, mostly Harvard, INSEADor LBS. But as usual investment managers join with significant previous experiencein banking, accounting, consulting or the industry.

Candidates interested to apply should contact the office of their choice on Candover’swebsite under “Contact us”.

138

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

BCG (2)

McKinsey (2)

Arthur Andersen (3)

3i (3)

PWC (3)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

LBS (3)

Oxford (3)

Harvard (4)

INSEAD (4)

Cambridge (7)

Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic



Master’s (54%)

Unknown (3%)

MBA (40%)



Banks (26%)

Other (37%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

Candover

139


140


Warwick Court, Paternoster Square City, Country London EC4M 7AG United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 76 61 3333

www.cinven.com

THE STATS

Managing Director: Robin HallEmployer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €9bnEmployees: 57 professionals in 2007No. of Offices: 4

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:Business & Financial ServicesHealthcareIndustrialsTMTRetailLeisureConsumer

Financial stages: Large MBO/MBI (EV>€500m with atleast 100m equity), Public to private

Types of financing: Majority Equity

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Frankfurt • Milan • Paris

OFFICES IN PLANNING

New York • Hong Kong

KEY COMPETITORS

Apax • Bridgepoint • Candover • BCPartners • CVC • PAI • Permira

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

None. Cinven does not recruit graduatesnor does it offer internship programmes.It is currently not recruiting at any level.

CINVEN


141

CinvenTHE SCOOP

Since 1977 Cinven has been one of the largest private investment funds dedicatedsolely to the European market, and lays claim to having executed more large,complex European buyouts than any other firm. In July 2006 they announced theclosure of the “Fourth Cinven Fund”, which exceeded its target of €5 billion; at €6.5billion it is one of the largest funds dedicated solely to European buyouts, enablingthe firm to build on the €60 billion worth of transactions it has led so far. Each year,Cinven invests in only a handful of companies of significant size, sometimes with anentreprise value of several billion, and seeks to bring a pan-European dimension tothe businesses’ future opportunities. Since their founding, Cinven has invested in 23transactions with more than €1 billion total consideration.

It’s all in the nameCinven originated as the in-house private investment arm of the British Coal PensionFunds (Coal INvestments VENture), which was one of the largest pension schemesin the late 70s. Due to early success the private equity activities of the RailwaysPension Scheme and Barclays Bank Pension Funds were absorbed by Cinven in 1988and 1990 respectively. The management then decided to buy themselves out fromthe pension fund owners, and gained their independence in 1995 following theThatcher legislation that privatised British Coal.

Cinven has a prescence in the major European financial centres, with offices inLondon, Paris, Frankfurt and Milan. France and Germany opened in 1999, while theItalian office was opened in 2006. The next European opening could be in Spain orin the Netherlands, with two investments having been executed in each country.However, in early 2008, Cinven announced that it was going to open offices in NewYork and Hong Kong ahead of its next fundraising.

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

Fourth Cinven Fund

Third Cinven Fund

€6.5bn

€4.4bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2006

2002

142

A diversified portfolio of companies After an initial focus on TMT and Healthcare, Cinven diversified their portfolio byinvesting in the Industrial and Leisure sectors from 1999. In addition to those sectors,they own companies who operate in financial services as well as in retail andconsumer industries. In 2006 Cinven gained their largest acquisition, a TMT companycalled Dutch Cable, at €5.4 billion. Dutch Cable became the second European cableoperator in their portfolio, behind Numéricable, which they acquired in 2005. Thesecond largest deal was in 2006, with the acquisition of the Amadeus traveldistribution services for €4.4 billion.

Recent focus on healthcare2007 was the year of healthcare, with three out of five acquisitions in the sector. Atthe beginning of the year, Cinven acquired Phadia, the global leader in in-vitroallergy diagnostics and the European leader in autoimmunity diagnostics, for closeto €1.3 billion. In the summer of 2007, Cinven acquired BUPA’s 25 hospitals in the UKfor a total consideration of £1.44 billion as well as Spanish hospitals USP Hospitalesfor a total consideration of €675 million, with a view to consolidate the fragmentedIberian healthcare market. Altogether, this represents a significant strategic exposureto the healthcare sector.

The other two investments of 2007 were both in retail. Camaïeu is a leading women’sfashion retail chain with 557 stores, 421 of which are in France. Cinven acquired a 67per cent stake with the strategy to support and accelerate the roll out of new storesacross its core markets.

Cinven also took private Gondola Holdings in a €1,335m transaction. With about£400m in revenue, Gondola is the largest group in the UK casual dining sector andoperates the 525 of famous brands like PizzaExpress, ASK and Zizzi. Cinven willsupport further growth through the roll-out of existing formats, the acquisition ofadditional brands with growth potential and the pursuit of other consolidationopportunities through selective acquisitions.

Although Cinven recently lost against BC Partners in the auction on data providerBureau van Dijk, it is likely that Cinven will be back in the fundraising market in thenext two years.


143

CinvenGETTING HIRED

There are 51 professionals working at Cinven. While Bain & Company tops the listof their previous employers, investment banks account for 40 per cent of them.Cinven has a diverse European team but the core group is definitely English,educated at Cambridge, Oxford, LSE and Edinburgh.


Unknown (2%)

PhD/JD/MD (2%)

MBA (15%)

Master’s (44%)


Banks (40%)

Other (31%)




Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

JP Morgan (3)

Morgan Stanley (3)

Goldman Sachs (3)

BCG (4)

Bain (6)

0

2

4

6

8

10

ESCP-EAP (3)

LSE (3)

HEC (4)

Oxford (4)

Cambridge (10)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

Cinven has one of the most stable teams in the private equity industry. Their strategyis to retain employees for as long as possible in order to preserve their knowledge andexpertise. Many of their partners have been involved since the very beginning in1988. Maybe for that reason, it is clearly not the policy of the firm to advertisepositions. Candidates will have to rely on their personal networks and their goodfortune to fill a potential vacancy.

144

111 Strand London WC2R 0AG United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 74 20 4200

www.cvc.com

THE STATS

CEO: Fred WattsEmployer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €20.9bn in 2007Employees: 135 (of which 100 invest-ment professionals) in 2007No. of Offices: 18

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:DistributionFood/BeveragesIT/MediaManufacturingRetailServices

Financial stages: Mega buyout (>€300m equity), Largebuy-out (€150m-€300m equity), Publicto private

Types of financing: Main: Majority equityOther: Debt, CLOs (second lien andmezzanine instruments), Infrastructure

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Luxembourg (HQ) • Amsterdam • Brus-sels • Copenhagen • Frankfurt • London• Madrid • Milan • Paris • St. Helier •Stockholm • Zurich

REST OF THE WORLD

New York • Hong Kong • Seoul • Singa-pore • Tokyo • Sydney

KEY COMPETITORS

Apax • BC Partners • Bridgepoint •Candover • Cinven • EQT • IndustriKapital • PAI

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

[email protected]

CVC CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD

145

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

CVC European Equity Partners V

CVC European Equity Partners Tandem Fund

€11(target)bn

€4bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2008

2007

CVC European Equity Partners IV

CVC Capital Partners Asia Pacific II

€6bn

$2bn

2005

2005

CVC European Equity Partners III $4bn2001

THE SCOOP

CVC Capital Partners was founded in 1981 as Citicorp’s European private equityarm, and was subsequently bought out by the firm’s partners in 1993. CVC boasts 135employees with 16 nationalities. They operate a network of 18 offices on fourcontinents, one of the largest and most extensive in the private equity industry.Although still focused on European assets, they have aggressively expanded intoAustralasia and recently opened their first office in the US.

Since inception, the firm has made around 260 investments with a total value of€65bn, and currently holds a portfolio of 53 firms mainly in the retail, manufacturingand service sectors. Together these companies have combined annual sales of €55.3billion and employ approximately 431,000 people. Their third European fundachieved annual returns of over 40 per cent after fees, making it one of the mostsuccessful pan-European houses.

The virtue of patienceCVC has a slightly longer than average investment horizon, looking to holdcompanies for more than 5 years. This helps keep partners around longer; currently,the average partner tenure is 12 years.

In 2005, CVC was awarded the title of “Best European LBO Firm” by the PrivateEquity International Awards as well as “Most Impressive LBO Sponsor” by EuroWeek.

CVC are major players on the European scene, with high profile takeovers such asFormula One, the motorsport management company, and the AA roadside assistance

146

firm. Their latest fundraising effort is rumoured to be targeting €11bn, although incurrent market conditions this looks ambitious, and the growing infrastructure teamis thinking about doing the rounds for €2bn of their own. The trend towards lowerrisk infrastructure funds is driven by worsening market conditions, as the relativelysteady cash flows are less reliant on things like consumer spending.

Global coverageCVC Asia Pacific has been one of the most active private equity investors in the AsiaPacific region and has completed 25 MBOs there in the last seven years. They openedtheir fifth office in the region in Singapore in 2007. The same year, they faced theirfirst major conflict in Asia as unions at Coca-Cola Korea Bottling Company plantsopposed their acquisition of the business. In 2007 too, CVC appointed ChristopherStadler, previously head of InvestCorp's private equity business in North America,to open and run their first American office in New York.

CVC’s portfolio covers a wide variety of industries, geographies and economicenvironments. In 2006, their nine investments were already regionally diversified –four in Europe, four in Asia and one in Australia. In 2007, they have had 12 deals, ofwhich eight were in Europe, two in the U.S., one in Asia and one in Australia. The listincludes a diverse group of companies such as Belgium specialty chemicals firmTaminco for €0.8bn; CementBouw and Koninklijke Volker Wessels Stevin in theNetherlands; Danish retailer Matas; German firms Ista and DYWIDAG-SystemsInternational; AA, the UK roadside and insurance business, now merged with Saga;Samsonite, the luggage company, for $1.7bn; global chemical distributor Univar for€1.5bn; Amtek Engineering from Singapore; and 75 per cent of PBL Media in Australia.

In December 2007, CVC announced the appointment of Stephen Vineburg as ChiefExecutive of a newly established infrastructure investment business. A new $2 billionfund will be launched in 2008, to make investments globally.

CV

C C

apital Partners Ltd

147


GETTING HIRED

CVC Partners boasts a true pan-European team with professionals educated at a widerange of top universities across Europe, like Stockholm, WHU or ESCP-EAP.


Unknown (5%)

PhD/JD/MD (2%)

MBA (30%)

Master’s (51%)



Banks (45%)

Other (36%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

148

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

ESCP-EAP (4)

Stockholm (4)

INSEAD (4)

WHU Koblenz (5)

Cambridge (6)

0

2

4

6

8

10

PWC (4)

Goldman Sachs (4)

JPMorgan (5)

McKinsey (7)

Citigroup (10)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

An insider mentions that CVC has a very competitive environment with a culture ofstrong collegiate rivalry. The investment professionals have an average of eight yearsservice within the firm. Their previous backgrounds include investment bankingprimarily, with a range of experiences in consulting, accounting, private equity andother areas of asset management, law, property development and generalmanagement in various industries.

To learn more about employment opportunities at CVC you can [email protected].

CV

C C

apital Partners Ltd

149


45 Pall Mall London SW1Y 5JG United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 76 63 9300

www.doughtyhanson.com

THE STATS

Executive Director: Nigel E. DoughtyEmployer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €5bn (estimate)Employees: 123 staff (56 professionals),15 nationalities in 2008No. of Offices: 8

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:All sectors

Financial stages: Expansion – development, Mega buyout(>€300m equity), Large buy-out(€150m-€300m equity), Mid market buy-out (€15m-€150m equity), Technologyventure, Real estate

Types of financing: Main: Majority EquityOther: Minority Equity, Shareholdersloans

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Frankfurt • Luxembourg• Madrid • Milan • Munich • Paris •Stockholm

KEY COMPETITORS

Apax • Bridgepoint • Candover

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

[email protected]

DOUGHTY HANSON

151

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

Doughty Hanson & Co. Fund V

Doughty Hanson & Co. Fund IV

€3bn

€1.5bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2007

2005

THE SCOOP

Founded in 1985, Doughty Hanson is a leading UK private equity company that splitsits efforts between three investment activities; early stage technology investments,real estate investments and mid to large cap leveraged buyouts. The company as awhole has an aggregate acquisition value of €23 billion in over 100 transactions, witha strictly European portfolio. Although the majority of Doughty Hanson’s investmentprofessionals are based in London, they have regional offices in Frankfurt,Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Stockholm.

The firm is not particularly sector focused; their current portfolio includes companiesfrom sectors as diverse as luxury goods, media, retail, mobile phones, engineering,manufacturing and building materials. The firm invests in market leading companieswith enterprise values between €250 million and €1 billion and prefers to be the soleinvestor with a majority stake in the company. The technology venture capitalinvestments can be as little as €0.1 million for seed investments and €10 million forlater stage investments.

Show me the moneyIn May of 2007, Doughty Hanson closed their fifth fund, aptly named Fund V, with€3 billion of investors’ money earmarked for European leveraged buyouts. The firmhad already announced two acquisitions using Fund V: Norit, a Dutch purificationtechnology company, and Avanza, the largest independent bus operator in Spain. InDecember, CTSA, the third largest bus operator in Spain, was added to the portfoliofor an enterprise value of around €90 million.

Cashing outIn early 2008, the firm is closing its sale of the Moeller Group, a global manufacturerof systems for building applications, to the Eaton Corporation for €1.55 billion,

152

representing a three times return on equity and a gross IRR of 54 per cent. The firmwas acquired by the Munich team using the €1.5bn Fund IV, which closed in early2005, with a price tag of €1.1bn including pension liabilities. The sale is the second exitfrom Fund IV, the first being Saft, a French high-end battery maker, meaning a totalof €1 billion has been returned to investors with nine Fund IV investments yet to berealised. Companies still in the portfolio include Tumi, the luxury luggage maker,Hellermann Tyton, a cable company, and TV3, the Irish TV company.

The crystal ball of valuationsIn 2007, PricewaterhouseCoopers was recruited to value the business, enabling NigelDoughty and Richard Hanson to buy out the other remaining co-founder, Bruce Roe,who had retired the previous summer. PwC came up with a figure of £9.4 million forMr. Roe’s 12,440 shares; since valuing companies is Mr. Roe’s profession he puttogether his own model, and came up with a value of £104 million, or 11 times thePwC valuation, for the same shares. The impending lawsuit will undoubtedlyscrutinise the underlying assumptions, but when it comes to valuing businesses onething is certain – there is always room for interpretation.

GETTING HIRED

In April 2008, Doughty Hanson increased tremendously their transparency whenthey unveiled their 2007 annual report. Still they remain one of the few establishedprivate equity firms that do not disclose any information about their team members.While investment professionals are expected to bring significant industrial experienceto the team, the firm occasionally hires juniors from Stockholm School of Economics,London School of Economics, Oxford, Cambridge or HEC. INSEAD graduatesrepresent more than 10 per cent of the investment team.

Doughty H

anson

153


Almack House, 28 King Street,London SW1Y 6XAUnited KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 74 51 6600

www.dukestreetcapital.com

THE STATS

Managing Director: Peter Taylor Employer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: £2bn Employees: 34 in 2007 (18 investmentprofessionals)No. of Offices: 2

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:Business Services & OutsourcingRetail & ConsumerHealthcareLeisureFinancial Services

Financial stages: Expansion/development, Refinancingbank debt, Secondary purchase/replace-ment capital, Rescue/turnaround, MBO,MBI, Institutional BO, Leveraged BuildUp, Public to private Large buy-out (£150m-£300m equity),Mid market buyout (£15m-£150m eq-uity)

Types of financing: Main: Majority EquityOther: Shareholders loans

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Paris

KEY COMPETITORS

Apax • European Capital • Montagu •Quilvest

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

[email protected]

DUKE STREET CAPITAL

154

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

DSC VI €0.85bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2006

THE SCOOP

Since 1980, Duke Street Capital has been involved in mid-market private equityinvestments in the UK and France, from their offices in London and Paris. Duke Streetuses an operational improvement strategy to add value, and retains the services ofindustry experts as operational partners. The firm specialises in management buy-insand actively advertises for experienced managers to approach them with potentialinvestment opportunities.

In 2004, the firm sold its €1.5bn leveraged loan CDO management business to Babson,a subsidiary of MassMutual, to concentrate on its private equity business.

By the end of 2007, Duke Street had closed 49 transactions in the business services,retail and consumer, healthcare, leisure and financial services sectors. The firm pointsout that they will consider any opportunity, but their expertise and experience iscurrently focused around these sectors. The firm is currently in the process ofinvesting its sixth fund, DSC VI, with approximately €2 billion under management.

In 2007, the DSC V fund went through the “build” stage of a “buy and build”strategy, with acquisitions and organic growth bulking up the portfolio companies.In April, Food Partners, the leading supplier of pre-packaged sandwiches in the UK,acquired a major competitor, Brambles Food, for an estimated £210 million.

In June of 2007, Duke Street acquired Oasis Healthcare, a leading corporate dentist,for £76.9 million plus debt, adding to the flurry of activity in the preceding year;Hutton Collins had recently bought into James Hull Associates and Legal & GeneralVentures had acquired a controlling stake in Integrated Dental Holdings. The sectoris very fragmented—corporate dentists account for less than 5 per cent—and manyindustry observers are predicting further consolidation.

In December of 2007, the firm acquired The Original Factory Shop, a value retailerheadquartered in Burnley, UK. The deal, valued at £68.5 million, will see anationwide growth strategy roll out new shops throughout the UK, adding to the 84outlets currently owned by OFS.

Duke Street C

apital

155


GETTING HIRED

StaffingThe firm’s 21 investment professionals are split between London and Paris, withabout three quarters of them in the UK. Although it is hard to draw conclusions fromsuch a small number of professionals, the majority came from top investment banksand from other private equity firms. Management consultants are absent and onlyone Big Four accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, is represented.

RecruitingThe educational background of Duke Street professionals is very diverse, withDurham, Cambridge, Dauphine and ESCP-EAP being the most popularundergraduate universities. While two thirds of the investment professionals have aMaster’s degree, the MBA is the exception. Insiders point out that there is no specificrecruiting policy; the team is relatively small and hiring needs are filled ad hoc.

156

157


PO Box 16409, Linnégatan 6103 27 StockholmSweden Tel: +46 8 50 655 300

www.eqt.se

THE STATS

Managing Partner: Conni JonssonEmployer Type: Private Company Total private equity funds under manage-ment: €11bnEmployees: 80 professionals in 2008 (67investment professionals)No. of Offices: 9

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:All sectors

Financial stages: Expansion – development, Mega buyout(>€300m equity), Large buy-out (€150m-€300m equity), Mid market buyout(€15m-€150m equity), Other early stage,Privatisation, Public to private, Replace-ment, Seed, Small buyout (<€15m eq-uity), Start-up, Turnaround–restructuring

Types of financing: Main: Majority EquityOther: Mezzanine

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Stockholm (HQ) • Copenhagen • Frank-furt • Helsinki • Munich • Oslo

REST OF THE WORLD

New York • Hong Kong • Shanghai

KEY COMPETITORS

3i • Apax • Carlyle • Industri Kapital •Nordic Capital

CAREER CONTACTS

+46 8 (0)50 655 300

EQT PARTNERS

158

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

EQT V

EQT Expansion Capital II (mezzanine)

€4.2bn

€0.5bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2007

2007

EQT Opportunity (distressed)

EQT IV

€0.4bn

€2.5bn

2005

2004

THE SCOOP

Founded in 1994 by Investor AB, EQT Partners (an abbreviation of “equity”) is aleading private equity house, based in Sweden. The firm has over €11 billion undermanagement, and has invested €5 billion in 60 companies, with a particular focus onNorthern Europe and China. In particular, the firm is active in Scandinavia, Benelux,Finland, Austria, Switzerland and Germany. The firm targets leading medium-sizedcompanies, specializing in buyouts, mezzanine financing and special situationinvestments. The opportunity fund invests in turnarounds, insolvencies,restructurings and special situations where revenues exceed €50 million. Currently,the European portfolio is invested mostly in Sweden, Denmark and Germany, andto a lesser extent in Finland. The rest of the portfolio companies are in Greater China.

Growing older, leaving the nestIn 2007, the firm’s partners agreed to buy an additional 36 per cent of EQT Partnersfor €31.2 million from Investor AB, taking their total ownership to 69 per cent. Thisseparation away from Investor AB is also noted in the fundraising; in the Europeanbased funds, Investor AB’s contributions have fallen from a high of 32 per cent in EQTIII to 12 per cent of the latest EQT V. This drop could be somewhat explained by theincreasing total value of the funds, as the EQT V fund is more than twice as large asEQT III, although this still represents a reduced investment by Investor AB in realterms. The remaining investment comes from the Nordic area (30 per cent), Europe (30per cent), North America (25 per cent) and other parts of the world (15 per cent).


159

EQT Partners

Royal connectionsEQT has a little more clout than their fund size would suggest, as they are backed bythe Wallenberg family, who own a controlling stake in Investor AB and are one ofSweden’s wealthiest families. The Wallenberg’s were famously nicknamed “theRoyal family of Swedish business” for their heritage and success as bankers andindustrialists. The family currently owns the majority of the preferred stock inInvestor AB, which holds superior voting rights over regular shares, meaning thatthey have ultimate control over the company even though it is publicly listed.Recently, activist investors have tried to initiate a break-up of the group, which hasbeen trading below the value of its assets for years, to no avail.

