IPEM Paris 2024 started on Monday, September 9th with the LP-Only Sessions and the Opening Reception (opened to all IPEM participants)!
The next day, the big event begins and opens its doors for all IPEM Paris 2024 participants, with more than 6,000 participants!
IPEM Paris 2024 is just around the corner. Or should that be around the Arc de Triomphe! With “Forging Confidence” at the heart of this year’s agenda, the stars look set to align with an estimated 6,000 delegates convening at the Palais des Congrès. IPEM Paris 2024 is set to be the biggest event yet, as GPs and LPs fire up the discussion on where the industry is headed in an uncertain world. Is private equity well positioned to make a difference and how will GPs differentiate themselves and continue to create value? What is driving LP allocations in private markets, and where do they intend to hit the pause button, or the fast forward button? As well as a series of breakout rooms covering a range of topics spanning the video game industry to crypto investments and the benefits and challenges of semi-liquid funds, delegates will also have access to various Summit Sessions including Venture & Growth, Infra & Real Assets, Emerging Managers, Impact and North America.
It’s going to be a feast of knowledge and idea sharing, with plenty of opportunities to continue the discussion over cocktails with networking events, welcoming drinks, and a ‘not to be missed’ Wrap Party in Le Méridien Etoile.
We can’t wait to see you all next week.
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.
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.
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.