1. What do you expect to change in 2015? In early 2015 we’ve already seen pricing and leverage begin to move in favor of lenders, particularly (when it comes to) borrowers in the $20 million to $50 million EBITDA range. That’s still low within historic norms, but there just doesn’t seem to be much of […]
Private equity firms now comprise a minority of Advanced Medical Pricing Solutions’ customer base, but CEO Mike Dendy sees his company’s healthcare cost audits as a natural fit for sponsors.
Two things happened shortly before we went to press with this issue in mid-January that seemed almost symbolic of some larger truth.
1. What’s your take on rising interest rates? Will they go up much in 2015? Will higher rates help mezz lending? I thought they’d be going up in 2015 before oil went below $50 a barrel. If oil prices stay where they are I don’t think interest rates will go up as fast as we […]
As regulatory and LP pressure builds on private equity firms in the post Dodd-Frank era, GPs should anticipate using at least 5 percent of their revenue for compliance, said Todd Cipperman, founding principal of Cipperman Compliance Services.
Steve King first saw the business opportunity for Alaris Royalty Corp while working as an investment banker for 12 years and helping middle-market companies raise capital.
Audax and CVC Capital veteran Ashwin Krishnan started SpareHire with lifelong friend Vikram Ashok after their personal experience in the workplace helped them identify a market need.
Sharing wisdom gleaned as a senior executive at HGGC after his years as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, Steve Young told private equity pros to huddle, embrace change and find out how good they could be at the PartnerConnect West conference Oct. 7, 2014.
Hamilton “Tony” James, president and COO of The Blackstone Group, said he was not surprised that a recent dog abuse case spurred a national outcry against a private equity firm and its portfolio company. “Animal rights people are some of the most aggressive” of activist groups, James said on the sidelines of the PartnerConnect LP-GP Summit in New York, sponsored by peHUB and Thomson Reuters. James, who spoke during a keynote Thursday, said his prior firm, DLJ Merchant Banking, once owned Charles River Laboratories, which breeds animals for pharmaceutical testing. “We got bomb threats all the time,” James told peHUB. Social media recently has publicized bad acts committed by members of the PE industry. In August, Centerplate Inc CEO Desmond Hague was caught on a hotel video abusing a cowering dog. The video went viral and the ensuing backlash included calls for Hague to be fired, threatened boycotts of Centerplate, and death threats against the CEO and executives of Centerplate’s sponsor, Olympus Partners. Hague resigned on Sept. 2. SeaWorld Entertainment, a Blackstone portfolio company, also saw its stock plunge in August. “Blackfish,” a documentary released in 2013 that highlights SeaWorld’s treatment of killer whales, has spurred a backlash against the company that has affected the company’s earnings. When asked if Centerplate waited too long to oust Hague, James said he wasn’t that familiar with the situation. “What kind of person beats their dog?” he said. “I’m not that sympathetic either.” James didn’t comment on the Blackfish controversy. Instead, he recalled how SeaWorld penguins visited the Blackstone offices when the portfolio company went public in 2013. Publicity from the visit, which included cuddly photos of SeaWorld penguins running around the firm’s offices, softened Blackstone’s image, James said. “It made us look friendly…[Social media] can be very useful tool for getting stuff out as well.” James, during his keynote, said the world had changed in the last seven to eight years “when we all went public.” The PE industry used to be private and “didn’t get a lot of attention.” Blackstone executives are now “very mindful” that they are “public figures,” he said. “We get watched…Private birthday parties become causes célèbres. We try to be careful. We make mistakes.” By Luisa Beltran, peHUB This story first appeared on peHUB on Sept. 19, 2014: https://www.pehub.com/2014/09/blackstones-james-we-are-public-figures/
Josh Lerner of Harvard Business School, delivers a keynote address entitled "The Best of Times or the Worst of Times? PE at a Crossroads" at the LP-GP Summit on Sept. 18, 2014. Lerner is the Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking Unit Head at HBS.