EQT prefers to list their portfolio companies when exiting investments, having beeninvolved in several successful public offerings in the past. In 2006, EQT listedSymrise, the German flavours and fragrances firm, at the top end of its price range,making it the biggest German IPO that year at €1.4 billion. Tognum, a diesel enginemanufacturer, was listed on the German mid-cap index in 2007, with a significantoversubscription resulting in a total offering volume of around €2 billion. Sincelisting, Tognum has outperformed the German mid-cap index by around 3 per cent,with EQT still owning around a fifth of the shares.

In 2008, EQT plans to partner with Goldman Sachs Capital Partners to list ISS, theDanish cleaning company, which they took private in 2005 for €4 billion. EQT’s otherfuture ambitions include opening an office in Hong Kong, and further investmentsin Eastern Europe.

GETTING HIRED

EQT Partners has 67 investment professionals with a broad range of industrial andfinancial backgrounds. The majority are based in Europe, the Nordic countries andGermany. Teams are staffed based on their regional and industrial experience. EQTfocuses primarily on professionals with investment banking experience (half of theprofessionals), while former strategy consultants represent a distant second. The “local”industry is also well represented with former employees from Volvo, ABB, Radisson SAS,Bertelsmann or VIAG. The most represented universities among staff are Stockholm,Copenhagen and Helsinki, a further sign of EQT’s strong Nordic roots.

Candidates can register their application and CV on EQT’s website. The firm is currentlylooking for outstanding candidates with relevant experience to join its Greater China team

160


Unknown (4%)

MBA (21%)

Master’s (66%)



Banks (45%)

Other (40%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

UBS (3)

JPMorgan (3)

Morgan Stanley (4)

Goldman Sachs (4)

McKinsey (4)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

NYU (3)

INSEAD (3)

Helsinki (7)

Copenhagen (7)

Stockholm (12)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

161


32 rue de Monceau 75008 ParisFranceTel: +33 1 44 15 0111

www.eurazeo.com

THE STATS

Chairman of Executive Board: PatrickSayerEmployer Type: Public listed Company(Euronext Paris)Ticker Symbol: RFTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €2.7bn (value of PE portfolio on31/12/07)Employees: about 20 investment profes-sionalsNo. of Offices: 2

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:All sectors

Financial stages:Mid market buyout (€15m-€150m eq-uity), public equity, real estate

Types of financing:Main: Majority Equity; Minority Equity

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Paris (HQ) • Milan (Euraleo)

KEY COMPETITORS

Bridgepoint • PAI

CAREERS CONTACT

+33 1 44 15 0111

EURAZEO

162

THE SCOOP

In April 2001, Eurazeo was formed through the merger of two renowned Frenchinvestment companies, Eurafrance and Azeo, formerly known as Gaz et Eaux, thegas and water distributor dating back to 1881. The firm currently has an enterpriseportfolio value of €6 billion, almost half of it in private equity, with a heavy focus onFrench companies requiring an investment of over €200 million. From 2003 to 2006,the €3 billion invested boasted an annual IRR of 53 per cent, well above the marketaverage. Though listed on the Euronext, Eurazeo is effectively owned by institutionalinvestors, with the public owning only 12 per cent of the shares.

Since 2002, Eurazeo has balanced its private equity investments by allocating 10-15per cent of its portfolio to real estate assets, while maintaining its significant positionsin major listed corporations. In 2006, the firm sold off its portfolio of funds andliquidated its Asian assets, shedding any non-strategic investments.

Not too fussyEurazeo is not sector focused and prefers to invest in a range of industries to hedgeits exposure to any given sector. It has invested in a wide range of industries, fromsatellite operations to vehicle rentals, although each investment must adhere to thefour underlying principles refined over the firm’s 150 year history: quality ofmanagement, high barriers to entry, profitability and recurring cash flow.

Keeping busyIn 2003, Eurazeo was ranked as the number one French PE firm, having made severalsubstantial investments that year; Friklin, a European rental truck company withover 52,000 vehicles, Eutelsat, a division of France Telecom, and Terreal, a Frenchbrick producer, were all acquired that year. The following year, Rexel was acquiredin the largest European LBO at the time, only to be released the following yearthrough a public offering. In 2005, Eurazeo kept the deal flow going strong byrecapitalizing Eutelsat, acquiring B&B, a hotel chain, and exiting Terreal, whichreached an astonishing IRR of 105 per cent.

In 2006, Eurazeo sold more than €2.1 billion worth of French companies, whilemoving away from their home market by launching an Italian office, and acquiringEurocar. In 2007, Eutelsat and Fraikin were sold, realising IRRs of 59 per cent and


163

Eurazeo

37.5 per cent respectively. The same year, they acquired Apcoa, the German car parkoperator, for €885 million, and Vanguard, the US car rental group. To further developthe non-French European business, Eurazeo invested in Gruppo Banca Leonardo inItaly and APCOA in Germany.

In 2007, Eurazeo launched Euraleo in Italy, in a 50/50 joint venture with BancaLeonardo. The sister company is managed by Alessandro Foti and concentrates onthe Italian private equity market.

GETTING HIRED

Eurazeo’s investment team currently consists of about 20 professionals, half of whompreviously worked for an investment bank. They typically graduated from the Frenchelite schools Ecole Polytechnique and HEC and at least two of them started theircareers within the French government, a significant advantage when trying to getaccess to deals in France. Eurazeo is a very French company but its Europeanambitions may create opportunities for strong candidates from other Europeancountries. Candidates can upload their CV and submit their application on thecompany website at www.eurazeo.fr/uk/emploi/form.php.

164


25 Bedford Street London WC2E 9ES United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 7539 7000

www.europeancapital.com

THE STATS

Managing Director: Nathalie FaureBeaulieuEmployer Type: Public listed company(LSE)Total private equity funds under manage-ment: €2.3bn Employees: 19 in 2007No. of Offices: 3

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors of focus:All sectors

Financial stages: Buyouts (€50 - €500 million), Mezzanine(up to €250 million)

Types of financing: Main: Majority EquityOther: Minority Equity

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Frankfurt • Paris

KEY COMPETITORS

3i • Barclays Private Equity • Montagu

CAREERS WEBSITE

[email protected]

EUROPEAN CAPITAL


165

European Capital

THE SCOOP

American Capital, parent company of European Capital, is the largest publicly tradedprivate equity company in the world and the only alternative asset management firmin the S&P 500. With over $20 billion under management, the firm allowsshareholders the opportunity to invest in mid-market private companies in all sectorsthroughout North America and Europe.

European Capital manages €1.6 billion of funds, targeting middle-market Europeanfirms worth between €5 million and €500 million. The first European offices, in Parisand London, were only established in 2005, with the further two offices in Madridand Frankfurt opening in 2007.

Being an affiliate firm to American Capital has several advantages—the fund usesAmerican Capital’s back office functions, including the operations, legal andcompliance teams, and benefits from the same access to cheap and available credit.The European Capital team alone were extended a €900 million credit facility in 2006,a significant advantage to a relatively new private equity house which would neverhave happened if they had been a standalone firm.

The group is also in the process of developing a new fund, European Capital Equity I.

The majority of the firm’s investments have come from the French and British offices,with the Frankfurt office making its first investment in July 2007; €10 million wasinvested in Euro-Druckservice, a leading commercial printer in Central and EasternEurope.

In 2007, the Paris office made several investments in the manufacturing sector andrelated industries; €22 million was invested in Global Design Technologies, aprovider of specialised fittings for the aerospace industry; €29 million was investedin Soflog Telis, a provider of logistics to major industrial consumers; €12.5 millionwas invested in Tiama, a manufacturer of in-line inspection devices; and finally,undisclosed investments were made in Groupe Sud Robinetterie, a valvemanufacturer, and DEVGLASS, a window pane manufacturer and distributor.

That same year, the London office made key investments in the retail sector; €30million was invested in Camaieu, a women’s clothing retailer; £18.5 million wasinvested in Fat Face, an active lifestyle clothing brand; and €8 million was invested

166

in Vivarte, a French retailer of footwear and clothing. Other well known acquisitionsaround that time include Gondola Holdings, the food group that owns casualdinning chains such as Pizza Express and ASK, iglo Bird’s Eye, the well known frozenfood group, and Selecta, the largest vending services company in Europe.

GETTING HIRED

The investment professionals at European Capital studied at a mixture of Americanand European undergraduate universities, representing locally hired staff andprofessionals hired from within American Capital to European locations. Theuniversities are varied, but include top universities such as Dauphine University,MIT and Durham University. Six out of the 21 professionals have an MBA, frominstitutions such as HEC, ENPC and Wisconsin University. Around 40 per cent ofthe professionals come from other private equity companies and 30 per cent frombanks. Two of the 21 professionals came from Credit Suisse and two came fromSociété Générale, making them the most popular former employers. EuropeanCapital does not run a formal recruitment process, although potential candidates cancontact the firm at [email protected] to discuss potential opportunities.

167


Newtonlaan 91BP Utrecht3584Netherlands Tel: +31 (0)30 21 92 535

www.gilde.nlwww.gildepartners.com

THE STATS

General Partner: Mr. Boudewijn T. Mole-naar Employer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €2bn (€1.3bn Buyout Partners)Employees: 40 in 2007No. of Offices: 3

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:General Industries, Consumer Goods,Basic Industries, Services, Other

Financial stages: Mid market buyout (€15m-€150m)

Types of financing:Main: Majority EquityOther: Minority Equity, Shareholdersloans

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Utrecht (HQ) • Paris • Zurich

KEY COMPETITORS

3i • AAC Capital Partners • Advent In-ternational • Barclays Private Equity

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

GILDE INVESTMENTMANAGEMENT

168

THE SCOOP

Founded in 1982, Gilde Investment Management is a Dutch private equity and venturecapital firm, currently boasting around €2 billion under management. In 1996, the firmbecame an independent subsidiary of Rabobank, the Dutch cooperative bank, only tobe released through a management buyout in 2005. Rabobank still has close ties toGilde and continues to act as a key investor in their funds, although the managementteam thought independence would help attract new institutional investors.

Gilde Investment Management is divided into three business units: Gilde EquityManagement (GEM) Benelux Partners invests in Benelux headquartered mid-marketfirms, with a transaction size of €15-75 million; Gilde Buy Out Partners focuses onmid-market companies based in continental Western Europe, with a transaction sizeof €75-600 million; Gilde Healthcare Partners is a venture capital company thatinvests in European or US emerging healthcare companies in the therapeutic,diagnostic and medical device sectors.

Gilde Equity ManagementBased in The Netherlands, Gilde Equity Management (GEM) is one of the few privateequity houses focusing exclusively on small to mid-market Benelux companies. In2006, they closed their new institutional fund at its €150 million hard cap, drawingon institutional investors outside of Rabobank for the first time.

Gerhard Nordemann, co-managing partner, commented on the fundraising, sayingthat it closed ahead of schedule with high quality blue chip investors. Rabobankcontinued to support the fund, contributing 20 per cent of the total, with thirteenother institutional investors including Allianz Private Equity Partners, the EuropeanInvestment Fund, Rho and Proventure.

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

Gilde Buy Out Fund III

Gilde IT Fund (Fund I and II)

€0.6bn

€0.43bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2006

1996


169

Gilde Investm

ent Managem

ent

The firm received the regional 2007 M&A award for “Best Private Equity House MidMarket”, and is regarded as one of the key players focusing on the Benelux region. GEMis not sector focused, but has been particularly successful in the food and manufacturingindustries; investments such as All Crump, Ad van Geloven, Bakker Bart, HamalSignature and Royal Peijnenburg in the food industry and Axxicon, Codi, CurTec,Hevea/Dunlop and De Oliebron/Kroon-Oil in manufacturing being examples.

Gilde Buyout PartnersGilde Buyout Partners is the most substantial of the three divisions, focusing on theupper end of the mid-market, meaning they are able to contribute up to €120 millionin a single transaction. In September 2006, Gilde Buy Out Partners closed its mostrecent Buy Out Fund III, which at €600 million is one of the larger funds targetingmid-cap companies in the region. The firm’s €1.3 billion under managementexclusively targets companies in Benelux, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

In January 2008, the firm made its most recent exit, selling Dutch coffee roastingcompany Drie Mollen International to CapVest Equity Partners. BoudewijnMolenaar, a managing director at Gilde, commented on how successful theinvestment had been, allowing the company to go through a buy and build growthstrategy to become a pan-European player; while under Gilde ownership, the firmacquired Ginger, the Swiss coffee roaster, Merkur, another Swiss coffee roaster, andFirst Choice Coffee, a UK-based rival.

The firm is not sector specific and has seen recent transactions come from a varietyof industries. In 2007, Glide acquired Nedschroef, a Dutch manufacturing firm,Novagraff, a Dutch IP services provider, Novasep, a French chemicals company, andRoyal Swets & Zeitlinger, a Dutch subscription service.

And the other oneSince 2000, Gilde Healthcare Partners has been investing in emerging healthcarecompanies mainly from Europe and in some cases the US. Gilde has been providingseed money to entrepreneurs since its inception in 1982, although the first healthcarefund wasn’t initiated until 2000, with the second fund closing in 2007 at €150 million.The firm has made four exits from its first fund, mostly through Euronext, and madethe first exit from the second healthcare fund in 2007, listing AMT, a gene therapycompany, on Euronext in Amsterdam.

170

GETTING HIRED

With offices in The Netherlands, Switzerland and France, Gilde’s staff of 40professionals is highly multinational. Their employees have previous backgroundsin finance, investment banking, consulting, industry and private equity, with a largevariety of former employers.

Since Gilde is a Dutch firm, many of the professionals were educated in DutchUniversities, including the State University of Groningen, University of Rotterdam,Free University of Amsterdam, Groningen Rijks University and Leiden University.Only six out of the 33 professionals have an MBA, which they obtained at topinstitutions including INSEAD and Wharton.

171



The Stats


Company Focus




European Locations


Rest of the World


Key Competitors


Employment Contact



2 More London Riverside London SE1 2AP United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 70 89 7888

www.hgcapital.com

THE STATS

Managing Director: Ian ArmitageEmployer Type: Private Company, In-vestment TrustTicket Symbol: LSE: HGT.LTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €2.5bnEmployees: 70 in 2007No. of Offices: 3

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:Consumer & LeisureHealthcareIndustrialsServicesTMT

Financial stages: Expansion – development, Large buyout(€150m-€300m equity), Mid market buy-out (€15m-€150m), Privatisation, Publicto private, Replacement, Turnaround –restructuring


EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Amsterdam • Munich

KEY COMPETITORS

3i • Advent International • Apax • Bar-clays PE • European Capital • Montagu

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

HG CAPITAL

172

THE SCOOP

Founded in 1985, Mercury Private Equity was one of the original private equityplayers in the European mid-cap market. In 1997, the firm was acquired by MerrillLynch and integrated into the ML Investment Management division of the bulge-bracket bank. Three years later, the firm was spun off as an independent unit, re-branding itself HgCapital – the chemical symbol for mercury and also an acronym forHigh Growth.

The firm currently has around €2.5 billion under management, and typically investsin mid-market companies with enterprise values between €75 million and €500million. The firm has worked with a broad range of companies, requiring differentinvestment types such as leveraged buyouts, management buy-ins, turnarounds,operational improvement initiatives, public-to-private and scaling up for fast growth.

The firm’s offices in London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt represent their focus onWestern Europe, and past investments have focused on the UK, Ireland, Germanyand Benelux. HgCapital is sector specific, acting as a general private equity investorin the following sectors: consumer & leisure, healthcare, industrials, services &technology, media and telecommunication (TMT).

Blowin’ in the windIn addition, the firm manages the largest European fund for renewable powerprojects, with approximately €1.3 billion of committed capital. The firm invests in arange of technologies including wind farms, biomass, geothermal, solar, waste andhydro energy, with capital provided at various stages of the businesses. Currentinvestments include wind farm projects in Germany, Italy, France, Ireland and theUK, with investments in a biomass fuel company and a wind turbine manufacturercompleting their portfolio.

In 2007, the Hg Renewable Power Partners fund completed its most recentacquisition, an Oxford-based wind energy developer called Ridgewind. Thecompany is developing over 200MW of UK wind project across 12 sites, bringingHgCapital’s European wind portfolio to over 120MW in operation or constructionand 700MW in development, meaning they are one of the leading investors in theEuropean renewable energy sector.


173

Hg C

apital

Trust yourselfThe firm also manages an investment trust, known as HgCapital Investment Trust,which takes a minority interest in all of HgCapital’s private equity investments,allowing investors the chance to invest in a diversified range of private equityactivities with some liquidity. In 2007, the firm won the “Private Equity InvestmentTrust of the Year” award at the Investment Week Awards for the third year running,making them the only company to have ever completed the hat-trick. The award wasgiven in recognition of consistent returns and sector-leading performance; in thedecade spanning 1997 to 2007, the Trust delivered a share price total return of 19 percent per annum against 7.3 per cent for the FTSE index, and a share price growth of21.8 per cent over the final year.

In early 2008, the firm sold The Sanctuary, a UK spa and beauty products business,to PZ Cussons for £75 million, which was their seventh transaction in the precedingfive months. All in all it was a very successful period for HgCapital—the jointdisposal of CS Group and IRIS Software, combined with the sale of HirschmannElectronics, cummulated in an annual rate of return above 75 per cent. In addition,the sale of Schenck realised proceeds of £34 million, at an impressive 85 per centannual rate of return.

In the same period, the firm invested in several new opportunities; Schleich, theplastic toy manufacturer, Americana, the clothing brand responsible for Bench andHooch brands, SLV, a lighting systems company, Mondo, the talc mining group, andFabory, the industrial fastener distributor, were all acquired by HgCapital. The 2007acquisition of Fabory represents the firm’s fifth investment in the Benelux regionsince opening an office in Amsterdam two years earlier. In late 2007, the firm addedto its healthcare portfolio by acquiring Casa Reha, the German care homes business.

Handing over the reinsIn 2007, Leonard Licht retired as Chairman, after seven years in charge, leaving IanArmitage to move from Chief Executive to Chairman. Several other promotionssignify a change in leadership, with a new cast ready to leave their mark on the firm;Nic Humphries will be taking over day to day running as Chief Exec, with elevenother partners helping him run the fund and its investments.

174

GETTING HIRED

HgCapital’s investment team studied at the typical elite universities includingOxbridge, Harvard, INSEAD and London Business School. Almost a third of theprofessionals hold an MBA. In terms of employment, HgCapital’s professionals havea variety of backgrounds; top previous employers are leading consulting firms, BigFour accounting firms and top tier investment banks. Interestingly, almost a fifth ofHgCapital’s professionals have a background in strategy consulting, which is roughlythe same as the number of professionals who came from investment banks.

HgCapital does not run a formal recruitment process, but can be contacted [email protected] to discuss potential employment opportunities.


175

PhD/JD/MD (2%)


Unknown (7%)

MBA (30%)

Master’s (23%)



Banks (19%)

Other (48%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

Merrill Lynch (2)

Goldman Sachs (2)

KPMG (2)

Deloitte (3)

Bain (3)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

LBS (2)

INSEAD (2)

Harvard (5)

Oxford (5)

Cambridge (7)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

Hg C

apital

176



The Stats


Company Focus




European Locations


Rest of the World


Key Competitors


Employment Contact



Brettenham House, 5 Lancaster Place London WC2E 7EN United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 73 04 4300

www.industrikapital.com

THE STATS

Chairman and Chief Executive: BjörnSavénEmployer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €5.7bnEmployees: 70 staff (30 professionals) in2008No. of Offices: 5

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:Manufacturing (31 per cent)Service (24 per cent)RetailingWholesale & Distribution (18 per cent)Food processing (8 per cent)Building materials (8 per cent)Specialised process (8 per cent)Media (3 per cent)

Financial stages: Mid-market buyout (€15m-€150m equity)

Types of financing:Main: Majority Equity

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Hamburg • Oslo • Paris• Stockholm

KEY COMPETITORS

3i • Apax • Barclays Private Equity •EQT • Nordic Capital

CAREERS CONTACT

+44 (0)20 73 04 4300

INDUSTRI KAPITAL


177

Industri Kapital

THE SCOOP

In 1989, Enskilda Ventures Ltd, a subsidiary of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken,sponsored Björn Savén in raising the Scandinavian Acquisition Capital Fund. Thefirm set up shop with an office in London and closed its fund at €108 million, mainlyfrom Scandinavian investors. Over the next four years, the fund made eightinvestments, five in Sweden, two in Denmark and one in Norway. In 1993, the fundsought independence and went through a buyout from its parent bank, renamingitself Industri Kapital 1989 Fund in the process.

