The private equity market in Europe remains at least as buoyant as in Canada and the United States and, despite political and market uncertainty, PE M&A activity remains high, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP Partner Mary Abbott writes. However, the realities of sourcing and executing on deals remains a challenge, as it does globally. Despite this shared reality, deal-making in Europe has some features or norms not common in North America that prudent businesses (and investors) can leverage to their advantage. Some of them arguably make deal execution more predictable and completion more certain.
Don’t call them first-time funds. I found that out the hard way over the past few months, in talking to countless GPs starting their own shops. These folks aren’t first-timers; most of them have been in the industry for years. It’s just that now they are cutting out on their own, raising money under their own […]
Earlier this year, I opined that CalPERS’s tough stance on fees would limit its selection of quality GPs. The theory goes like this: The best GPs in the business don’t need to concede on terms and conditions; they can dictate terms. Lesser GPs need to offer a buffet of sweeteners to persuade LPs to come […]
Many buyouts and growth equity firms added staff this year, taking advantage of a buoyant fundraising market to bulk up their operations, fundraising and credit teams. The overall pace of industry hiring seems “modestly robust,” said Heather Hammond, managing director-financial services at executive recruiter Russell Reynolds Associates, as firms add mainly to their junior ranks. According to […]
By Joanne Baginski, EKS&H When a private equity buyer acquires a company, a key concern is ensuring that the management team, with all the knowledge and experience, sticks around to grow it. That factor alone can be the difference between a great investment and a lackluster return. So it is critically important to create incentive […]
A recent edition of the Globe & Mail featured the following eye catcher: “Canadian M&A Craters in the Third Quarter”. While it’s true that mega-deals cratered in the third quarter, mid-market activity, the bread and butter of Canadian mergers and acquisitions, remained strong, writes Karen Fisman of Toronto boutique M&A advisory firm Valitas Capital Partners. In an exclusive feature article for PE Hub Canada, Fisman says Valitas and other market sources believe 2017 is in fact shaping up quite well for Canada's mid-market, with the fourth quarter already off to a strong start.
By Michael Kauffman, Tech DNA The technology risks uncovered by technology due diligence fall into three main risk categories: hidden liabilities, increased downside risks, and decreased upside risks. Hidden liabilities These risks are often the largest liabilities. They include: Cybersecurity/Privacy risk: By now most professionals understand the reputational risks of being hacked. A potentially greater […]
By Patrick J. Crocker, MHT Partners Private equity is in love with all things gummy, investing in a gummy-vitamin revolution that’s sweeping the $41 billion U.S. vitamin/mineral/supplement market. Virtually nonexistent a few years ago, the gummy-supplement market is already valued at more than $1 billion in annual U.S. revenue and is rapidly growing — a […]
There has been a ton of spinout activity over the past few years, more than some industry veterans have seen since the halcyon days of the market peak. At that time, sources told me, every investment professional with an inkling of talent was at least considering making a moving and starting his or her own […]
Let’s face it, we in the private equity industry are performance junkies, and not just professionally but probably in our personal lives, too. But there’s good reason for this. Many studies show that we tend to move and improve what we measure. It’s in that spirit that we’re happy to share some key results and takeaways […]