Meme - Game changing moment

NFL huddles with Wall Street

News, WEEKLY SPIN

Touchdown Private Equity! 🏉 Today marks the day when the National Football League huddles together to vote on, and formally approve, private equity ownership of NFL teams. It is a big deal for both parties and expectations are that a number of teams will look to move quickly into the end zone and secure PE dollars by the end of the year. The NFL is the last remaining US professional sports league to open up to PE investment and as the league convenes it will likely agree to cap private equity investment at 10% of a team’s overall value. With no voting rights. Quite what this will do to team valuations is anyone’s guess, but any investment made by PE firms will be far from a nickel and dime affair. The Dallas Cowboys are currently the richest franchise, with a valuation of $10 billion. You could say today represents the NFL’s game winning drive. With sports franchises proving a hugely popular investment theme, it’ll be interesting to watch some of the PE industry’s big names jostle for position. Let the game commence.

Inspired by the Front Office Sports

GIF - Are you seeing double too

Double Vision

News, WEEKLY SPIN

What fundraising challenge? HarbourVest Partners clearly hasn’t read the memo. The firm’s executives are seeing double, following news that the Boston-based asset manager has raised $18.5 billion for its latest secondary fund; that’s nearly twice the size of its previous vintage. Dover Street XI secured $15.1 billion of investor commitments in addition to $3.4 billion for its Secondary Overflow Fund V, which invests in parallel. The fund will invest in both LP-led and GP-led secondaries, including fund portfolios, single companies and groups of companies. Such has been the level of investor demand, it suggests investors view PE secondaries as a ‘safe harbour’ to continue building their exposure in the asset class. With sponsor-led deals expected to increase, HarbourVest will be busy exploring the depths of secondaries as it puts Dover Street XI’s capital to work.

Inspired by the Wall Street Journal

Climate Investing article thumb

Climate investing will require a different PE playbook

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS, News

Climate Investing and the implications it could have on private markets portfolios has become an important part of the discussion between GPs and LPs, as the industry looks to navigate a path towards long-term, sustainable growth. In the coming years, the scope of companies that private equity firms will be allowed to invest in is likely to shrink. This will mean higher entry valuations, and it will also require buyout firms to build new equity stories; those based not purely on global consumerism but on long-term sustainable value that can thrive in what will literally be a new climate. It will, in short, require GPs to re-think the playbook and how to share value from owner to owner when transforming companies.

IPEM has increasingly acknowledged the need to provide a dynamic forum to debate many of the key issues that climate change could have on portfolio assets over the coming decades.

In the last two editions of IPEM, delegates were given the opportunity to focus exclusively on the task at hand, during the Climate Investing Summit at IPEM Paris 2023 and the Portfolio Transformation Summit at IPEM Cannes 2024. An array of sponsors provided the stage setting for industry experts to debate, share ideas and transfer knowledge via tailored presentations, including Indefi, Argos Wityu and Sweep.

Delegates attending IPEM Paris 2024 will have the opportunity to continue to shape the debate on this key topic. The Climate Summit on 11th September, 2024 will analyse the climate versus returns equation, how to deliver on both returns and results, and discuss how GPs will need to adjust business valuations and portfolios to account for climate risks. AXA Climate, Lombard Odier, Marsh and Tikehau will be the summit hosts.

GIF - Inside the HL offices when the deal was approved

Good Greave, How Much?

News, WEEKLY SPIN

The UK’s largest stockbroker, Hargreaves Lansdown, has agreed to a PE takeover led by a group of investors that include CVC Group, Nordic Capital Advisors and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The deal is equivalent to £5.4 billion. The firm was established in Bristol in 1981 by Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown. The champagne corks will be flying through the air as the founders take stock of what has been an incredible success story. An initial offer in May, which valued the company at £4.7 billion, was rejected. Through June 2024, the stockbroker’s reported earnings and revenues were up 4% respectively. It is believed that the new owners will focus on investment in technology and service enhancement as they look to drive growth. It will mean saying Au Revoir to the FTSE 100. The suspense, it seems, is over as the Bristol brokerage prepares to embark on a new journey.

Inspired by CNBC

Meme - Yes, very pleased with that outcome. The hard work paid off!

Make Hay While The Sun Shines

News, WEEKLY SPIN

It’s been a gold medal performance for the pension fund, British Columbia Investment Management, after announcing it had agreed to sell its investment in European credit manager, Hayfin Capital Management. Like Novak Djokovic’s blistering winner at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, BCI secured a solid return more than three times its initial investment. Having initially bought a 70% stake in the manager in 2017, equating to a valuation of EUR250 million (which reduced to 60% over time), BCI agreed to sell Hayfin through a management buyout backed by Arctos Partners for EUR1.3 billion. Talk about making hay while the sun shines! This gives BCI a healthy return on what has proven to be a winning deal for its private equity portfolio. Although it is believed they are in no immediate rush to pursue any new direct investments. Time to sit back and enjoy the afterglow.

Inspired by PitchBook