In 1993, after gaining independence, the firm branched out from its London base andopened regional offices in Stockholm and Oslo. By 1995, the firm had closed itssecond fund, with €250 million of capital from investors in Europe and NorthAmerica. Two years later, the firm closed its third fund at €750 million while alsoopening an office in Hamburg, indicating their ambitions to begin investing inGermany. The firm’s further fundraising ambitions peaked in 2000, when their fourthfund closed at €2.1 billion, after which their fifth and sixth funds closed at €825million and €1.7 billion, respectively. The Paris office was a late addition, opening in2006, after the firm had already purchased several French companies.

As of early 2008, Industri Kapital was managing four active funds, with €5.7 billionunder management targeting Scandinavia, Benelux, France and Germany. Theircurrent portfolio has 20 European companies, with a total combined turnover of over€7 billion. Overall, the firm has acquired 64 companies from a range of industries; thelargest transaction was the acquisition of Magotteaux, a global grinding media andcasting supplier, which had a final price tag of €373 million.

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

The Industri Kapital 2007 Fund

The Industri Kapital 2004 Fund

€1.7bn

€0.825bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2007

2004

The Industri Kapital 2000 Fund €2.1bn2000

178

GETTING HIRED

Industri Kapital has investments teams in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland,Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and the Benelux. Their regional investmentteams enable the private equity company to establish local networks and knowledgebases, a key driver of successful transactions. Together the teams speak twelvelanguages. About half of Industri Kapital employees have a previous experience ininvestment banking. Top former employers are Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, ABNAmro and of course Enskilda, the former mother company. Several were trained atstrategy consultancies like Bain & Company. The team is European but with amajority of Scandinavians, and a significant proportion graduated from the wellreputed Stockholm School of Economics. Candidates should contact directly theoffice they would like to apply to.

For Industri Kapital it is very important to recruit professionals who fit into theirregional teams. Their decisions are mainly dependent on the language skills and localexperience of applicants, so be sure to point out any regional knowledge.


179

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

PWC (2)

JPMorgan (2)

Bain (2)

Enskilda (2)

Morgan Stanley (4)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

IEP Paris (2)

INSEAD (2)

HEC (3)

Harvard (3)

Stockholm SE (8)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

PhD/JD/MD (3%)


Unknown (3%)

MBA (17%)

Master’s (54%)



Banks (38%)

Other (34%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

Industri Kapital

2 More London Riverside London SE1 2AP United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 73 36 9955

www.montagu.com

THE STATS

Chief Executive: Chris Masterson Employer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €3bn Employees: 43 in 2007No. of Offices: 5

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:Aerospace & DefenceEngineeringChemicalsElectronicsFood & BeverageGeneral FinancialGeneral IndustrialHealthcareMediaPharmaceuticalsRetailersSupport ServicesTransportation

Financial stages: Large buyout (€150m-€300m equity),Mega buyout (>€300m equity)


EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Düsseldorf • Manches-ter • Paris • Stockholm

KEY COMPETITORS

Advent • International • 3i • Apax •Barclays Private Equity • HgCapital

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

MONTAGU PRIVATEEQUITY

181

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

Montagu III

HSBC Private Equity Partnership & HSBC Private Equity European LP

€2.26bn

€1bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2005

2002

THE SCOOP

In 2003, HSBC spun off its European private equity unit in a management buyout, ina deal that valued the business somewhere in the region of £60 million. The firm wasre-branded as Montagu Private Equity, which is derived from the well known 19thcentury London stockbroker Montagu & Samuel. HSBC retained a 19.9 per cent stakein the business and still uses the firm as their primary vehicle for private equityinvestments in Europe. Montagu got to keep the network of European offices inLondon, Manchester, Stockholm, Düsseldorf and Paris, retaining Chris Masterson,the former MD of HSBC Private Equity, to head the firm as CEO.

Since 1968, the firm has invested in over 400 companies, with an impressive historicrate of return and a current total of €3 billion under management. The firm typicallyinvests between €100 million to €1 billion in a given deal, but pursues larger dealsthrough co-investments with other firms. Unlike at most other private equity firms,investment professionals at Montagu do not have a sector specialisation.The firm isnot sector oriented, and instead prefers to believe that a strong investmentopportunity, even in a weak market, can still succeed. The firm looks as a priority forniches that are easy to defend.

Montagu’s investment philosophy can be described as “no-nonsense”; they have anunderlying principle that capital providers often have too much belief in their ownability to add value, and instead emphasise how important it is to back the rightmanagement team. Chris Masterson, Chief Exec of Montagu, points out that Montagu’sstrategy doesn’t include Management Buy-Ins (MBI), so it’s crucial they are happy withthe target company’s current CEO and management team. In fact, Montagu boasts thatthey have fired less than 10 per cent of the CEOs of companies they have acquired—defying a practice that is very common amongst private equity firms.

182

In 2007, the firm only made two acquisitions: UK-based Jamella Group, the hairstyling group trading under GHD, was bought for £160 million, and Unifeeder, theDanish transport and logistics company, was acquired. In 2006, the firm madeanother four acquisitions in a variety of sectors, continuing the trend of pursuing anopportunity as opposed to an industry; British Car Auctions, the British vehicleauction business, Sebia, the French pharmaceuticals business, Logstor, the Danishpipe manufacturer, and Open International, the British software business, were allacquired by Montagu in 2006.

The two most notable, and most expensive, Montagu acquisitions were BSN Medical,the German pharmaceuticals group, acquired for €1.03 billion in 2005 and Linpac,the UK industrial company, which they bought for £860 million in 2003. In 2007, thefirm made one of their more successful realisations by selling Cory Environmental,the waste management group, for five times their original investment after only twoyears. The firm also made a tidy return on the 2006 management buyout of MisysGeneral Insurance, which they subsequently named Open International Limited,buying it for £182 million and selling it for £276 million a year and a half later.

GETTING HIRED

Sixty per cent of the Montagu professionals are based in the UK, with a fifth in Paris,twelve per cent in Germany and a handful in Sweden. The undergraduatequalifications of Montagu’s professionals are unusually mixed; Oxford, Cambridgeand ESSEC all have three alumni at Montagu, and universities like Reading,Birmingham, Sheffield Hallam, Heriot-Watt, Bristol, Newcastle and HEC all makean appearance as well.

Around a third of Montagu professionals came from an investment bankingbackground, with almost a fifth coming from transaction services firms such asPricewaterhouseCoopers. Only two of the 43 professionals came from strategyconsulting, one from Booz Allen and one from McKinsey.

Montagu Private Equity

183


184

43 avenue de l'Opéra 75002 ParisFranceTel: +33 (0)1 55 77 9101

www.paipartners.com

THE STATS

Chief Executive: Dominique MégretEmployer Type: Independent privatecompany since 2002 buyout from BNPParibasTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €7bnEmployees: 49 professionals in 2007No. of Offices: 5

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:Consumer Goods (including HealthcareServicesCapital Goods

Financial stages: Large buyout (€150m-€300m equity),Mid market buyout (€15m-€150m eq-uity), Public to private

Types of financing: Majority equity and shareholders loans

LOCATIONS

Paris (HQ) • London • Madrid • Milan •Munich

KEY COMPETITORS

BC Partners • Blackstone • Cinven •CVC • Eurazeo • LBO France • Wendel

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

www.paipartners.com

PAI PARTNERS


185

PAI Partners

THE SCOOP

PAI is a rapidly growing European private equity firm that has fast become thelargest French player and one of the largest investment houses in Europe. With 49professionals split across five European offices in Paris, London, Madrid, Milan andMunich, the company is exclusively European; the last decade has seen investmentactivity in ten countries, all of them in Western Europe.

The firm has around €7bn under management and typically invests in medium tolarge size public or private companies, with investments in the range of €500m –€3bn. PAI operates in three sectors that are just being redefined:

• The Consumer Goods group covers the food industry, other consumergoods and healthcare

• The Services group includes the consumer retail industry, distribution,building, infrastructure and media

• The Capital Goods group focuses on the packaging, automotive,aeronautics, electrical appliance industries and chemicals sectors

PAI has a long history of financing large companies that goes back to its roots as adivision of Paribas bank. In 1931, it had been a founding shareholder of RTL Groupand had supported the successful development of the group in Europe until it soldits stake to the Group Frère years ago.

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

PAI Europe V

PAI Europe IV

€5.4bn

€2.7bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2008

2005

PAI Europe III €0.21bn2001

Expensive tasteDuring the summer of 2007, PAI built an 80 per cent stake in the public companyKaufman & Broad, one of France’s leading developers and builders of homes with aturnover of about €1.3bn. Earlier that year, PAI led the €2.4bn acquisition of LafargeRoofing, a 12,000 employee company headquartered in Luxembourg and theworldwide leader in tiles for pitched roofs, roofing components and chimneysystems.

The year 2005 was key, with 9 acquisitions including: Danish company Chr. Hansen,the worldwide leader in natural ingredients to the food industry (€1.1bn); Cortefiel,the market leading apparel retailer in Spain (€1.5bn); Kwik-Fit, Europe’s largestautomotive fast-fit services provider (£800m); and Saur, a leader in the waterdistribution, sanitation and waste management in France (€1bn, exited).

Previous important acquisitions have included many other leading Europeancompanies; UK-based United Biscuits, a leading European manufacturer of biscuitsand snacks with 9,000 employees and a turnover of £1.3bn; Elis, the European leaderin the textile rental and well-being services industry (€1.5bn, exited); Italian firmSaeco, the leading European coffee machine manufacturer (€825m); Vivarte, theleading specialist retailer of footwear and clothing in France (€1.5bn, exited); andYoplait, the No. 2 worldwide producer of fresh dairy products, were all significantacquisitions for PAI.

Historical legacyPAI partners is one of the most experienced private equity firms in Europe, withhistorical links tracing back to Paribas Affaires Industrielles in 1872, the merchantbank now part of BNP Paribas. The firm was spun off from BNP Paribas in 2002, intoits current form PAI Partners. The scale of its ambitious fundraising has taken theindustry by surprise, and they have emerged as one of the key players in theEuropean market. Although they have been around for centuries, Dominique Megret,current Chief Exec, points out that they have only been truly independent for a fewyears and have the capacity and desire to grow.

Playing in the major leagueAfter two years of rumours, PAI recently announced the closing of their Europe Vacquisition fund at €5.4 billion, shrugging off concerns about the state of the globalcredit markets. This brings it within reach of the largest fund in the region, Permira’s€11.1 billion pool, meaning we can expect to see PAI bidding in the largest European

186

auctions. The fund’s predecessor, Europe IV, was also one of the largest continentalEuropean funds when it stopped raising new money in 2005.

The continental approachAs one of the few large funds based in continental Europe, PAI have benefited froma surge in takeover activity there, although they admittedly adopt an Anglo-Saxonmindset to investing. Dominique Mégret qualifies that mindset and investmentphilosophy regularly in interviews, describing PAI’s investment strategy as“professional and organised, [trying] to add from time to time the flavour of genius”.

PAI will only invest in companies that are number one or two in the sector, can besold to trade buyers, and are found in sectors where they have experience and anextensive network of contacts.

GETTING HIRED

The Europe-wide team is composed of 49 professionals from several Europeancountries who have considerable combined sector experience and in-depthknowledge of the European markets. Many PAI employees formerly worked forinvestment bank Paribas before it merged with BNP in 1999. That underscores thestrong Investment Banking background of PAI employees.

Because of its French roots, PAI’s recruiting is significantly biased toward French“Grandes Ecoles”, with about half its investment professionals being graduates fromPolytechnique, HEC, ESSEC, ESCP-EAP or Sciences Po. Only 15 per cent of themhold an MBA.

PAI generally employs five or six graduate trainees for a gap year during theirstudies. A couple of them receive an offer once they graduate from school. Insiderstell us that there is no real opportunity for summer internships as “it takes at leastthree months to train interns”.

PAI Partners

187


188


20 Southampton Street London WC2E 7QH United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 7632 1000

www.permira.com

THE STATS

Managing Director: Tom Lister and KurtBjorklund (co-managing partners)Employer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €22bn Employees: 200 (130 professionals) in2008No. of Offices: 12 (from second half 2008)

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:ChemicalsConsumerFinancial ServicesHealthcareIndustrial Products & ServicesTMT

Financial stages: Large buyout (€150m-300m equity),Mega buyout (>€300m equity), Public toprivate


EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Frankfurt • Guernsey •Luxembourg • Madrid • Milan • Paris •Stockholm

REST OF THE WORLD

New York • San Francisco • Hong Kong• Tokyo

KEY COMPETITORS

Apax • Bain Capital • Blackstone • Car-lyle • CVC • KKR • TPG

CAREERS WEBSITE

http://www.permira.com/en/contacts/contacts.html

PERMIRA ADVISERS


189

Permia A

dvisers

THE SCOOP

Since 1985, Permira has been an active private equity investor and currently boasts€22 billion in its 19 funds under management. Permira has roots in Schroders Plc,the British investment manager, which created a series of provincial private equityfirms in the 1980s, tasked with managing country specific funds sponsored bySchroders. In the mid-1990s, the business units in France, Germany, Italy and the UKjoined together to form Schroder Ventures Europe, which then began to act withincreasing independence from its parent company.

Biggest of the bestIn 1997, the firm launched the Permira Europe I fund, which closed at €890 million.In 2000, the second Permira fund, Permira Europe II, closed at a healthy €3.3 billion,allocated for pan-European investments. Eventually in 2001, the firm was bought outfrom Schroders by the partners, renaming itself Permira, Latin for “very surprising,very different”, to mark the separation.

In 2003, the firm raised its first fund independently from Schroders, closing PermiraEurope III at over €5 billion. Most recently, the firm closed its fourth Permira fund ata staggering €11 billion in 2006, making it the largest European buyout fund at thetime. In early 2008, Permira was ranked as the second largest private equity fund inEurope.

Doesn’t just grow on treesPermira’s largest investor is a UK-based investment trust called SVG Capital, whichexplains why some 41 per cent of the firm’s most recent fund was from the UK, witha further 14 per cent coming from other European countries, 35 per cent from NorthAmerica and the remainder from the Middle East and Asia. Like many other large

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

Permira IV

Permira Europe III

€11bn

€5.1bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2006

2003

Permira Europe II €3.5bn2000

190

private equity firms, Permira raised a significant amount from blue chip investors; 45per cent came from investment managers, with a further 31 per cent from pensionfunds. The remaining funds came from government agencies, insurance companies,charities and banks.

Geographically, the firm does not have a headquarters and is managed by its boardand executive committee members located across the various offices. In 2002, thefirm expanded outside of Europe for the first time, opening its New York office. In2003, the firm opened in Stockholm to manage its Nordic region investments, and in2004, opened in Madrid to cover Iberian investments. An office in Hong Kong is dueto open in the first half of 2008 and in California in the second half.

Further afieldAs one of the major international firms, Permira participates in the largesttransactions, targeting companies valued above €500 million. The firm invests in avariety of transaction types, specializing in divestitures of non-core assets,developing family businesses, and acquisition-driven sector consolidation. Besidesthe multiple office structure, the firm’s investment professionals are also organisedalong sector lines. The core sector teams have historically been Chemicals, Consumer,Industrial Products and TMT, but the firm is currently developing new teams withspecialisations in Financial Services and Healthcare.

Permira’s board is comprised of a group of senior partners and chaired by DamonBuffini. The executive committee, which is responsible for managing the privateequity business, is chaired by the co-managing partners Kurt Bjorklund and TomLister and comprised of five other senior partners from across the business.

Give a king his crownMr Buffini has received a lot of media attention in the wake of several political attackson the private equity sector, against which he has defended the industry and itspractices. In particular, he has tried to work in co-operation with Sir David Walker’sguidelines for disclosure and transparency, which were published in 2007 in responseto the media attention. He has made significant efforts to increase transparencythroughout Permira, and some see the creation of his chairman position as part of thatprocess.


191

Permira A

dvisers

The most important person you’ve never heard ofAlthough Mr Buffini is seen as the face of the British private equity industry, andone of its most outspoken defenders, he is also seen as unusually media shy, and nota lot is known about his personal life. What is known about his past paints the pictureof someone who has worked hard to achieve his level of success; he was raised on acouncil estate in Leicester by a single mother, attending the local grammar school,and although he did not stand out as academically exceptional, he was referred to asvery hard working.

This work ethic saw him secure a place at Cambridge to study law, after which hejoined LEK Consulting and took advantage of their scholarship program to enrollfor an MBA at Harvard. Upon returning to the UK he joined Imperial Group as aconsultant, where he was recruited by Jon Moulton, head of rival private equity firmAlchemy, to join Schroders Ventures.

Plenty of eggs in the basketPermira is a sector focused business, operating in four industries: chemicals,consumers, industrial products & services and TMT, and recently financial servicesand healthcare.

Notable chemical sector acquisitions include Borsodchem, the Hungarian MDI andPVC producer, Cognis, the German natural chemical products supplier, TFL, theGerman leather chemicals firm, and Azelis, the Italian chemicals distributor.

In the consumer sector, Permira acquired a controlling stake of Valentino, the fashionhouse that owns Hugo Boss, from the Marzotto family, paying €782.6 million for 29.6per cent of the business in 2007. This valued the company at €2.6 billion, meaning ifPermira secures the remainder of the shares from investors, it would be the largestluxury goods sector buyout to date. Permira has made several other acquisitions inthe fashion industry; Cortefiel, the Spanish clothing retailer, New Look, the Britishwomen’s fashion retailer, TakkoModeMarkt, the German discount clothing retailer,and Vögele Group, the Swiss clothing retailer, were all acquired by various Permirafunds.

Trends in the industrial sector are less prevalent, although a notable recent deal wasthe rollup of seven luxury boat companies globally into what is now known as theFerretti Group, which Permira sold a large part of in 2006, valuing the group at €1.685billion. The TMT group has made several large investments, in sectors ranging fromsemiconductors to mobile phone operators. Notable deals include the turnaroundand subsequent IPO of Premiere, Germany’s leading pay-TV operator, and the

192

acquisition and $1.5 billion capex program, as part of a club deal, of Intelsat, theAmerican satellite operator.

The firm’s ambitions to move further east could possibly have been behind the 2007investment in Galaxy Entertainment, the company behind one of only a handful oflicensed casino operators in Macau, Permira acquired 20 per cent of the company,and announced that the investment would go towards building Galaxy’s secondChinese casino resort.

GETTING HIRED

Contact:Angelika SonnenscheinDirector, Human ResourcesPermira Beteiligungsberatung GmbHFalkstrasse 560489 [email protected]

Permira usually hires professionals with at least four to five years’ prior businessexperience in either investment banking, management consulting, accounting/auditor in industry. Most staff have a secondary degree, such as an MBA. The number ofMBA graduates recruited every year is extremely small, and only two per cent ofinvestment professionals have been hired with just an undergraduate degree.

Stats 2008 Backgrounds:Investment banking: 30 per centConsulting: 23 per centPE: 22 per centFinance: 14 per centIndustry: 6 per centLegal: 3 per centUndergraduate: 2 per cent


193

Permira A

dvisers

The interviews are conducted by the local offices and usually consist of a series offour to six interviews with different Permira professionals. The interviews will coverthe professional background of the applicant but also include case studies andpotentially a modelling exercise. If a candidate is to be hired into a specific industrysector, international members of that sector may participate in the recruiting process.

194

0

2

4

6

8

10

Clifford Chance (3)

Goldman Sachs (3)

BCG (3)

Credit Suisse (4)

McKinsey (9)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Cologne (3)

Oxford (7)

Harvard (9)

Boccini (9)

INSEAD (11)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic



Banks (30%)

Other (44%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

PhD/JD/MD (5%)


Unknown (5%)

MBA (40%)

Master’s (8%)

195



The Stats


Company Focus




European Locations


Rest of the World


Key Competitors


Employment Contact



2 More London Riverside London SE1 2AP United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 7015 9500

www.terrafirma.com

THE STATS

CEO: Guy HandsEmployer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €11bn Employees: 100 in 2008 (70 professionals)No. of Offices: 2

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors: All sectors

Financial stages: Buyout

Types of financing:Mid market buyout (€15m-€150m equity),Large buyout (€150m-€300m equity),Mega buyout (>€300m equity)

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Frankfurt

KEY COMPETITORS

Bain Capital • Blackstone • Charter-house • KKR • Permira

CAREERS WEBSITE:

www.terrafirma.com/people-contact.html

TERRAFIRMA

196

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

TFCP III

Terra Firma Deutsche Annington

€5.4bn

€2.1bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2007

2006

TFCP II €2.6bn2004

THE SCOOP

In 1994, Guy Hands founded the Principal Finance Group within Nomura, the Japaneseinvestment bank. He subsequently made a name for himself by turning aroundstruggling companies in some of the largest leveraged deals of the time; the groupmade 15 acquisitions with total enterprise value over €20 billion. In 2002, the firm wasspun-off into its current form of Terra Firma Capital Partners, keeping Nomura as asignificant investor. Since 1994, the firm has invested over €11 billion, mainly inEuropean companies, with an aggregate transaction value totalling €42 billion.

One big bank accountThe firm’s first fund was created and invested under Nomura ownership, and hasmainly been realised. The firm’s second fund, Terra Firma’s first as an independent,closed in 2004 with €2.1 billion of committed capital, raised from 65 investors in 21countries. TFCP III closed in May of 2007, with a total of €5.4 billion to be investedin line with the firm’s strategy of acquiring controlling stakes in complex or regulatedmarkets, mainly in Europe, and especially in companies that are asset backed orgovernment backed. This is often credited as the source of the name Terra Firma,which means solid ground in Latin.

In 2006, Terra Firma Deutsche Annington was established to hold Terra Firma’sGerman housing assets, raising additional capital adding to a fund total of €2.1billion. The acquisition of the state-owned railway workers’ flats, supplemented withfurther acquisitions, is viewed as the most successful flat privatisation of its kind inGermany; the group now owns around 230,000 flats, making them Germany’s biggestlandlord.

TerraFirma


197

What a GuyTerra Firma’s, and hence Guy Hands’, investment strategy can be said to besomewhat contrarian; the firm only targets large companies that it feels areunderperforming and not living up to their potential. The target is then acquired,actively managed and financed by Terra Firma, until the company is in a healthystate where it can be sold or listed on the public markets.

There is another rationale for Mr. Hands’ investment strategy – his severe dyslexia.A friend was quoted as saying that Mr. Hands could not read long investmentrationales, so was forced to focus on the key points and make the numbers work,which he could do very well. It is said that he sees things differently to everyone else,whether this is dyslexia, genius or just the fact that he is a smart and hard workingman, his track record speaks for itself; one of his first deals at Nomura was topurchase Angel Trains, where he was the only external bidder, selling it on for a £390million profit. He then proceeded to start buying up pubs when no one else wouldtouch them, briefly becoming the UK’s biggest pub landlord, and changing the waythe industry works. William Hague, former leader of the conservative party andHands’ best man, once said that if Guy had translated his private equity success topolitics he would have been Prime Minister by now.

A firm HandsMr. Hands’ most recent foray into the press, which he seems to have a talent forattracting, is regarding the planned cuts at EMI, the music label. Terra Firma recentlyacquired the business for £2.4 billion and subsequently announced it would becutting 2,000 jobs, or a third of the workforce. The move has not proved popular andbig name acts such as Radiohead, Robbie Williams and the Rolling Stones have allbeen outward critics of the new management; Mr. Hands is unmoved in his positionand retorts that he needed to remind executives at Odeon, the cinema business heacquired, that they were in the popcorn selling business, not Hollywood.

Although these cuts may not make great press, the truth is that Mr. Hands has earnedrespect for his work ethic and blunt management style – the fact that stories of excessat EMI are pouring out of the floodgates only strengthens his case. This notoriouslyhard work ethic—he starts work at 6 am and doesn’t leave the office until midnight—is expected of all his employees at Terra Firma. Another telling indicator of hisleadership style is evident in boardroom meetings, where no other member of histeam speaks during negotiations, unlike most other private equity groups.

198

Big spenderTerra Firma will invest in any sector, although prefers complex industries that arehighly regulated; this philosophy is evident in the €1.1 billion acquisition of Tank &Rast, the German motorway services group, the £453 million purchase of East SurreyHoldings, the British water and gas utility, and the $2.5 and $5.2 billion acquisitionsof AWAS and Pegasus, both aircraft leasing companies.

Other notable deals include the acquisitions and subsequent merger of Odeon andUCI, two UK cinema chains, together making up about 40 per cent of the UK’s cinemaexhibition market. But fame came in 2007 on the front page of the Financial Timeswith Terra Firma’s combat against rival giant KKR for the control of Alliance Boots,the UK pharmacy chain, in the biggest private equity transaction in Europe ever.Terra Firma honourably gave up after weeks of strategic moves, much to its luck asKKR’s banks still hadn’t managed to syndicate the debt six months after its victory.

GETTING HIRED

Terra Firma employs 70 professionals, most of them with an investment bankingbackground, although accounting, industry and advisory backgrounds are welcometoo. They are organised in two major teams: financial (investment) professionals andbusiness (portfolio) professionals who help improve the operations in the portfolio.Cases tend to be staffed more on industry experience than on regional expertise.

The firm discloses the profiles of the senior members of the team only but is knownto attract very talented people. Most top universities are represented in the team. Inaddition to the experienced hires, Terra Firma also recruits a number of MBAs fromthe leading business schools each year and provides training programmes to newanalysts and associates. Candidates interested in joining can apply onwww.terrafirma.com/careers.html.

199

ADVENTINTERNATIONALUK Regional HeadquartersAdvent International plc111 Buckingham Palace RoadLondon SW1W 0SRUKTel: +44 20 7333 0800


The Stats


Company Focus




European Locations


Rest of the World


Key Competitors


Employment Contact


Michelin House, 81 Fulham Road LondonSW3 6RD United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 7591 4200

www.englefieldcapital.com

THE STATS

Head of Management Board: DominicShorthouseEmployer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €1.76bnEmployees: 19 professionalsNo. of Offices: 1

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:All sectors, with some focus on Financialand Business Services

Financial stages: Mid market buyout (€15m-€150m equity)

Types of financing:Majority equity, Minority equity with con-tractual rights

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ)

KEY COMPETITORS

3i • Apax • Barclays Private Equity • Hg-Capital

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

ENGLEFIELD CAPITAL

200

THE SCOOP

In 2002, Dominic Shorthouse, previously a board member at Warburg Pincus,founded Englefield Capital, a mid-market specialist that focuses on Europeaninvestments between €30-300 million, although typically with enterprise values over€75 million. The firm invests throughout the UK and continental Europe, from asingle office located in London.

Englefield’s first fund, closing at €706 million in 2003, has been invested in tencompanies through a range of sectors, two of which have already been realised. InJanuary 2007, the second fund closed at €1 billion, with a similar investmentphilosophy as the first fund.

Follow the windsEnglefield is not sector specific, although it will only invest in sectors that the partnersfundamentally understand from previous experience in the industry. The investmentphilosophy is based around “following the winds”, which Dominic Shorthouse,founding partner, explains by saying that Englefield is focused on exploiting changesin European market conditions to select investment opportunities. So far, theinvestments are from a diverse range of industries; currently Englefield owns aninsurance company, an independent schools business, a leading French cosmeticsurgery and cosmetic medicine group, an overseas provider of outsourced servicesto public authorities, an IT recruitment company, a waste and recycling business, aproperty company and a wind farm. In July 2006, Englefield sold their financialservices group TBIH to the biggest shareholder of the consortium and in January2007 sold the Equity Insurance Group to Insurance Australia Group for a total of£570 million.

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

Englefield Fund II

Englefield Fund I

€1bn

€0.7bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2007

2003


201

Englefield Capital

Always trust your friendsEnglefield is unique in the way it raises funds. Both funds have been sponsored byBregal, the Swiss-based holding company of the Brenninkmeijer family, owners of theC&A retailer who have an estimated €12.5bn fortune, with only three otherinstitutional investors allowed to contribute: AXA Private Equity, the Dutch ShellPension Fund and Delta Lloyd. The rest of the money comes from what is termed an‘”Affiliates Fund” – basically a group of 150 friends and contacts, most of whom arebusiness leaders in the UK, Western Europe and the United States.

GETTING HIRED

Englefield is very representative of its industry:

Three of the 19 investment professionals came from Morgan Stanley, three fromleading consultancies and the rest from top investment banks or other private equityhouses.

The majority of Englefield’s investment professionals studied at elite Europeanuniversities, with Oxford and Cambridge being the most common. A quarter of theprofessionals have an MBA, and three out of the five are from INSEAD.

202

12 Henrietta Street London WC2 8LHUnited KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 7845 8520

www.exponentpe.com

THE STATS

Co-Founder: Richard CampinEmployer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €400m Employees: 12 in 2007No. of Offices: 1

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:MediaBusiness & Financial ServicesHealthcareLeisureConsumer

Financial stages: Mid market buyout (€15m-€150m equity)

Types of financing: Main: Majority EquityOther: Minority Equity, Public to private

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ)

KEY COMPETITORS

3 • Barclays Private Equity • CloseBrothers Private Equity • European Capi-tal • Gresham Capital • Hermes PrivateEquity • Hutton Collins • Isis Equity Part-ners • LGV

CAREERS CONTACT

+44 (0)20 7845 8520

EXPONENT PRIVATEEQUITY


203

Exponent Private Equity

THE SCOOP

In 2004, Richard Campin spun-out a successful team from 3i after fifteen years withthe company, taking three other high profile directors with him: Tom Sweet-Escott,Chris Graham and Hugh Richards. The newly formed Exponent Private Equity wasestablished to target mid-cap UK companies with enterprise values up to £350million.

In 2004, their first fund closed at £400 million and was around 80 per cent investedin eight transactions by the end of 2007. In early 2008, the firm closed its second fundat £805 million, twice the size of its first fund, which was rumoured to be targeting£750 million; this oversubscription highlights the growing demand for mid-marketPE funds in the face of adverse credit conditions, which have slowed down the megabuyout houses. Exponent only started raising their second fund in May of 2007, withmost of the commitments secured by September, which is a surprisingly swift roundof fundraising.

Interestingly, the capital for the most recent fund came predominantly from outsidethe UK, demonstrating the global appetite for the UK mid-market private equitysector; 42 per cent of the commitments were from the US, 29 per cent from the UK,22 per cent from continental Europe, and the remainder from the rest of the world.Major investors include funds managed by Pathway, Pantheon Ventures, NYLCapital Partners and Bank of Scotland.

The firm benefits from its size, as it can be flexible and responsive, but also goesthrough the same issues surrounding any start-up business; in the early days, RichardCampin recalled that after starting the business out of the pockets of the fourfounders, they all eventually had credit cards that didn’t work anymore.

The firm’s strategy to target the upper mid-market is paying off as the big playerskeep moving up in deal size, leaving Exponent to fill the void between the megabuyout houses and typical mid-market firms. Exponent has the flexibility to investup to £200 million in a single deal, which is a relatively large amount as it representsa quarter of their most recent fund.

To date, the firm has only made one exit from the portfolio created using its firstfund; in 2005, TSL Education was acquired from News International for £235 million,only to be sold in 2007 to Charterhouse. It is still seen as a relatively young portfolio

204

and Hugh Richards, one of the four founding partners, said of the TSL sale: “All theplans came right with TSL and quicker than expected. It was a helpful proof ofprinciple, but it would have been unrealistic to expect more.”

The firm has seven active portfolio companies, acquired using Exponent’s first fund.In 2006, Durrants Media Monitoring was bought for £82 million from August Equity;The Trainline, the online train ticket company, was bought from Virgin for £163 million;Exponent invested in GTI, the graduate recruitment publisher, backing the foundingmanagement team; and Magicalia, the online publisher, was acquired for £13 million.In 2007, the firm acquired V.Holdings, the world’s largest ship management business,for US $340 million; Cardsave, the electronic payment services company, was acquired;and most recently, Radley, the women’s fashion brand, was bought from PheonixEquity Partners in a transaction valuing the company at £130 million.

GETTING HIRED

The educational pedigree of Exponent’s professionals is mixed; four of theprofessionals have MBAs, two of which are from Harvard, although none have aPhD level qualification. At undergraduate level, five come from Oxbridge, whileother Universities range from Glasgow to Bristol to Manchester.

The background of the twelve Exponent investment professionals is fairly typical ofthe private equity industry as a whole; previous employers include Bain & Co, a topmanagement consultancy, PricewaterhouseCoopers, a Big Four accounting firm, MerrillLynch, a top investment bank, and a variety of other private equity firms. There doesn’tseem to be a single type of background preferred at Exponent, and candidates areadvised to contact the firm directly to discuss potential employment opportunities.

205


Via Agnello 820121 MilanItalyTel: +39 02 854 5731

www.investitoriassociati.it

THE STATS

Senior partners: Dario Cossutta, StefanoMiccinelli & Antonio TazartesEmployer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €1.175bnEmployees: 16 in 2007No. of Offices: 1

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:All sectors

Financial stages: Mid market buyout (€15m-€150m equity),Large buyout (€150m-€300m equity)


EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Milan (HQ)

KEY COMPETITORS

3i • Advent International • Apax • BCPartners • CVC

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

INVESTITORI ASSOCIATI

THE SCOOP

Milan-based Investitori Associati is one of the leading Italian private equity houses,particularly active in mid-market transactions with values over €100 million. Thecompany creates subsidiaries that individually manage each fund, with the idea thateach team is independent under a collective umbrella that dictates overall strategyand offers advice to each fund. The most recent fund, Investitori Associati IV, wasoversubscribed by almost three times and closed with €700 million—over €100million more than originally intended.

Previously, Investitori’s first three funds had a total of €475 million between them,making 22 investments in a variety of industrial and services companies, mainly inItaly. This investment history is enough to make them one of the leading Italianplayers, and their reputation has seen the firm involved in some large club deals; in2003, Investitori teamed up with Permira, CVC and BC Partners to acquire SeatPagine Gialle, the directories business unit of Telecom Italia, in a deal valued at €5.7billion. Although Investitori is not in the same league as these international players,they provide the access, experience and network for the Italian market, which meansthey are often called upon to partner with for Italian deals.

Unsurprisingly, as one of the leading Italian firms, Investitori Associati has won avariety of awards ranging from “Italian Private Equity Firm of the Year” to “ItalianM&A Deal of the Year” for the Seat Pagine Gialle deal.

Investitori Associati recently established their first alternative investment subsidiary,aimed at controlling management companies of several types of funds: private equityfunds, fund of funds, co-investment funds and eventually other high yielding assetclasses such as hedge funds and mezzanine funds. The business unit represents adiversification for Investitori, away from typical private equity deals into othersectors near their core business.

206

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

Investitori Associati IV

Investitori Associati III

€0.7bn

€0.4bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2004

2000


207

Acquisitions using the fourth fund took place throughout 2005 and 2006, in sectorsranging from transportation to pharmaceuticals. This includes market leading bloodfractionator Kedrion, a family business from Tuscany with €150m turnover, andGrandi Navi Veloci (GNV), which operates a fleet of ten “cruise ferries” and is oneof the main operators in the Mediterranean Sea with €265m turnover.

GETTING HIRED

The three founding partners and the majority of the management team haveextensive experience in the private equity sector, developed in particular within thefirm.

Investitori Associati is an Italian company with mainly Italian private equity fundmanagers. The background of the younger part of the team is mostly in investmentbanking and strategy consulting. Employees studied mainly at Italian undergraduateand graduate university programs, although lately there is an interest forinternationally renowned MBA programs like Harvard or Wharton. Applicants witha strong Italian investment banking background will have an advantage whenapplying to Investitori Associati.

Investitori Associati

208


Parque Empresarial "La Finca", Paseo del Club Deportivo, 1 Edificio 14Madrid28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón SpainTel: +34 (0)91 557 8000

www.mercapital.com

THE STATS

Chairman: José María Loizaga ViguriEmployer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €1.4bnEmployees: 20 in 2007No. of Offices: 1

COMPANY FOCUS

SectorsAll sectors

Financial stages: Small market buyout (<€15m equity),Mid size market buyout (€15m–€150mequity)

Types of financing: Main: Majority EquityOther: Minority Equity

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Madrid (HQ)

KEY COMPETITORS

3i • Apax • Candover • Doughty Han-son • PAI

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

MERCAPITAL


209

Mercapital

THE SCOOP

Since 1986, Mercapital has firmly established itself as a reference in the Spanishprivate equity market. With investments totalling €1.4 billion, the firm is one of themost active and experienced mid-market firms dedicated to the Iberian market;unlike many other European firms, Mercapital is happy being a niche player andcurrently has no ambitions to expand geographically throughout Europe.

Typically, the firm will invest €40 million to €50 million in Iberian companies, withenterprise values in the €100 million to €150 million range, making them a fairlytypical mid-market PE firm. With over 20 dedicated professionals, Mercapital is thelargest independent firm dedicated to the region. It is however increasinglythreatened by global and pan-European rivals who have been opening offices inMadrid in recent years and are actively hiring well-connected senior advisors.

The firm had five investment vehicles before their first traditional private equityfund, Spanish Private Equity Fund (SPEF), which closed in 1998 at €260 million. Theirsecond fund, SPEF II, closed in 2000 with a sizeable €600 million from a globalinvestor base. In late 2006, the most recent SPEF III fund closed at €550 million,slightly above the €500 million target. The firm is allocating all of SPEF III to buyouts,compared to about two-thirds of the previous fund, meaning they have significantlyincreased their potential buyout capacity.

In 2007, the firm failed to make any investments, which may be somewhat indicativeof the market conditions at the time. In 2006, however, the firm still only made oneinvestment; Mercapital acquired 75 per cent of Gasmedi, a medical gas provider, inan MBO that valued the company somewhere around €275 million. In contrast, 2005saw the firm make a record four investments in a variety of sectors; Saprogal, ananimal nutrition company, Holmes Place, a fitness centre group, Menorquin Yachts,a boatyard, and Grupo Abaco, a cinema company, were all acquired that year.

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

Mercapital Spanish Buyout Fund III

Mercapital Spanish Buyout Fund II

€0.55bn

€0.6bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2006

2001

210

GETTING HIRED

The team of twenty professionals is exclusively Spanish, as is the wide group of closeindustry advisors, and both are “exclusively dedicated to the Spanish market”. Themajority joined after a first professional experience in the industry (25 per cent). Othersworked at a Big Four audit firm (15 per cent), a strategy consultancy (15 per cent) or aninvestment bank (15 per cent). Prior to that, while they all pursued their undergraduatestudies at local Spanish universities, one third of the team holds an MBA from INSEAD.Unless Mercapital change their regional focus, only candidates with a strong Spanishbackground and connections stand a chance of joining the team.

211


24/32 rue Jean Goujon 75008 ParisFranceTel: +33 (0)1 53 83 3000

www.sagard.com

THE STATS

Chairman: Didier Pineau-ValencienneEmployer Type: Private CompanyTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: €1.6bnEmployees: 20 in 2007No. of Offices: 1

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:All sectors

Financial stages: Small market buyout (<€15m equity),Mid size market buyout (€15m–€150mequity)

Types of financing: Main: Majority EquityOther: Minority Equity, business develop-ment capital

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Paris (HQ)

KEY COMPETITORS

Barclays Private Equity • Bridgepoint •European Capital • Montagu

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

SAGARD

212

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

Sagard II

Sagard I

€1bn

€0.6bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2006

2003

THE SCOOP

Sagard Private Equity Partners, the France-based buyout arm of the CanadianDesmarais family, was formed in 2002 with the support of the Power Corporation ofCanada. Sagard was established to unite a group of influential industrial familiesand financial institutions, allowing them to leverage their industrial expertise andnetworks to add value to potential acquisitions.

The fund’s founding partners and investors provided all of the capital for the firstfund, Sagard I, which closed in 2003 at €600 million, with 54 per cent coming fromindustrial families. The second fund, Sagard II, closed in 2006 with over €1 billionfrom both original and new investors, with the industrial family contribution risingto 65 per cent.

Sagard, named after the French missionary who set off for Quebec in the seventeenthcentury, invests in mid-market companies based in France or French speakingEuropean countries, with enterprise values above €100 million. The Chairman of theadvisory board is none other than Paul Desmarais Jr., a role he fits into his spare timewhile also serving as Chairman and Co-CEO of Power Corporation, the Canadianutilities company with market cap of C$14 billion.

The Desmarais are one of the truly powerful and elite Canadian families, controllingthe Power Corporation amongst an array of other holdings. Paul Desmarais, the 73-year- old patriarch of the family, is counted as being one of the top ten richest people inCanada, with an estimated fortune of around C$4.25 billion. His blackberry has links tothe global political elite, including Canadian Prime Ministers, US Presidents and currentFrench leaders. His son is married to the daughter of former Canadian Prime MinisterJean Chretien, and the most recent ex-Prime Minister was his former employee, asPresident of Power Corporation. In fact, Stephen Harper, the current Canadian leader,is the first Prime Minister in a quarter century to have no real ties to the Desmarais.


213

Sagard

The Sagard private equity funds represent a shift in the Desmarais’ focus, movingaway from Canada and towards France. This shift can also be seen in their politicaldealings, as their growing friendship with Nicolas Sarkozy has been welldocumented. The Desmarais family recently hit the press during the controversialGaz de France and Suez merger; if the companies successfully merge, the holdingcompany jointly owned by the Desmarais and the Frère family of Belgium would bethe largest private shareholder. In fact, Mr. Sarkozy’s outspoken support for the dealhas been one of the driving factors in the face of much criticism from the unions. Thecreation of the Sagard Private Equity funds means that the Desmarais will have anexcuse, and a requirement, to be in Paris for a considerable amount of time, as thefund is targeting growing companies that will require a lot of attention.

Sagard’s first fund was fully invested by 2006, with twelve investments ranging froma pharmaceuticals wholesaler to a French private hospital company. The secondfund, Sagard II, has been used to fund four acquisitions to date; Flakt woods, amanufacturer of clean air systems, SGD, a glass packaging company, Vivarte, afootwear and apparel retailer, and Aliplast, an aluminium products manufacturer,were all acquired in 2007.

GETTING HIRED

Of Sagard’s twenty professionals, the majority received undergraduate degrees inParis, at top business schools such as ESCP-EAP and HEC. Three of the professionalshave MBAs from top American schools: Wharton, Dartmouth and MIT. Only oneperson on the investment team has a PhD level qualification.

Almost half of the professionals come from a banking background, with bulgebracket firms Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs being the most popular. Oneprofessional has a background in consulting, from Accenture, and none come froman accounting or transaction services background. It is highly unlikely that Sagardwould recruit using a traditional application process, but that shouldn’t stop suitablecandidates from contacting them to discuss potential career opportunities.

214


20 Old Broad Street London EC2N 1DP United KingdomTel: +44 (0)20 7628 9898

www.icgplc.co.uk

THE STATS

Managing Director: Tom AttwoodEmployer Type: Public listed CompanyTicker Symbol: ICP Total funds under management: €4 bil-lionEmployees: 68 in 2007No. of Offices: 9

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors:All sectors

Financial stages: Mezzanine

Types of financing:Acquisitions, Public to private transac-tions with or without private equitybacking, Management buyouts/manage-ment buy-ins, Development capital, Pub-lic quoted company finance,Off-balance-sheet finance, Refinancingand recapitalisations, Pre-IPO financing

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

London (HQ) • Frankfurt • Madrid •Paris • Stockholm

REST OF THE WORLD

New York • Hong Kong • Tokyo • Syd-ney

KEY COMPETITORS

Capvent • DAM Capital • Park Square• Indigo Capital • EuroMezzanine • Al-mack Mezzanine

CAREERS CONTACT

+44 (0)20 76 28 9898

INTERMEDIATE CAPITALGROUP PLC


215

THE SCOOP

Founded in 1989, ICG is a UK-based provider of intermediate capital, specialising inmezzanine finance. By 1994, the firm had financed companies in the UK, Germanyand France, and had started to manage third party funds for the first time. That year,the firm also listed on the London stock exchange, creating the only public entityspecialising in mezzanine finance. The firm has grown rapidly since inception: theParis office was opened in 1995; by 1998, the firm had made 100 investments; in 2001,the firm opened an office in Hong Kong; in 2004, offices were opened in Madrid andStockholm; in 2005, the Frankfurt office opened; in 2006, the firm established newoffices in Tokyo and Sydney; and finally, in 2007 the firm opened its first US office,with future ambitions to expand its mezzanine finance activities in North America.

As of 2007, the firm has invested in transactions worth more than €8 billion, and isone of the leading providers of mezzanine finance in Europe, Asia-Pacific and NorthAmerica. The firm provides between €15 million and €500 million for a range ofsituations including acquisitions, buyouts, public to private, development capital,public companies, off balance sheet financing, refinancing and pre-IPO funding.

In 2007, ICG saw its outlook improve considerably, as the liquidity squeeze sawinvestors flock to intermediate finance as a way of deferring interest payments. InJanuary 2008, ICG announced that they were planning to invest a £700 million poolof debt finance, showing that they are finding further ways to capitalise on the creditcrunch.

In 2007, the firm closed its most recent mezzanine European Fund 2006 at €2.25billion, representing €1.25 billion of committed equity and €1 billion of leverage.Although ICG specialises in providing mezzanine finance, they regularly make an

FUNDS FUND CAPITAL

ICG European Fund 2006

ICG Mezzanine Fund 2003

€2.25bn

€1.5bn


VINTAGE YEAR

2006

2003

ICG Mezzanine Fund 2000 €0.307bn2000

Intermediate C

apital Group PLC

216

equity co-investment alongside the lead investor. In 2007, ICG provided equity insupport of TPG and AXA Private Equity’s acquisition of TDF, the leading Frenchtelevision broadcaster. They also provided mezzanine and equity in 3i’s managementled buyout of Marken, the British clinical trial logistics firm. In another 3i buyout, ofFinland-based Inspecta, ICG provided senior and junior mezzanine finance as wellas an equity co-investment.

ICG has a broad European reach, with recent transactions spread across severalcountries; in 2007, ICG sponsored transactions in Denmark, Finland, France,Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK. The French office has beenparticularly active lately, with twelve of the 26 transactions executed in 2007 takingplace in France.

The firm has also seen a flurry of activity in the healthcare industry, indicative of theincreasing presence of private equity players in the sector. ICG provided finance forIndustri Kapital’s acquisition of Attendo, the largest nursing home provider inSweden; they supported EQT’s acquisition of Dako, the Danish cancer diagnosticsspecialist; and they also provided bonds for LBO France’s acquisition of Médi-Partenaires II, the French acute hospital group.

GETTING HIRED

ICG recruits from top tier universities, with London- and Paris-based schoolsfeaturing heavily, which makes sense as these are ICG’s two most active offices. Only11 per cent of ICG’s professionals have MBAs, with the majority holding just abachelor’s degree.

The majority of ICG’s professionals came from a banking or transaction servicesbackground, most likely due to the more technical financial aspects involved inarranging mezzanine finance. There are relatively few strategy consultants incomparison to other private equity firms, again probably due to the complexstructuring of the securitised products ICG specialises in.


217

PhD/JD/MD (5%)


Unknown (10%)

MBA (11%)

Master’s (13%)



Banks (44%)

Other (37%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

0

1

2

3

4

5

Credit Suisse (2)

BCG (2)

KPMG (4)

JPMorgan (4)

Calyon (5)

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

ESCP-EAP (2)

HEC (2)

LSE (2)

Oxford (3)

LBS (3)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

Intermediate C

apital Group PLC

218



The Stats


Company Focus




European Locations


Rest of the World


Key Competitors


Employment Contact



Zugerstrasse 576341 Baar-ZugSwitzerland Tel: +41 (0)41 768 85 85

www.partnersgroup.ch

THE STATS

CEO: Dr. Steffen MeisterHead of Private Equity: Philipp GyslerEmployer Type: Publicly listed company(SWX)Ticker Symbol: PGHNTotal private equity funds under manage-ment: CHF16.7bn in 2008 (out ofCHF24bn globally)Employees: 100 in 2007No. of Offices: 9 (10 inc. additionalplanned opening in 2008)

COMPANY FOCUS

Sectors: All sectors

Financial stages:Funds of funds (Primary investments,secondary investments, direct invest-ments, real estate, infrastructure)

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Baar-Zug (HQ) • Guernsey • London •Luxembourg

REST OF THE WORLD

New York • San Francisco • Singapore• Sydney • Tokyo

KEY COMPETITORS

Harbourvest • Capital Dynamic • Pan-theon Ventures • Adam Street Partners• AIG Private Equity • Horizon 21

PARTNERS GROUP


219

THE SCOOP

In 1996, Partners Group, a Swiss alternative asset management firm, was established,offering a private equity fund of funds as their first product. Offices in Guernsey andNew York were established in 1999 and 2000 respectively, followed by additions inSingapore and London in 2004, in San Francisco and Tokyo in 2007 and lately Sydneyand Luxembourg in 2008. The firm also plans to open an office in Beijing.

In 2001, the firm entered the hedge fund industry by acquiring Swiss AlternativeInvestment Strategies Group, a firm founded by ex-Credit Suisse hedge fundprofessionals. Today, Partners Group is a global alternative asset management firm,with strong roots in Switzerland, offering a range of investment alternatives,including hedge funds, real estate funds, private debt and private equity. The privateequity division makes up over two thirds of the €15 billion managed by the group,using a global team of over a hundred professionals spread across six offices.

Partners Group splits their private equity investment funds by the stage of the targetcompanies they invest in: the venture capital funds invest in new and emergingcompanies, that tend to have negative cash flow and a longer investment horizon; thebuyouts funds target companies that are well established and typically use debt, orleverage, to finance the acquisition; the special situations fund is set aside for anyother investment that doesn’t fall in the first two categories of funds.

Partners Group is not a typical fund of funds, as they invest in primary, secondary,direct and listed private equity investments. Their investment strategy separatesNorth America, Europe and Asia/emerging markets in a matrix against types ofinvestments; the matrix is then overweighted given current market conditions, andassets are allocated accordingly. The firm’s direct investments come in the form of co-investments, typically led by a partnership already in their network.

The firm’s investment strategy, dubbed Alternative Beta Strategies, was one of thefirst strategies to clone the methods used by hedge-funds, and now has over $1.1billion invested in it from high profile investors, such as the leading UK pensionfund, Universities Superannuation Scheme.

The firm gained accolades in 2004, winning the “European Fund of Funds” awardand achieving second place in the “Secondaries Firm of the Year”. In 2006, the firmwas deemed the most successful European listing, jumping 133 per cent afterbecoming available to public investors.

Partners Group

220

Products offered by the firm are split into three categories: limited partnerships,which are regularly established, and can vary from diversified global funds totargeted funds such as a European buyout fund of funds; publicly traded products,such as investment companies, certificates and principal investment vehicles, whichnormally aim to offer a diversified portfolio of investments across all financing typesand stages; and open-ended product, or mutual funds, which have been created forspecific investor groups, and provide the added level of regulation and liquiditysome investors prefer.

In 2006, the firm became public, listing around 30 per cent of the equity on the SWXSwiss exchange and through select private placements. Following the transaction, itis thought that the management team retained a large portion of the equity.

In January 2008, the group as a whole announced their highest ever annual growth,taking total assets under management from €10.6 billion to nearly €15 billion during2007. The firm seems to have avoided any injury from the credit crisis that dominatedthe rest of the private equity world during 2007; Alfred Gantner, Executive Chairman,explained that the slow down in direct investments was complemented by cheapersecondary private equity investments becoming available, and the private debts heldby the firm were priced with the intention of holding them to maturity.

GETTING HIRED

Partners Group is a global alternative asset manager with strong Swiss roots, asevidenced by the background of its investment professionals. Seventy per cent ofthem joined with previous experience at a Swiss bank, a Swiss asset manager or aSwiss insurance company, while most of the rest worked at the Swiss subsidiary ofan international firm. This is also very visible academically, with only 10 per cent ofthem venturing abroad for an MBA or a PhD. Not surprisingly, St. Gallen is the mostrepresented institution. Surprisingly, there are very few managers with previousexperience in direct or indirect private equity investment.


221

PhD/JD/MD (12%)


Unknown (15%)

MBA (12%)

Master’s (43%)


Banks (46%)

Other (39%)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

Partners Group

Still, Partners Group is growing with the entire PE industry and offers a variety ofcareer opportunities. They state that they actively recruit new talent from topbusiness schools in the United States and in Europe and look especially forentrepreneurship, drive, outstanding academic and professional performance anddesire to learn in all candidates. The firm offers an associate program completed intwo six-month modules and also selectively targets experienced hires. The fullrecruiting process is explained on their website in the “About us” menu. For PEinvestment managers, they express a preference for investment banking oraccounting experience and a particular interest for sectors of high tech, telecom andchemicals. Strategy consulting doesn’t appear to be a target, as is it considered lessuseful in funds of funds.

The graduate programmePartners Group actively recruits recent business school graduates into theirstructured Associate program, based around two sixth month modules. Candidatescan contact the firm at [email protected]

222

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Goldman Sachs (3)

PWC (4)

Credit Suisse (4)

UBS (6)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Swiss Banking School, Zurich (2)

Marriot School of Management (2)

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (3)

Zurich University (3)

St. Gallen (7)



Source: Candesic

Source: Candesic

200 REPRESENTATIVEShort Profiles of

PE firms in Europe

LBO, GROWTH EQUITY AND DIVERSIFIED PRIVATE EQUITY FUNDS

MEZZANINE FUNDS

DISTRESSED FUNDS

SECONDARY FUNDS

FUND OF FUNDS

LBO, GROWTH EQUITY AND DIVERSIFIEDPRIVATE EQUITY FUNDS

AAC Capital Partners

ITO Tower – 22nd floorGustav Mahlerplein 1061082 MA AmsterdamThe NetherlandsTel +31 (0)20 383 1808

www.aaccapitalpartners.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Gerben KuijperEmployer Type: Private firmNo. of employees: 27 professionalsAuM: €3.1bn (2007)

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: Amsterdam • London •Stockholm

21 Investimenti

Via G. Felissent, 9031100 TrevisoItalyTel +39 0422 316611

www.21investimenti.it

STATS

Chief Executive: Alessandro BenettonEmployer Type: Private CompanyNo. of employees: 21AuM: €700m (2007)

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: Treviso • Paris (21 Centrale Part-ners)

226

ABN Amro Capital France

9 avenue Matignon75008 ParisFranceTel +33 (0)1 53 93 69 00

www.abnamrocapital.fr

STATS

Managing Director: Hervé ClaquinEmployer Type: Currently a subsidiaryof ABN Amro (2007)No. of employees: 6 professionals in Paris

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris • Milan • Madrid

Aberdeen Asset ManagersLimited

One Bow ChurchyardLondon, EC4M 9HH, UKTel +44 (0)20 7463 6452

www.aberdeen-asset.com/privateequity

STATS

Head of Investment, Private Equity:Francesco Santinon Employer Type: Private equity divisionof Aberdeen Asset Management PLCEmployees: 41 professionalsAuM: £267m (2008)

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Aberdeen • Birming-ham • Glasgow • Inverness • Leeds •Manchester

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

227


Activa Capital

203, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré75008 Paris FranceTel +33 1 43 12 50 12

www.activacapital.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Jean-Louis de BernardyEmployer Type: Private CompanyNo. of employees: 12 (11 professionals)AuM: €315m

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

Accent Equity Partners

Engelbrektsgatan 5SE-11487 StockholmSwedenTel +46 8 545 073 00

www.accentequity.se

STATS

CEO and Founding Partner: Jan OhlssonEmployer Type: Private CompanyNo. of employees: 9 professionalsAuM: €700m

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: Stockholm

228

AIG Private Equity

AIG Global Investment Corp. (Europe)Ltd.Plantation Place South60 Great Tower StreetLondon EC3R 5AZ, United KingdomTel +44 (0) 20 7269 7253

www.aiggig.com/AIG/Private+Equity

STATS

Managing Director, Alternative Invest-ments Europe: Ion BogdanerisEmployer Type: Subsidiary of AIGEmployees: 200 team membersAuM: $27.2bn worldwide (expansion,LBO, mezzanine, funds of funds)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • New York and 22more locations

Ahorro CorporacionDesarollo

Paseo de la Castellana 8928046 Madrid, SpainTel +34 91 586 4242

www.acdesarollo.com

STATS

Managing director: Antonio FernandezLopezEmployer Type: Subsidiary of GrupoAhorro CorporacionEmployees: 11 investment professionalsAuM: €250m (2007)

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: Madrid • Sevilla • Malaga • Va-lencia

229


Alpha

49 Avenue Hoche75008 ParisFranceTel +33 (0) 1 56 60 20 20

www.groupealpha.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Nicolas ver HulstEmployer Type: Private CompanyNo. of employees: 18 professionals

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris • Frankfurt • Milan •Monaco • Saint Helier

Alchemy Partners

20 BedfordburyLondon WC2N 4BL, United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7240 9596

www.alchemypartners.com

STATS

Founder and managing partner: Mr. JonMoultonEmployer Type: Private CompanyNo. of employees: 24 (20 investmentprofessionals)AuM: £2bn

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

230

AnaCap Financial Partners

Stanford House, 27a Floral StreetLondon, WC2E 9EZ, United Kingdom Tel +44 (0)20 7070 5250

www.anacapfp.com

STATS

Managing Principal: Joe GiannamoreEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 6 professionals (2007) AuM: €300m

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

AlpInvest Partners N.V.

Jachthavenweg 118Amsterdam 1081 KJThe NetherlandsTel +31 20 5407575

www.alpinvest.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Volkert DoeksenEmployer Type: Private CompanyNo. of employees: 68 (60 professionals)AuM: €40bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Amsterdam • London (Spring2008) • New York • Hong Kong

231


Apollo Management

2 Manhattanville RoadPurchase, NY 10577United StatesTel +1 914 694 8000

STATS

Founders and Managing Partners: LeonBlack, Josh Harris and Marc Rowan(London)Employer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 175 professionals (2007) AuM: $16bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Frankfurt • London and Paris •New York • Los Angeles • Singapore

Andlinger & Company

Avenue Louise 140 1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel +32 2 647.80.70

www.andlinger.com

STATS

CEO: Johan Volckaerts Employer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 25

LOCATIONS

Offices: Brussels • Vienna • New York• Shanghai

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

232

Arcapita

15 Sloane SquareLondon SW1W 8ER, United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7824 5600

www.arcapita.com

STATS

CEO: Atif A. AbdulmalikEmployer Type: Private companyEmployees: 43 investment executives(16 in Europe)AuM: ~$4bn (private equity)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Bahrain • Atlanta •Singapore

Apposite Capital LLP

Bracken HouseOne Friday StreetLondon EC4M 9JAUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7090 6874

www.apposite-capital.com

STATS

Managing Partner: David PorterEmployer Type: Private companyNo. of employees: 7 (6 professionals)AuM: ~€200m

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

233


Argos Soditic

14 rue de Bassano75783 Paris Cedex 16FranceTel +33 (0)1 53 67 20 50

www.argos-soditic.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Mr. Louis GodronEmployer Type: Private CompanyNo. of employees: 25 (17 professionals)AuM: €518m

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris • Geneva • Milan

Argan Capital

Monopolis House, 9 South StreetLondon W1K 2XA, United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7647 6970

www.argancapital.com

STATS

Managing Partner: Mr. Lloyd PerryEmployer Type: Private CompanyNo. of employees: 14 (10 professionals)AuM: €425m

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Milan • Paris •Warsaw

234

Astorg Partners

68, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré75008 ParisFranceTel +33 (0)1 53 05 40 50

www.astorg-partners.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Xavier MorenoEmployer Type: Independent privatecompany Employees: 16 (13 professionals)AuM: €500m

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

ARGUS Capital Partners

Academy House36 Poland StreetLondon W1F 7LUUnited KingdomTel +44 20 7439 0088

www.arguscapitalgroup.com/en/

STATS

Managing partner: Ali ArtunkalEmployer Type: Independent privatecompany Employees: 10 investment professionalsAuM: €400m

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Budapest • Prague •Warsaw

235


August Equity

10 Bedford StreetLondon WC2E 9HE, United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7632 8200

www.augustequity.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Richard GreenEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 19AuM: £260m

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: London

Atria Capital Partenaires

40 rue de Châteaudun75009 ParisFranceTel +33 (0)1 45 26 60 16

www.atria-partenaires.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Mr. Dominique OgerEmployer Type: Independent privatecompany Employees: 11AuM: €320m

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

236

Baring Private EquityPartners Espana SA

Hermosilla, 11-5a Planta 28001Madrid, Spain Tel +34 91 781 8870

www.bpep.com/spain.html

STATS

Managing partner: José Angel SarasaEmployer Type: Spanish unit of BaringPrivate Equity PartnersAuM: €200m ($3.4bn worldwide)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Madrid • Aviles • Barcelona •Murcia • Guernsey • Moscow • SanFrancisco • Hong Kong • Shanghai •Singapore • Tokyo

Baird Capital PartnersEurope

Mint House, 77 Mansell StreetLondon, E1 8AFUnited KingdomTel +44 20 7667 8400

www.bcpe.co.uk

STATS

Chairman: Michael ProudlockEmployer Type: European private equityarm of Robert W. Baird & Co. IncEmployees: 7 senior professionalsAuM: €600m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London (Further presence in the US and Chinathrough Baird Private Equity. For Ger-many, see Granville Baird Capital Part-ners Germany.)

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

237


BS Private Equity

BS Investimenti SGR SpaVia dell’Orso, 820121 Milan, ItalyTel +39 02 762 1131

www.bspeg.com

STATS

Managing partners: Paolo Baretta, Anto-nio Perricone, Francesco SironiEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 28 professionalsAuM: €510m (2007)

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: Milan

Baring Vostok CapitalPartners

Ducat Place II, Suite 750 Gasheka str. 7, bldg 1 Moscow, 123056 Russia Tel +7 095 967 13 07

www.bvcp.ru

STATS

Co-Managing Partners, Russia: MichaelCalvey and Alexei KalininEmployer Type: Russian unit of BaringPrivate Equity Partners1Employees: about 50 (25 professionalsin Europe)AuM: $1.9bn ($3.4bn worldwide)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Moscow • Aviles • Barcelona •Guernsey • Madrid • Murcia • SanFrancisco • Hong Kong • Shangha •Singapore • Tokyo

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

238

Capital Alianza PrivateEquity Investment SA

Plaza Marques de Salamanca, 928006 Madrid, SpainTel +34 91 4 353 088

www.capitalalianza.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Mr. José Maria CastaneOrtegaEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 8AuM: ~€200m

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: Madrid

Caja Madrid, Sociedad dePromocion y ParticipaciónEmpresarial


www.cajamadrid.es

STATS

President: Mariano Perez ClaverEmployer Type: Division of Caja MadridEmployees: 10 investment professionalsAuM: €560m (2007)

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: Madrid

239


Capvis Equity Partners

Talacker 42CH-8022 ZürichTel +41 43 300 58 58

www.capvis.com

STATS

Chairman and partner: Dr. AlexanderKrebsEmployer Type: Independent PrivateCompanyEmployees: 13 investment professionals

LOCATIONS

Offices: Zürich • Kirchheim (Germany)• Vienna • ShanghaiAssets under management: €550m

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

CapVest Limited

100 Pall MallLondon SW1Y 5NQUnited KingdomTel +44 20 7389 7900

www.capvest.co.uk

STATS

Founding partner: Seamus FitzPatrickEmployer Type: Part of AIG PrivateEquityAuM: €3bn (last fund: €350m)

EUROPEAN LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

240

Change Capital Partners

2nd Floor, College House, 272 KingsRoadLondon SW3 5AW, United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7808 9110

www.changecapitalpartners.com

STATS

Managing director: Mr. Luc VandeveldeEmployer Type: Private CompanyNo. of employees: 9 investment profes-sionalsAuM: €300m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CCMP Capital

Almack House, 28 King Street London SW1Y 6XA, United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7389 9100

www.ccmpcapital.com

STATS

Managing partner: Stephen Murray Employer Type: Private CompanyNo. of employees: 54

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • New York • HonkKong • TokyoAssets under management: $10bn (2007)

241


Chequers Capital

48 bis, avenue Montaigne75008 ParisFrance Tel +33 1 53 57 61 00

www.chequerscapital.com

STATS

President: Denis MetzgerEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyNo. of employees: 10 investment pro-fessionalsAuM: €950m (2006)

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Charterhouse

7th Floor, Warwick Court, PaternosterSquareLondon EC4M 7DX, United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7334 5300

www.charterhouse.co.uk

STATS

Chief Executive: Mr. Gordon Bonnyman Employer Type: Private CompanyNo. of employees: 20 executivesAssets under management: €8.4bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Paris

242

Ciclad

8, av Franklin-Roosevelt75008 Paris, FranceTel +33 (0) 1 56 59 77 33

www.ciclad.com

STATS

Managing directors: Thierry Thomann,Jean-François VauryEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 8AuM: €310m (2007)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

CIC Finance

4, rue Gaillon75002 Paris, FranceTel +33 1 42 66 76 63

STATS

No. of employees: 27 professionalsAuM: €600m

243


Clayton Dubilier & RiceLimited

Cleveland House, 33 King StreetLondon SW1Y 6RJ, United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7747 3800

www.cdr-inc.com

STATS

Founder and Chairman: Joseph RiceEmployer Type: Independent PrivateCompanyEmployees: 35 investment executives(12 in the UK)AuM: $4bn (latest fund)

LOCATIONS

Offices: New York • London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Citi Private Equity

41 Berkeley Square London W1J 5AN, United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7500 9612

www.citigroupai.com/cpe_overview.htm

STATS

Managing director: John R. BarberEmployer Type: Subsidiary of CitigroupEmployees: 10 senior investmentprofesionalsAuM: $62bn for the whole of CitiAlternative Investments

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • New York

244

Close Brothers PrivateEquity

10 Throgmorton AvenueLondon EC2N 2DL, United KingdomTel +44 (0) 20 7065 1100

www.cbpel.com

STATS

Chief Executive: John SnookEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 15AuM: €1bn in 2007

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

Clessidra Capital Partners

Via del Lauro 720121 MilanItalyTel +39 02 86 95 22 1

www.clessidrasgr.it

STATS

Founder and CEO: Claudio SpositoEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 15 (9 investment profes-sionals)AuM: €820m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Milan

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

245


Cognetas

Paternoster House, 65 St Paul’s Church-yard London EC4M 8AB, United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7214 4800

www.cognetas.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Nigel McConnellEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 30 professionalsAuM: €2.26bn

CAREERS CONTACT

Offices: London • Frankfurt • Milan •Paris

Cobalt Capital

28, bd Malesherbes75008 Paris, FranceTel +33 (0)1 43 12 91 10

www.cobalt-cap.com

STATS

Managing directors: Christophe Fercocq,Hervé FrancEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 6 investment professionalsAuM: €150m

CAREERS CONTACT

Offices: Paris

246

Crédit Agricole PrivateEquity

100 Boulevard du Montparnasse75682 PARIS Cedex 14 Tel +33 1 43 23 21 21

www.ca-privateequity.com

STATS

CEO: Fabien Prevost Employer Type: Subsidiary of CreditAgricoleNo. of employees: 40AuM: €1.7bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Corpfin Capital

Marqués de Villamejor, 328006 Madrid SpainTel +34 91 781 28 00

www.corpfincapital.com

STATS

Chairman: Felipe OriolEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 11 investment professionalsAuM: €400m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Madrid

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

247


Dawnay, Day PrincipalInvestments

15-17 Grosvenor GardensLondon SW1W 0BD, United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7834 8060

www.dawnayday.com

STATS

Head of private companies: LukeBridgemanEmployer Type: Specialist team ofDawnay, Day GroupEmployees: 4 investment executivesAuM: €1bn (access)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

Darwin Private Equity LLP

15 Bedford StreetLondon WC2E 9HE, United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7420 0755

www.darwinpe.com

STATS

Founders: Derek Elliott, Jonathan Kaye& Kevin StreetEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 3 investment executivesAuM: £250m (2008 target)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

248

DLJ Merchant BankingPartners

17 Columbus CourtyardLondon E14 4DA, United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7883 1000

www.csfb.com/investment_manage-ment/private_equity/DLJ_merchant_banking.shtml

STATS

Chief Executive: Steven RattnerEmployer Type: Subsidiary of CreditSuisseEmployees: 14

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • New York • Los AngelesAuM: $6.8bn

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Deutsche Beteiligungs AG

Kleinen Wiesenau 1 60439 Frankfurt am Main, GermanyTel +49 69 957 87 0

www.deutsche-beteiligung.de

STATS

Chief executive: Wilken Freiherr vonHodenbergEmployer Type: Public company(Frankfurt Stock Exchange)No. of employees: 17 professionalsAuM: €520m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Frankfurt

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

249


ECI Partners

Brettenham House, Lancaster PlaceLondon WC2E 7ENUnited KingdomTel 020 7606 1000

www.eciv.co.uk

STATS

Managing partners: Ken Landsberg andTim RaffleNo. of employees: 14 professionalsAuM: £500m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Manchester

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Dunedin Capital Partners

10 George StreetEdinburgh EH2 2DW, United KingdomTel +44 (0)131 225 6699

www.dunedin.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Ross MarshallEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 23 (15 investment profes-sionals)AuM: £500m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Edinburgh • London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

250

Enterprise Investors

Warsaw Financial CenterEmilii Plater 53, 31st floor00-113 Warsaw, PolandTel +48 22 458 85 00

www.ei.com

STATS

Chairman: Robert FarisNo. of employees: 53 (30 professionals)AuM: €1bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Warsaw

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Edmond de RothschildPrivate Equity Partners

Edmond de RothschildInvestment Partners

47 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré75401 Paris Cedex 08FranceTel + 33 1 40 17 25 25

www.lcf-rothschild.fr/fr/edrip/

STATS

Employer Type: Subsidiary of LaCompagnie Financière Edmond deRothschildEmployees: 18AuM: €506m (expansion, LBO, VC)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

251


Explorer Investments

Av. Eng.º Duarte Pacheco, n. º 26-8 º1070-110 Lisboa, PortugalTel +351 21 324 1820

www.explorerinvestments.com

STATS

Managing director: Rodrigo GuimarãesEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 5 senior investment profes-sionalsAuM: €262m (2008)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Lisbon

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Ergon Capital Partners

Marnixlaan 241000 BrusselsBelgiumTel +32 2 213 60 90

STATS

Managing director: Ian GallienneEmployer Type: Backed by GroupeBruxelles Lambert (GBL) and ParcomAuM: €500m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Brussels • Milan

252

FINAMA Private Equity

148 boulevard Haussmann75008 Paris, franceTel +33 (0)1 53 93 51 51

www.finama-pe.fr

STATS

CEO: Pierre-Michel DelegliseEmployer Type: Subsidiary ofGroupamaAuM: €1.4bn (VC, expansion,mezzanine and funds of funds)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Fidia SGR - Prudentia Fund

Piazza Paolo Ferrari 6MilanoItalyTel +3x 02 7200 2037

www.fidiasgr.it

STATS

Employer Type: Fund financed byconsortium of 8 Italian banksManaging director: Stefano ScarpisAuM: €250m

253


Fortis Merchant Banking

Montagne du Parc 3 1000 Brussels, Belgium Tel +32 2 565 11 33

www.merchantbanking.fortis.com

STATS

Managing director: Luc Weverbergh Employer Type: Subsidiary of FortisBankEmployees: 62

LOCATIONS

Offices: Brussels

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

FL Partners

Stradbrook HouseStradbrook Road, BlackrockCo. Dublin, IrelandTel +353 1 663 7630

www.flpartners.ie

STATS

Managing partners: Peter Crowley andNeill HughesEmployer Type: Private Company

LOCATIONS

Offices: Dublin

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

254

GED Private Equity

Calle Hiedra 17B28109 Madrid, SpainTel +34 91 7022 255

www.gediberian.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Enriques CentellesEchevarriaEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 20AuM: €300m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Spain • Bulgaria • Portugal • Ro-mania

Gala Capital

Serrano 5728006 MadridSpain Tel +34 91 426 1900

www.galacapital.com

STATS

Managing directors: Jaime Bergel andCarlos TejeraEmployer Type: Private equity vehiclefor some of Spain’s wealthiestindividualsAuM: €165m (2nd fund) with access tomore capital

255


GIMV

Karel Oomsstraat 372018 AntwerpBelgiumTel +32 3 290 21 00

www.gimv.com

STATS

Executive Vice President CorporateInvestment: Geert-Jan van Logtestijn Employer Type: Public company. Sticker:GIMB (Euronext)No. of employees: 19 investmentprofessionalsAuM: €1.2bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Antwerp • Frankfurt • London• The Hague

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

GI Partners

5th Floor, 35 Portman SquareLondon W1H 6LR, United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7034 1120

www.gipartners.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Rick MagnusonEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 21 professionals (9 inEurope)AuM: $2bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Menlo Park

256

Global Finance

14 Filikis Eterias Square10673 Athens, GreeceTel +30 210 720 8900

www.globalfinance.gr

STATS

Managing Partner: Angelos Plakopitas Employer Type: Independent PrivateCompanyEmployees: 24 professionalsAuM: $300m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Athens • Bucharest • Sofia

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Global Equity Partners

Mariahilfer Strasse 19-21 1060 Vienna , Austria Tel +43 1 581 83 90

www.gep.at

STATS

Founder and Management Board: Dr.Michael TojnerEmployer Type: Independent PrivateCompanyEmployees: 30AuM: €250m (private equity)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Vienna • Lausanne • Munich

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

257


Granville Baird CapitalPartners Germany

Haus am Hafen, Steinhöft 5-720459 HamburgGermanyTel. +49 40 37 48 02 10

www.granvillebaird.de

STATS

Managing director: Dr. Wolfgang AlvanoEmployer Type: Independent privatefirmEmployees: 14 (8 professionals)AuM: €650m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Hamburg (For the UK, seeBaird Capital Partners Europe)

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

GMT CommunicationsPartners

Sackville House, 40 Piccadilly, LondonW1J 0DRUnited KingdomTel +44 20 7292 9333

www.gmtpartners.com

STATS

Managing partners: Timothy S. Greenand Jeffrey D. MontgomeryEmployer Type: Private companyNo. of employees: 11 professionalsAuM: €700m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

258

Gresham Private Equity

One South PlaceLondon EC2M 2GTUnited KingdomTel +44 (0) 20 7309 5000

www.greshampe.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Paul Marson-SmithEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 22AuM: £340m (Gresham 4 fund)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Birmingham •Manchester

Graphite Capital

Berkeley Square HouseBerkeley SquareLondon W1J 6BQUnited KingdomTel +44 20 7825 5300

www.graphitecapital.com

STATS

Heads of investment team: Simon Ffitch& Andy GrayEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyNo. of employees: 16 investment pro-fessionalsAuM: £1.2bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

259


Herkules Capital (formerlyFerd Private Equity)

Strandveien 50 P.O Box 34 1324 Lysaker, Norway Tel +47 67 10 80 00

www.ferdpe.no

STATS

Managing Partner: Gert W. Munthe Employer Type: Independent privatefirmNo. of employees: 13 professionalsAuM: NOK 6.25bn (~€800m)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Lysaker (moving to Oslo)

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

H.I.G. European CapitalPartners LLP

25 St. George Street London W1S 1FSUnited KingdomTel +44 (0) 207 318 5700

www.higprivateequity.com

STATS

Managing partners: Sami Mnaymneh &Tony TamerEmployer Type: European affiliate ofH.I.G. CapitalEmployees: 13 senior professionals in EuropeAuM: $4bn (worldwide)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Hamburg • Paris •Atlanta • Boston • Miami • SanFrancisco

260

Ibersuizas

Marqués de Villamagna, 328001 Madrid, SpainTel +34 91 426 43 80

www.ibersuizas.es

STATS

Founding Partner: Luis Chicharro Employer Type: Private companyEmployees: 26 (12 investmentprofessionals)AuM: €1bn (2008)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Madrid • Barcelona • London •Luxembourg

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Hermes Private Equity(direct investments)

Lloyds Chambers1 Portsoken StreetLondon E1 8HZUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7680 2235

www.hermes.co.uk/hermes_private_equity

STATS

Chief Executive: Rod SelkirkEmployer Type: Subsidiary of HermesPensions Management No. of employees: 7 professionals AuM: £450m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

261


Inflexion Private Equity

43 Welbeck StreetLondon W1G 8DXUnited KingdomTel: +44 20 7487 9888

www.inflexion.com

STATS

Managing partners: John Hartz & SimonTurnerEmployer Type: Private companyNo. of employees: 17 (12 professionals)AuM: £300m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Manchester

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Impala Capital Partners

Pedro de Valdivia 10, 4ª Planta28006 Madrid, SpainTel +34 91 411 92 90

www.impalacapital.com

STATS

Chairman: Carlos GuerreroEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 9 investment professionalsAuM: €215m (2007)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Madrid

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

262

Investcorp Private Equity

48 Grosvenor StreetLondon W1K 3HWUnited KingdomTel +44 20 7629 6600

www.investcorp.com

STATS

Head of Private Equity Europe: StevenPuccinelliEmployees: 42 professionals (16 inLondon)AuM: $3.8bn

Innova Capital

Aurum Building, ul. Waliców 11 00-865 Warsaw, PolandTel +48-22 583-9400

www.innovacap.com/EN

STATS

Managing partners: Steve Buckley & RobConnEmployer Type: Private companyEmployees: 8 investment professionalsAuM: €500m

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

263


Invision Private Equity

Industriestrasse 24, Postfach 23036302 Zug, SwitzerlandTel +41 41 729 01 01

www.invision.ch

STATS

Managing Partner: Frank BeckerEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 8 investment professionalsAuM: €300m

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Investindustrial

Via dei Bossi, 420121 Milan, ItalyTel +39 02 802 7761

www.investindustrial.com

STATS

Chairman: Andrea C. BonomiEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 18 professionalsAuM: €1bn (2008)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Milan • Barcelona • London •Luxembourg • Madrid

264

Kaupthing Capital Partners

c/o Kaupthing Singer & FriedlanderOne Hanover StreetLondon W1S 1AXUnited KingdomTel +44 20 3205 5000

www.kaupthingsingers.co.uk

STATS

Employer Type: Private equity arm ofIceland's Kaupthing BankAuM: £500m

ISIS EP

2nd Floor, 100 Wood StreetLondon EC2V 7ANUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7506 5600

www.isisep.com

STATS

Managing partner: Wol KoladeEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 31 (28 investmentprofessionals)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Birmingham • Leeds• ManchesterAuM: £700m (2007)

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

265


L Capital Management

18, rue François Ier75008 ParisTel +33 (0)1 44 13 22 22

www.lvmh.com

STATS

Managing director: Jean CailliauEmployer Type: Subsidiary of LVMH Employees: 14 (10 professionals)AuM: €590m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

KBC Private Equity NV

Havenlaan 121080 Brussels, BelgiumTel +32 (0)2 429 36 45

www.kbcpe.be

STATS

Managing directors: Mr Philippe de Vicq,Mrs. Floris VansinaEmployer Type: Investment company ofKBC Group Employees: 30AuM: €450m (2008)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Brussels • Bucharest • Budapest• Prague • Warsaw

266

LBO France

148 rue de l'Université75007 Paris, FranceTel +33 (0)1 40 62 77 67

www.lbofrance.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Alain AubryEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 17AuM: €3.5bn (2008)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

Langholm Capital LLP

5th Floor, 16 Charles II StreetLondon SW1Y 4QU, UKTel +44 (0)20 7747 7747

www.langholm.com

STATS

Managing Partners: Bert Wiegman,Christian LorenzenEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 10AuM: €250m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

267


LDC

3rd Floor, 45 Old Bond StreetLondon W1S 4QTUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7499 1500

www.ldc.co.uk

STATS

CEO: Darryl EalesEmployer Type: Subsidiary of the LloydsTSB GroupEmployees: 45 investment professionals AuM: £2bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Birmingham • Bristol• Edinburgh • Leeds • Liverpool •Manchester • Newcastle upon Tyne •Reading • Southampton

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

LD Equity

c/o Fondsmæglerselskabet af 2004 A/S Vendersgade 28 1363 Copenhagen K Denmark Tel +45 33 36 89 89

www.ldequity.dk

STATS

Managing partners: Christian Møller,Soren Møller, Lars TønnesenEmployer Type: Independent part ofFondsmæglerselskabet af 2004 A/S(FMS04)Employees: 18 investment professionalsAuM: DKK 7.5bn (€1bn) in 2007

LOCATIONS

Offices: Copenhagen

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

268

LGV

5th Floor, Bucklersbury House, 3Queen Victoria StreetLondon EC4N 8NH, United KingdomTel +44 (0) 20 7528 6456

www.legalandgeneralventures.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Adrian JohnsonEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 3 partnersAuM: £200m (5th fund)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

Lehman BrothersMerchant Banking

25 Bank Street, London E14 5LEUnited Kingdom

www.lehman.com/im/pe/mb/

STATS

Global Head: Charles Ayres No. of employees: 35 professionalsAuM: ~€700m for Europe ($3.3bnglobally for 4th fund)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • New York • HongKong

CAREERS CONTACT

Contact for Analyst Recruiting, Europe:Salonika Mitra

269


LODH Private Equity

Rue de la Corraterie 11 P.O. Box 5215 1211 Geneva 11 Switzerland Tel +41 (0)22 709 21 11

STATS

Employer Type: Private equity unit ofLombard OdierAuM: €493m (3rd fund)

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Lion Capital

21 Grosvenor PlaceLondon SW1X 7HF, United KingdomTel +44 (0) 20 7201 2200

www.lioncapital.com

STATS

Managing Partner: Lyndon LeaEmployer Type: Independent PrivateCompanyEmployees: 19AuM: €2.7bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

270

MB Funds

Bulevardi 1 A00100 Helsinki, FinlandTel +358 9 131 011

www.mbfunds.fi

STATS

Managing Partner: Juhani SuomelaEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyNo. of employees: 10AuM: €270m (4th fund)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Helsinki

Lyceum Capital

Burleigh House, 357 The StrandLondon WC2R 0HSUK Tel +44 (20) 7632 2480

www.westpe.com

STATS

CEO: Philip BuscombeNo. of employees: 10 investmentprofessionalsAuM: €300m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

271


Merrill Lynch GlobalPrivate Equity group

ML Financial CenterTwo King Edward StreetLondon, EC1A 1HQUnited KingdomTel +44-207-955-2000

http://gmi.ml.com/private

STATS

President/Group Head: Nathan C.ThorneEmployer Type: PE investment arm ofMerrill LynchNo. of employees: 19 seniorprofessionals, of which 4 are in London

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • New York • Bangkok• Hong Kong • Tokyo • Sydney • SãoPaulo

MCH Private Equity

Plaza de Colón 2, Torre I, Planta 1528046 Madrid, SpainTel +34 91 426 44 44

www.mch.es/eng/

STATS

Managing directors: José María Muñoz &Mr. Jaime Hernández SotoEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 12 (10 investmentprofessionals)AuM: €250m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Madrid

272

Mid Ocean Partners

Cardinal Place, 80 Victoria StreetLondon SW1E 5JLUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7821 4400

www.midoceanpartners.com

STATS

Managing partner: Ted VirtueEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 22 investment professionalsAuM: $3bn

LOCATIONS


Mid Europa Partners

161 Brompton RoadLondon SW3 1EXUnited KingdomTel +44 20 7886 3600

www.mideuropa.com

STATS

Managing Partner: Thierry Baudon Employer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 19 (17 professionals)AuM: €2.7bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: London •Budapest • Warsaw

273


Milestone Capital Partners

14 Floral StreetLondon WC2E 9DHUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7420 8800

www.milestone-capital.com

STATS

Managing partners: Bill Robinson andErick RinnerEmployer Type: Private companyEmployees: 12AuM: €400m

LOCATIONS


CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Middle EuropeInvestments

Zwiepseweg 27 7240 GM Lochem, Netherlands Tel +31 573 28 98 88

www.mei.nl

STATS

Managing partner: Dr. Peter H. M.Winkelman Employer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 75

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

274

Natixis Private Equity

5-7 rue de Monttessuy75340 Paris Cedex 07, FranceTel +33 (0)1 58 19 20 00

www.natixis-pe.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Jean-Louis DelvauxEmployer Type: Private equity arm ofNatixisEmployees: 250 (115 investmentprofessionals)AuM: €3.1bn (VC, expansion, LBO, fundof funds)

LOCATIONS

Offices: France • Germany • Italy •Poland • Spain • China • India • Brazil

Morgan Stanley PrivateEquity Europe

25 Cabot Square, Canary WharfLondon E14 4QAUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7425 8000

www.morganstanley.com/privateequity

STATS

Managing directors: Graham Keniston-Cooper & Michael HehnEmployees: 40 worldwide (target)AuM: $6bn worldwide (target)

LOCATIONS


275


NBGI Private Equity

Old Change House, 128 QueenVictoria StreetLondon EC4V 4BJUnited KingdomTel +44(0)20 7661 5678

www.nbgipe.co.uk

STATS

Chairman & CEO: Pavlos C. St. StellakisEmployer Type: Subsidiary of theNational Bank of GreeceEmployees: 26AuM: €360m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Athens

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Nazca

Calle Fortuny 37, 3º Dcha28010 Madrid, SpainTel +34 91 7000 501

www.nazca.es

STATS

Chairman: Miguel CanalejoEmployer Type: Member of FortisPrivate Equity GroupEmployees: 6 investment professionalsAuM: €250m (2007)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Madrid

276

Nmas1 Private Equity

Padilla, 1728006 MadridTel +34 91 745 8484

www.nmas1.com

STATS

Managing director: Federico PastorEmployer Type: Division of N+1, anindependent Employer Type: PrivatecompanyEmployees: x investment professionalsAuM: €850m (plan 2008)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Madrid • Barcelona

Nikko PrincipalInvestments

100 Pall Mall London SW1Y 5NNUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7799 7700

www.npil.co.uk

STATS

CEO: Brian BerryEmployer Type: Subsidiary of NikkoEmployer Type: Cordial CorporationEmployees: 30 professionals

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

277


Nordic Capital

NC Advisory AB, Stureplan 4A114 35 Stockholm, SwedenTel +46 8 440 50 50

www.nordiccapital.com

STATS

Managing directors: Robert Andreen,Morgan OlssonEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 17 investment professionalsAuM: €4bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Stockholm • Copenhagen •Helsinki

Nomura Private Equity

Nomura House, 1 St Martins Le GrandLondon EC1A 4NP United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7521 2000

www.nomura.com/europe/services/merchant_banking/private_equity

STATS

Head: Andrew HealeyEmployer Type: Subsidiary of NomuraEmployees: 7 investment professionals(United Kingdom) AuM: £300m ($4.5bn worldwide)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

278

Oaktree CapitalManagement

27 KnightsbridgeLondon SW1X 7LYUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7201 4600

www.oaktreecapital.com

STATS

Managing principal: John FrankEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 174 investmentprofessionals globally (9 in Europeanprivate equity) AuM: $8.3bn in private equity only(2008)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Los Angeles • London •Frankfurt • Luxembourg • New York •Stamford • Beijing • Hong Kong •Seoul • Shanghai • Singapore • Tokyo

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Nordwind Capital

Residenzstraße 1880333 Munich, GermanyTel +49 89 29 19 58-0

www.nordwindcapital.de

STATS

Managing director: Dr. Hans AlbrechtEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 9AuM: €300m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Munich

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

279


Olivant

2 Basil StreetLondonSW3 1AAUnited KingdomTel +44 (0) 20 7225 4100

www.olivant.com

STATS

Chairman: Luqman ArnoldEmployees: 16 investment professionals

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Singapore

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Odewald & Compagnie

Französische Straße 810117 Berlin, GermanyTel +49 (0) 30 20 17 23-0

www.ocie.de

STATS

Founder and managing partner: Dr. JensOdewaldEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 7 senior investmentprofessionalsAuM: €1bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Berlin

280

Orlando ManagementGmbH

Am Platzl 480331 MunichGermanyPhone: +49 89 29 00 48 - 50

www.orlandofund.com

STATS

Partners: Dr. Henrik Fastrich and threeother partnersEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 5 investment professionalsAuM: €420m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Munich

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

One Equity Partners

Taunusanlage 21 60325 Frankfurt am Main Germany Tel +49 69 50 60 74 70

www.oneequity.com

STATS

President: Richard (Dick) M. Cashin, Jr.Employer Type: PE investment arm ofJPMorgan Chase & Co.No. of employees: 38 professionals, ofwhich 10 are in GermanyAuM: $5bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Frankfurt • Chicago • NewYork

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

281


Pamplona CapitalManagement

25 Park LaneLondon W1K 1RAUnited KingdomTel +44 20 7079 8000

www.pamplonafunds.com

STATS

Chief executive: Alex KnasterNo. of employees: 15 professionalsAuM: €1.3bn (2nd fund)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Palamon Capital Partners

Cleveland House, 33 King StreetLondon SW1Y 6RJUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7766 2000

www.palamon.com

STATS

Managing partners: A. Michael Hoffman,Louis G. ElsonEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 14 investment professionalsAuM: €1.1bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

282

Pechel Industries

162, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré75008 Paris, FranceTel +33 (1) 5659 7959

www.pechel.com

STATS

CEO: Hélène PloixEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 5 senior investmentprofessionalsAuM: €250m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Parcom

Olympia 4c1213 NT HilversumThe NetherlandsTel +31 35 646 44 40

www.parcomventures.nl,www.parcom.fr

STATS

Managing director: Erik WesterinkA member of ING GroupEmployees: 22 (12 professionals)AuM: €750m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Hilversum • Paris (INGParcom)

283


Phoenix Equity Partners

33 Glasshouse StreetLondon W1B 5DGUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20-7434 6999

www.phoenix-equity.com

STATS

Managing Partner: Hugh LenonEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 18 (16 investmentprofessionals)AuM: £900m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Penta Capital Partners

150 St Vincent StreetGlasgow G2 5NE United KingdomTel +44 (0)141-572 7300

www.pentacapital.com

STATS

Founding partners: David Calder,Torquil Macnaughton, Mark Phillips &Steven ScottEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 6 investment professionals AuM: £194 million (2007)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Glasgow • London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

284

PPM Capital

1 New Fetter LaneLondon EC4A 1HH, United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7822 1000

www.ppmcapital.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Mr. Neil MacDougallEmployer Type: Independent PrivateCompanyEmployees: 50 (27 professionals)AuM: £600m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Munich • Paris •Chicago

PM Partners

via San Damiano No. 1120122 MilanoItalyTel +39 02 76011887

www.pm-partners.it

STATS

Managing partners: Mr. FrancescoPanfilo, Mr. Andrea MugnaiEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 8 investment professionalsAuM: €215m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Milano

285


Primary Capital

Augustine House, Austin FriarsLondon EC2N 2HAUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7920 4800

www.primaryeurope.com

STATS

Chief executive: Charles GonszorEmployer Type: Independent PrivateCompanyEmployees: 12 (9 investmentprofessionals)AuM: £361 million

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Pragma Capital

13 avenue Hoche75008 Paris, FranceTel +33 (0)1 58 36 49 50

www.pragma-capital.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Christophe RamoisyEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 9 investment professionalsAuM: €500m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

286

Quadrangle CapitalPartners

Quadrangle Group Europe Ltd 15 Conduit Street London W1S 2XJ United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7317 3800

www.quadranglegroup.com

STATS

Managing principal Europe: GordonHolmesEmployer Type: Private company No. of employees: 40 investmentprofessionalsAuM: $6bn (about half in PE)

LOCATIONS

Offices: New York • Palo Alto •London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Providence Equity

28 St George StreetLondon W1S 2FAUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20-7514 8800

www.provequity.com

STATS

CEO: Jonathan M. NelsonEmployer Type: Independent PrivateCompanyEmployees: 67 investment professionals(19 in the UK)AuM: $21bn worldwide

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • New York •Providence (HQ) • Hong Kong • NewDelhi

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

287


Quilvest Private Equity

243, boulevard Saint-Germain75007 Paris, France Tel +33 (0)1 40 62 07 54

www.quilvest.com

STATS

CEO: F. Michel AbouchalacheEmployees: 28 investment professionalsAuM: $1bn (including funds of funds)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris • London • Luxembourg• Zurich • New York

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Quadriga Capital ServicesGmbH

Hamburger Allee 460486 FrankfurtGermanyTel. +49 69 795 000-0

www.quadriga-capital.de

STATS

Managing partner: Dr. Andreas FendelEmployer Type: Private companyEmployees: 8 investment professionalsAuM: €525m (3rd fund)

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

288

RJD Partners

8/9 Well Court London EC4M 9DN United KingdomTel +44 20 7050 6868

www.rjdpartners.com

STATS

Chief Executive: David MacLellanEmployer Type: Private companyEmployees: 9 professionalsAuM: £180m (2nd fund)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

Info: [email protected]

Rhone Capital (RhoneGroup)

5 Princes GateLondon SW7 1QJUnited Kingdom9-11 Rue MontalivetParis, 75008FranceTel +1 (212) 218 6770

www.rhonegroup.com

STATS

Managing partners and founders: RobertF. Agostinelli & M. Steven LangmanEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyAuM: ~$800m (Rhône Capital Partners III)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Paris • New York

289


Rutland Partners

Rutland House Rutland Gardens London SW7 1BX United KingdomTel +44 20 7556 2600

www.rutlandpartners.com

STATS

Chairman: Michael Langdon Employer Type: Private companyEmployees: 11 professionalsAuM: £530m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Royal Bank of ScotlandEquity Finance

135 BishopsgateLondon EC2M 4RB United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7085 2256

www.rbs.com

STATS

Employees: 25 investment professionals AuM: £2.2bn

290

Segulah

Styrmansgatan 2114 84 StockholmSwedenTel +46 8 442 8950

www.segulah.se

STATS

Managing partner: Christian SievertEmployer Type: Private companyEmployees: 8 professionalsAuM: SEK 2.35bn (~€300m)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Stockholm

Santander Private Equity

Paseo de la Castellana, 728046 Madrid, SpainTel +34 91 342 68 96

www.santanderprivateequity.com

STATS

Managing director: Luis Abraira de AranaEmployer Type: Subsidiary of SantanderEmployees: 6 professionalsAuM: €320m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Madrid

291


SigmaBleyzer

21 Pushkinskaya Street, office 40Kiev, 01004UkraineTel +380 44 244-94-87/89

www.sigmableyzer.com

STATS

Recruiting Manager: Alina Martynenko,[email protected] & CEO: Michael BleyzerEmployees: 16AuM: €250m (4th fund)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Kiev • Astana • Bucharest •Kharkov • Sofia

SGAM Private Equity

170, Place Henri RegnaultParis La Defense 6, FranceTel +33 (0) 56 37 80 00

www.sgam-ai.com

STATS

Global Heads: Jean Grimaldi, CorinneFerrièreEmployer Type: Subsidiary of SocieteGeneraleEmployees: 55 investment professionalsAuM: €1.8bn (VC, expansion & LBO,funds of funds, specialised)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris • Bucharest • London •Milan • Munich • Warsaw

292

Smedvig Capital

20 St James's StreetLondon SW1A 1ES United KingdomTel +44(0)20 7451 2100

www.smedvigcapital.com

STATS

Chairman: Peter SmedvigEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 9 investment professionalsAuM: £300m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Silver Lake

Almack House, 28 King Street London SW1Y 6QW United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 70 24 72 00

www.silverlake.com

STATS

Director Europe: Axel HoltrupEmployer Type: Private companyEmployees: 80AuM: €2.8bn (2nd fund)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Menlo Park (HQ) • London •New York • San Francisco

293


STAR Capital Partners

6th Floor, 33 Cavendish SquareLondon W1G 0PWUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20-7016 8500

www.star-capital.com

STATS

CEO: Tony MallinEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 15 investment professionalsAuM: €1bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Sovereign Capital

25 Buckingham GateLondon SW1E 6LDUnited KingdomTel +44 20 7828 6944

www.sovereigncapital.co.uk

STATS

Managing partners: Andrew Hayden &Ryan RobsonEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 17 investment professionalsAuM: £450m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

294

Sun European Partners

6 Gracechurch Street, 4th Floor London EC3V 0ATUnited KingdomTel +44 20 7929 5906

www.suncappart.com

STATS

Managing Director: Philip A. DougallEmployer Type: European arm of SunCapitalNo. of employees: 19 (130 worldwide)AuM: $10bn (worldwide)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Boca Raton • LosAngeles • New York • Shenzhen •Tokyo

Stirling Square CapitalPartners

Liscartan House (4th Floor)127-131 Sloane StreetLondon SW1X 9ASUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7808 4130

www.stirlingsquare.com/stirlingsquarecapitalpartners.htm

STATS

Managing partner: 6 partnersEmployer Type: Private companyEmployees: 7 professionalsAuM: €200m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

295


Taros Capital

Viñoly tower, 21th floorClaude Debussylaan 461082 MD AmsterdamNetherlandsTel +31 20 4041221

www.taroscapital.com

STATS

Managing partners: Paul Lamers &Alexander van WassenaerEmployer Type: Private companyEmployees: 6 senior professionalsAuM: €550m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Amsterdam • Antwerp •Frankfurt

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

TA Associates

25 KnightsbridgeLondon SW1X 7RZUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7823 0200

www.ta.com

STATS

Managing partner in London: Mr. AjitNedungadiEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 65 (50 investmentprofessionals)AuM: $10bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Boston • Menlo Park

296

TDR Capital

One Stanhope GateLondon W1K 1AFUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7399 4200

www.tdrcapital.com

STATS

Founding partners: Manjit Dale &Stephen RobertsonEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 17 professionalsAuM: €2.6bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

TCR Capital

5 rue Paul Cézanne75008 Paris, FranceTel +33 (0)1 53 81 77 81

www.tcrcapital.com

STATS

Managing partner: Marc DemicheliEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 7 senior professionalsAuM: €300m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

297


TowerBrook CapitalPartners

83 Pall MallLondon SW1Y 5ESUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7451 2002

www.towerbrook.com

STATS

Co-CEOs: Ramez Sousou (London) &Neal Moszkowski (New York)Employer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 28 investment professionalsAuM: $2.5bn

LOCATIONS


The Riverside Company,Europe

After Hof 580331 Munich, GermanyTel +49 89 242 248 90

www.riversideeurope.com

STATS

Managing Partner: Antonio CabralEmployer Type: Private companyNo. of employees: 28 (16 investmentprofessionals)AuM: $2bn (world)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Munich • Amsterdam •Brussels • Budapest • Madrid • Prague• Stockholm • Warsaw • Atlanta •Chicago • Cleveland • Dallas • LosAngeles • New York • San Francisco •Tokyo

298

Valanza

Pº Recoletos, 10 ala norte28001 MadridSpainTel +34 91 374 3271

STATS

General Manager: Francisco EsteveEmployer Type: Private equity subsidiaryof BBVAAuM: €1.4bn

Triton Advisors

105 Piccadilly, 5th fl.London W1J 7NJ United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7297 6150

www.triton-partners.com

STATS

Employer Type: Private CompanyAuM: €1.1bn (second fund)

299


Vestar Capital Partners

1, Rond Point Des Champs Elysees75008 Paris, FranceTel +33 (0)1 58 56 60 10

www.vestarcapital.com

STATS

President, Europe: Robert L. RosnerEmployer Type: Private companyEmployees: 56 (13 investmentprofessionals in Europe) AuM: $7bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris • Milan • Munich •Boston • Denver • New York • Tokyo

Veronis Suhler StevensonInternational Ltd.

8th Floor, Buchanan House3 St. James's SquareLondon SW1Y 4JUUnited KingdomTel +44 20 7484 1400

www.vss.com

STATS

London Partner: Marco SodiNo. of employees: 56 (30 professionals)AuM: $1.3bn (4th fund)

LOCATIONS


300

Vitruvian Partners

53 Davies StreetLondon W1K 5JH United KingdomTel + 44 (0)20 7152 6503

www.vitruvianpartners.com

STATS

Managing partners: Ian Riley, MichaelRisman, Toby WylesEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 9 senior professionalsAuM: €424m (2007)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

Vista Capital

C/ Serrano 6728006 MadridSpainTel +34 914 360 606

STATS

CEO: Ignacio MorenoEmployer Type: Private equity subsidiaryof Santander and RBS (50/50)AuM: unknown

301


Waterland Private EquityInvestments

Nieuwe 's-Gravelandseweg 171405 HK BussumThe NetherlandsTel +31 (0)35 - 694 1680

www.waterland.nu/UK

STATS

Managing partner and founder: RobThielen Employees: Independent PrivateCompanyAuM: €625m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Bussum • Antwerpen-Berchem• Dusseldorf

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Warburg Pincus

Almack House, 28 King StreetLondon SW1Y 6QW United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7306 0306

www.warburgpincus.com

STATS

Managing partners: Charles R. Kaye &Joseph P. LandyEmployees: Private CompanyEmployees: 160 deal professionalsAuM: ~$15bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Frankfurt • NewYork • San Francisco/Menlo Park •Beijing • Hong Kong • Mumbai • Seoul• Shanghai • Tokyo

302

Wendel Investissement

89, rue Taitbout75009 Paris, FranceTel +33 (0)1 42 85 30 00

www.wendel-investissement.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Jean-Bernard LafontaEmployer Type: Public company(Euronext Paris, code MF)Employees: 30 (16 investmentprofessionals)AuM: €6.8bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

Weinberg CapitalPartners

11, rue La Boetie75008 Paris, FranceTel +33 1 53 53 55 00

www.weinbergcapital.com

STATS

Managing Partner: Serge WeinbergEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 11 investment professionalsAuM: €420m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

303


MEZZANINE FUNDS

Capvent AG

Dufourstrasse 248008 Zurich, SwitzerlandTel +41 43 500 50 70

www.capvent.com

STATS

Founders and Managing partners: TomClausen, Varun SoodEmployer Type: Independent PrivateCompany Employees: 11 investment professionalsAuM: >€1bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Zurich • Bangalore

Babson Capital Europe,Almack Mezzanine

61 AldwychLondon WC2B 4AE United KingdomTel +44 20 3206 4500

www.babsoncapitaleurope.com

STATS

Managing directors: David Wilmot &Adam Eifion-JonesEmployer Type: Subsidiary of BabsonCapital Management LLCEmployees: 5 senior investmentprofessionalsAuM: €800m (Almack Mezzanine)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

304

Darby OverseasInvestments, CentralEurope Mezzanine Fund

Dr. Karl Lueger-Ring 101010 ViennaAustriaTel +43 1 53226 5510

www.darbyoverseas.com

STATS

Senior Managing Director – Europe:Robert D. GraffamEmployer Type: Private equity arm ofFranklin Templeton InvestmentsEmployees: 9 professionals in EuropeAuM: €300m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Vienna • Budapest • Warsaw

DAM Capital

26-28 rue Edward Steichen, Bâtiment CPO Box 464L-2014 LuxembourgTel +352 34 00 29 1

STATS

Co-CEOS: Dirk van Daele & RobertWardropEmployer Type: Subsidiary of AnschutzInvestmentsAuM: ~€1bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Luxembourg • London • Milan

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

305


Hutton Collins &Company

50 Pall MallLondon SW1Y 5JHUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7004 7000

www.huttoncollins.com

STATS

Founders and Managing partners:Matthew Collins & Graham HuttonEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 12 investment professionalsAuM: €550m (2nd fund)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

EuroMezzanine

11 Rue Scribe75009 Paris, FranceTel +33 (0) 1 5330 2330

www.euromezzanine.com

STATS

Managing directors: Thierry Raiff & LouisVaillantEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 10 investment professionalsAuM: €660m (6th fund)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

306

Indigo Capital

25 Watling StreetLondon EC4M 9BRUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7710 7800

www.indigo-capital.com

STATS

Managing director: Martin Stringfellow &three other directorsEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 14 AuM: €550m (5th fund)

LOCATIONS


IFE Mezzanine

41 avenue George V 75008 ParisFranceTel +33 1 56 52 02 40

www.ifefund.com

STATS

Managing partner: Régis MitjavileEmployees: 7 professionals AuM: €300m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

307


Nordic Mezzanine Limited

Aleksanterinkatu 15 A00100 Helsinki, FinlandTel +358 9 6840 640

www.nordicmezzanine.com

STATS

Managing partners: Pekka Hietaniemi,Pekka Sunila & Vesa SuurmunneEmployer Type: Private companyNo. of employees: 10AuM: €363m (2008)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Helsinki • London • Frankfurt

Mezzanine ManagementCentral Europe

Kohlmarkt 5/61010 Vienna, AustriaTel +43 1 532 89 90

www.mezzmanagement.com

STATS

Founding Partner and ExecutiveDirector: Franz HoerhagerNo. of employees: about 11 investmentprofessionals (2007)AuM: €376m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Vienna • Bucharest • Budapest• Warsaw

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

308

Park Square Capital

6 th Floor, Devonshire House Mayfair Place London, W1J 8AJ United KingdomTel 020 7529 1800

www.parksquarecapital.com

STATS

Managing Partner: Robin DoumarEmployees: 14 professionalsAuM: €2.3bn (mezzanine and credit)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Guernsey •Luxembourg

Novum Capital

An der Welle 460322 Frankfurt, GermanyTel +49 (0)69 7593 7995

www.novumcapital.co.uk

STATS

Founders and Managing partners: FelixHölzer & Björn PirrwitzEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 4 investment professionals

LOCATIONS

Offices: Frankfurt • London

309


DISTRESSED FUNDS

EPIC Private Equity

22 Billiter StreetLondon EC3M 2RYUnited KingdomTel +44 (0) 20 7553 2340

www.epicprivateequity.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Giles BrandEmployer Type: Subsidiary of EpicInvestment PartnersAuM: £125m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

Butler Capital Partners

30, cours Albert 1er75008 Paris, FranceTel +33 (0)1 45 61 55 80

www.butlercapitalpartners.com

STATS

Founder and managing partner: WalterButlerEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 12AuM: ~€500m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris

310

Kelso Place

110 St. Martin's LaneLondon WC2N 4BAUnited KingdomTel +44 (0) 20 7836 0000

www.kelsoplace.com

STATS

Co-founder: John Drinkwater & SionKearseyEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 9 investment professionalsAuM: £100m (third fund)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

311


SECONDARY FUNDS

Coller Capital

33 Cavendish Square London W1G 0TTUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 76 31 8500

www.collercapital.com

STATS

Founder and managing partner: JeremyColler Employees: 102 AuM: $3.5bn

LOCATIONS


CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Cipio Partners

Palais am Lenbachplatz, Ottostrasse 8 80333 Munich, Germany Tel +49 (0)89 55 06 96-0

www.cipiopartners.com

STATS

Chief executive: Werner Dreesbach Employer Type: Private companyEmployees:13 investment professionals

LOCATIONS

Offices: Munich • San Jose

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

312

Lexington Partners UK

42 Berkeley Square London W1J 5AWUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 73 18 08 88

www.lexingtonpartners.com

STATS

Managing Partner Europe: Marshall W.ParkeEmployees: 45AuM: €5bn ($12bn worldwide)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Boston • Menlo Park• New York (HQ)

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Greenpark Capital Limited

57-59 St James's StreetLondon SW1A 1LDUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7647 1400

www.greenparkcapital.com

STATS

CEO and Principal Founder: MarleenGroenEmployees: 16 (8 professionals)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

313


Paul Capital

4th Floor, Mellier House26a Albemarle StreetLondon W1S 4HY United KingdomTel +44 (20) 7514 0750

www.paulcapital.com

STATS

Founder: Philip S. PaulEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 60 professionalsAuM: $4bn in total, about half in buyoutand growth secondaries

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Paris • New York(HQ) • San Francisco • Toronto

Nova Capital

11 StrandLondon WC2N 5HRUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7389 1540

www.nova-cap.com

STATS

Founder & Managing Director: DavidWilliamsonEmployees: 18 professionalsAuM: €600m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Essex (US)

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

314

Vision Capital

54 Jermyn Street London SW1Y 6LX United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7389 6410

STATS

Chief Executive: Julian MashEmployer Type: Private companyEmployees: 18 (13 investmentprofessionals)AuM: €600m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Pomona Capital

16 Hanover Square London W1S 1HT United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 74 08 94 33

www.pomonacapital.com

STATS

Founder and CEO: Michael GranoffEmployer Type: Private company(strategic partnership with ING)Employees: 17AuM: €850m ($4bn worldwide)

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

315


FUND OF FUNDS

Adam Street Partners

20 Grosvenor PlaceLondon SW1X 7HNUnited KingdomTel +44 (0) 20.7823.0640

www.adamsstreetpartners.com

STATS

Chief Executive: T. Bondurant FrenchEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 80AuM: $15bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Chicago (HQ) • London •Menlo Park • Singapore

Access Capital Partners

121, avenue des Champs-Elysées75008 ParisFranceTel +33 1 56 43 61 00

www.access-capital-partners.com

STATS

Chairman & Managing Partner:Dominique PeninonEmployer Type: Private companyEmployees: 27 (12 investmentprofessionals)AuM: €2.1bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris • Brussels • Munich

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

316

AIG Private Equity

Baarerstrasse 8CH-6300 ZugSwitzerlandTel +41 41 710 70 60

www.aigprivateequity.com

STATS

Chairman: Eduardo LeemannEmployer Type: Public company (listedAPEN on SWX)AuM: CHF 600m (out of $27bnworldwide)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Zug

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Adveq Management AG

Affolternstrasse 56CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland Tel +41 (0)43 288 32 00

www.adveq.com

STATS

Board of directors: Allan S. Bufferd,André P. Jaeggi & Bruno E. RaschleEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyAuM: $3bn (2007)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Zurich • Frankfurt • New York• Beijing

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

317


Altamar Private Equity


www.altamarcapital.com

STATS

President: Claudio Aguirre PemanEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 14 professionalsOffices: MadridAuM: €655m (2007)

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

ALPHA Associates

Talstrasse 66, P.O. Box 20388022 Zurich, SwitzerlandTel +41 43 244 30 00

www.alpha-associates.ch

STATS

Chief Executive: Peter DerendingerEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 16AuM: ~€500m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Zurich

318

ATP Private EquityPartners

Sjaeleboderne 2DK-1122 Copenhagen DenmarkTel +45 33 19 30 70

www.atp-pep.com

STATS

Managing partner: Torben VangstrupNo. of employees: 16AuM: €3bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Copenhagen • New York

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Amanda Capital Plc

Aleksanterinkatu 15 A, PO Box 89600101 HelsinkiFinlandTel +358 9 6829 600

www.amandacapital.fi

STATS

Employer Type: Public company (HSE)AuM: €1.6bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Helsinki

319


CAM Private EquityConsulting & Verwaltungs-GmbH

Zeppelinstr. 4–850667 Cologne, GermanyTel +49 221-93 70 85-0

www.camprivateequity.com

STATS

Executive Partner: Constantin vonDziembowskiEmployer Type: Independent privatefund of fundsNo. of employees: 38AuM: €2.7bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Cologne • Munich • Zurich

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Bregal Investments

2-5 Old Bond Street4th floorLondon, W1S 4PDUnited KingdomTel + 44 207 408 1663

www.bregal.com

STATS

Co-Chairmen: Louis Brenninkmeijer &Yves de BalmannEmployees: 11 investment professionalsAuM: €3bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Jersey • New York

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

320

Capital Z InvestmentsPartners

84 Brook StreetLondon W1K 5EHUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7866 6133

www.capitalz.com/czip/index.html

STATS

Chief Executive: Laurence ChengEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 15AuM: $2.25bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • New York • HongKong

Capital Dynamics

Bahnhofstrasse 226301 ZugSwitzerlandTel +41 41 748 84 44

www.capdyn.com

STATS

Managing Director: Thomas KubrEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyNo. of employees: 90 professionalsAuM: $20bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Zug • Birmingham • London •New York • San Francisco • HongKong

321


Danske Private EquityPartners

Ny Kongensgade 10 1472 Copenhagen K, Denmark Tel +45 33 44 63 00

www.danskeprivateequity.com

STATS

Managing Partner: John DanielsenEmployer Type: Part of Danske BankGroup Employees: 19 (11 investmentprofessionals)AuM: €1.7bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Copenhagen

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Capman

Korkeavuorenkatu 3200130 HelsinkiFinlandTel +358 9 6155 800

www.capman.com

STATS

CEO: Heikki WesterlundEmployer Type: Subsidiary of CapManPlc, listed on HSEEmployees: 80 (28 in buyout team)AuM: >€1.3bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Helsinki • Copenhagen •Guernsey • Oslo • Stockholm

322

Fondinvest Capital

33 rue de la Baume 75008 Paris, France Tel +33 (0)1 58 36 48 00

www.fondinvest.com

STATS

Chairman & CEO: Charles SoulignacEmployer Type: Independent privatecompanyEmployees: 15AuM: €1.5bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Paris • San Francisco • Tokyo

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Finnish IndustryInvestment

PO Box 685 00101 Helsinki, Finland Tel +358 9 680 36 80

www.industryinvestment.com

STATS

Managing director: Mr. Juha Marjosola Employer Type: Government ownedEmployees: 18AuM: €360m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Helsinki

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

323


Global Vision PrivateEquity

Westendstraße 16 – 2260325 Frankfurt, GermanyTel +49 (0) 69 978 400 05

www.globalvision-ag.com

STATS

Chief executive: Dr. jur. Dieter BrenderEmployer Type: Private CompanyAuM: €280m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Frankfurt

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

Gartmore Private Equity

Gartmore House, 8 Fenchurch Place London EC3M 4PBUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 77 82 21 91

www.gartmore.com/uk/privateequity

STATS

Managing director: Peter GaleEmployer Type: Department ofGartmore Investment ManagementEmployees: 14AuM: €2.9bn (2007)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

324

HarbourVest InternationalPartners

Berkeley Square House, 8th Floor,Berkeley SquareLondon W1J 6DB United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7399 9820

www.harbourvest.com

STATS

Managing directors: Edward W. Kane &Brooks ZugEmployer Type: Independent PrivateCompanyEmployees: 164 (63 investmentprofessionals)AuM: €2.38bn (latest European fund)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Boston (HQ) • HongKong

Golding Capital Partners

Möhlstrasse 781675 MunichGermanyTel +49 89 419 997-0

www.goldingcapital.com

STATS

Managing director and founder: JeremyGoldingEmployer Type: Independent privatefund of fundsNo. of employees: 26AuM: €1.1bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Munich • Luxembourg • SanFrancisco

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

325


Horizon21 Private EquityHolding

103 Wigmore Street, Nations House,Level 6London W1U 1QS United KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7170 9550

www.horizon21.ch

STATS

Chief Executive: Harold WeissEmployer Type: Private Company.Strategic alliance with Swiss ReEmployees: 130AuM: ~CHF10bn (private equity fundsof funds)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Bratislava • Zurich •Hong Kong • Cayman Islands

Henderson EquityPartners

4 BroadgateLondon EC2M 2DAUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7818 2963

www.hendersonprivatecapital.com

STATS

Employer Type: Subsidiary ofHendersonEmployees: 10 investment executives (UK) AuM: £1.2bn (UK)

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

326

INVESCO Capital

30 Finsbury SquareLondon EC2A 1AGUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7065 4000

www.invescoprivatecapital.com

STATS

Chief Executive: Greg StoeckleEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 15

LOCATIONS

Offices: New York • San Francisco •London

IDeA Capital Funds

3, via Borgonuovo 20121 Milan, Italy Tel +39 02 72 08 03 37

www.ideacapitalfunds.com

STATS

Managing Partner: Mario BarozziAuM: €400m

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

327


LGT Capital Partners

Schützenstrasse 6, P.O. BoxCH-8808 Pfäffikon, SwitzerlandTel +41 55 415 96 00

www.lgt-capital-partners.com

STATS

CEO: Dr. Roberto PaganoniEmployees: 100 (all activities)AuM: $9bn (private equity worldwide)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Pfäffikon • Dublin • New York

Keyhaven Capital

1 Richmond Mews London W1D 3DAUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7432 6200

www.keyhavencapital.com

STATS

Co-founder and managing director:Sasha van de WaterEmployer Type: Private CompanyEmployees: 6 investment professionals

LOCATIONS

Offices: London

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

328

Northgate Capital

1 Jermyn StreetLondon SW1Y 4UHUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7961 6480

www.northgatecapital.com

STATS

Managing partner private equity:Dr. Hosein Khajeh-HosseinyEmployer Type: Independent PrivateCompanyEmployees: 6 professionalsAuM: ~$800m

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • San Francisco BayArea

NORDCAPITALEmissionshaus GmbH &Cie. KG

Hohe Bleichen 1220354 Hamburg, GermanyTel +49 (0)40 3008-0

www.nordcapital.com

STATS

Chief executive: Florian MaackEmployer Type: Private CompanyAuM: €250m (Equitrust funds)

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

329


Robeco Private Equity

Coolsingel 120NL-Rotterdam 3011AGThe NetherlandsTel +31 10 224 71 36

www.robeco.com/alternatives/eng/specific/rai/private_equity.jsp

STATS

Employer Type: Subsidiary of Robeco(with public fund listed on EuronextAmsterdam)AuM: $2bn

Pantheon VenturesLimited

Norfolk House, 31 St. James's SquareLondon SW1Y 4JRUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)20 7484 6200

www.pantheonventures.com

STATS

Chief executive: Rhoddy SwireEmployer Type: Subsidiary of RussellInvestment Group, NorthwesternMutual Life Employees: 71AuM: $7.9bn (world)

LOCATIONS

Offices: London • Brussels • SanFrancisco • Hong Kong • Sydney

330

SCM Strategic CapitalManagement

Kasernenstrasse 77b 8004 Zurich, SwitzerlandTel +41 43 499 49 49

www.scmag.com

STATS

CEO & Founder: Dr. Stefan HeppEmployer Type: Independent PrivateCompanyEmployees: 15 professionalsAuM: $5bn (including real estate)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Zurich

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

RWBRenditeWertBeteiligungenAG

Keltenring 5 82041 Oberhaching/Munich, Germany Tel +49 (0)89 66 66 94-0

www.rwb-ag.de

STATS

Managing partner: Horst GuedelEmployer Type: Private company.Partnership with CapventEmployees: 41AuM: €825m

LOCATIONS

Offices: Munich • Innsbruck

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

331


Unigestion

8c avenue de Champel, PO Box 3871211 Geneva 12, Switzerland Tel +41 22 704 41 11

www.unigestion.com

STATS

Managing Director PE: Dr. HanspeterBaderEmployer Type: Independent PrivateCompanyEmployees: 20 AuM: €8bn (all asset classes)

LOCATIONS

Offices: Geneva • Guernsey • London• Munich • Paris • New York •Singapore

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

SL Capital Partners

1 George StreetEdinburgh EH2 2LLScotland, United KingdomTel +44 131 245 0055

privateequity.standardlifeinvestments.com

STATS

Chief Executive: David CurrieEmployer Type: Subsidiary of theEmployer Type: Standard LifeInvestments groupEmployees: 12 investment professionalsAuM: €5.2bn

LOCATIONS

Offices: Edinburgh

332

VenCap International

King Charles House, Park End Street Oxford OX1 1JDUnited KingdomTel +44 (0)1865 79 93 00

www.vencap.com

STATS

Chairman & CEO: Michael Ashall Employer Type: Independent PrivateCompanyEmployees: 18 AuM: $1.5bn worldwide

LOCATIONS

Offices: Oxford

CAREERS CONTACT

[email protected]

333


Recommended Reading

Web Resources

Academic Sources

Industry Jargon (glossary)

About the Authors

APPENDIX

Vault Career Guide to Private EquityA

ppendix

APPENDIX

RECOMMENDED READING

Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco (Collins) by Bryan Burrough & JohnHelyar Damodaran on Valuation: Security Analysis for Investment and Corporate Finance (WileyFinance) by Aswath Damodaran

WEB RESOURCES

www.evca.com (European Venture Capital Association)www.bvca.com (British Venture Capital Association)www.altassets.comwww.penews.com (Dow Jones’ Private Equity News Europe)www.privateequitywire.co.ukwww.candover.com/english/media-centre/barometer

ACADEMIC SOURCES

Centre for Management Buy-Out Researchwww.nottingham.ac.uk/business/cmbor/

Journal of Private Equitywww.iijournals.com/JPE

Chicago GSBwww.chicagogsb.edu/capideas/may04/privateequity.html

337337

338

INDUSTRY JARGON (GLOSSARY)

Average IRR

The arithmetic mean of the internal rates ofreturn, which is the discount rate that equatesthe net present value (NPV) of an invest-ment's cash inflows with its cash outflows.

Buy-In Management Buyout (BIMBO)

Transaction where existing management andoutside managers join forces to buyout thecompany. It therefore has characteristics ofboth a management buyout and a manage-

ment buy-in.

Capital call

The management company asks for capitalfrom the investors in the fund it manages.Usually, investors commit themselves to pro-viding a certain amount of capital to a fund,and the management company draws downthese commitments in several stages, as the

fund makes new investments.

Capital weighted average IRR

The average IRR weighted by fund size withfunds contributing to the average in propor-tion to their size. This measure is accurate

only if all investments were made at once.

Carried interest (“Carry”)

The percentage of profits (generally 20-25per cent) that GPs receive out of the profitsof the investments made by the fund. Typi-cally, paid only after LPs receive their original

investment back

Catch-up

Contract clause related to the distribution ofa private equity fund’s profit, on the basis ofwhich the management company is entitledto a specified share of the carried interest(catch-up), once the investors have regainedtheir original investment plus the hurdle rate,until it has obtained a specified share of thecarried interest that exceeds the repaymentof the investments (usually corresponding tothe carried interest percentage). After thisthe assets of the fund will be distributed tothe investors and the management companyin a proportion that depends on the size of

the carried interest.

Clawback

Contract clause that obliges the managementcompany to return capital to the fund, if it has

received more carried interest than was agreed.

Diversification

Maximum proportion of fund that can be in-vested in any one transaction. Typically 20-25

per cent.

Distribution of proceeds

The order in which the sale proceeds and

profits are split between GP and LP.

Distribution to paid-in (DPI)

Cumulative distribution to limited partners as

a proportion of the cumulative paid-in capital.

Dry powder

Cash reserves kept on hand to cover futureobligations. In private equity, it refers to the

uncalled but still available capital commitments.

338


339

Due diligenceAudit of the various risks of a targeted invest-ment by an investor; it can have various inde-pendent components focusing on financial,legal, commercial, technological and environ-mental aspects that are usually outsourced to

specialist firms.

Evergreen fund

A fund with no restriction on the operating

period.

Fund term

Life of the fund. Typically 10 years with two

one year extensions possible.

General Partner (GP)

The partner in a private equity fund who is re-

sponsible for all the financial liabilities of the fund.

Initial Public Offering (IPO)

First public listing of the shares of a private

company on a stock exchange.

Investment period

Period during which the GP can make invest-ments. Typically five or six years from thedate of closing for a 10 year fund. All com-mitments not drawn down are cancelled

after that.

Key man clause

A clause that restricts the operations of thefund should certain key persons employed bythe management company leave the company.Most typically, the fund will stop investing.

Leveraged Buy-Out (LBO)

Acquisition of a company with (significant)

debt financing.

Limited Partner (LP)

The partner in a private equity fund who, un-like the general partner, is not responsible forthe fund’s financial liabilities. Typically an insti-tutional investor who gives a mandate to the

general partner.

Management Buy-In (MBI)

A corporate transaction in which an externalgroup of managers buys the company, gener-ally with the financial backing of a private eq-

uity investor.

Management Buy-Out (MBO)

A corporate transaction in which a group ofthe current managers buys the company,generally with the financial backing of a pri-vate equity investor.

Management fees

Compensation for the management of a fund'sactivities, generally paid quarterly from the fundto the general partner or the managementcompany. It is typically around 2 per cent ofthe assets under management. It is often re-duced when paid on unrealised invested capital

after the end of the investment period.

Mezzanine

Financing that is senior to equity but normallysubordinated to debt provided on normalterms. It may contain features of both debt fi-nancing and equity financing.

Glossary

Monitoring/Director’s fees

Fees paid by the portfolio company to theGP for acting as directors or for consul-tancy services. Often set off in whole orpart against future management fees.

NYSE

New York Stock Exchange

Overhang

Uncalled capital commitments (see “drypowder”).

P2P (Public-to-Private)

Acquisition of the majority interest in apublicly-listed company by a public tenderoffer, often followed by a “squeeze out”and subsequent delisting.

Pooled IRR

A method of calculating an aggregate IRRby summing cash flows together to createa portfolio cashflow and calculate IRR on it.

Preferred return (hurdle rate)

Return required by the LP on realised in-vestments (or write-downs) before theGP can share in the profits. Crucial toprotect the downside for LPs. Typicallyset between 5-10 per cent.

Residual value

Estimated value of the fund, net of man-agement fees and carry.

Secondary fund

Fund that acquires all or parts of existingportfolios from other private equity funds.

Transaction fees

Fees paid by the portfolio company to theGP for deal services. Often set-off againstfuture management fees.

Vintage year

Year of fund formation.

340

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Marc Kitten is an affiliate professor of finance at ESCP-EAP and a partner at Candesic StrategyConsultants, advising private equity investors in Europe. He holds an MBA from University ofChicago GSB.

Edward Fraser and Jonas Golze just completed their graduate trainee program at CandesicStrategy Consultants in London. Edward holds a M.Eng. Aerospace from Nottingham Univer-sity and Jonas graduated from the WFI business school at the Catholic University of Eich-staett-Ingolstadt in Germany. Edward is joining Jefferies, an investment bank, while Jonas willcomplete his consulting training at Bain & Co.

342

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