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‘Never lose your curiosity to learn the new’   In our latest video, Maria Gabriela Henderson and Claudia Marcelletti caught up with Beth Butterwick, Managing Director at Clarendon Fine Art, to hear some insights from her first few months in a new sector. #curiosity #leadership

We recently completed a comprehensive report on parental leave policies across the private equity industry. We surveyed 50 funds across large, mid, lower mid cap and growth segments of the market. Parental leave is a live topic of debate in many businesses, some headlines below: - Increasing consistency around maternity leave, trending towards a standard of 26 weeks of fully paid base salary - Much higher divergence on paternity leave - A handful of funds opting to replace ‘maternity/paternity’ terminology with ‘primary/secondary caregiver’ - Policies impacting candidate decision making: often illustrative of a firm’s broader approach to DE&I For the full survey please contact [email protected]  

Real Asset capital raising volumes declined by 25% in 2022 and by a further 78% in Q1 of 2023. In this challenging environment, GPs are recognising the importance of high-quality capital raisers and are giving closer consideration to the way that they structure this function. This has led to an increase in real asset product specialist function build out within institutional investment managers and diversified alternative groups. Distribution hiring has focused on DACH, Middle Eastern and Private Wealth expertise. Our coverage of broader private markets and institutional investors enable us to advise clients on the optimal structure for their capital raising function and to benchmark candidates form a variety of backgrounds. 

Growth through acquisition remains a popular strategy in private equity. Increasingly, in a European climate characterised by high multiples/valuations, Heads of M&A are being appointed to board roles as investors aim to maximise returns by leveraging buy-and-build approaches. Including a Head of M&A in the executive leadership team has increasingly become a priority for PE backed businesses of all sizes and scale. As these individuals take on more prominent roles, they are becoming pivotal to the determination overall strategy. A focused expert who collaborates well across the leadership team as a dealmaker during M&A and an effective integration leader is hugely beneficial.   Michel van Leeuwen, CEO of Hawksford, remarks: ‘It is an extremely competitive market for M&A given the inflation impact on valuation which drives both a lower deal volume and lower price but still surfaces a lot of interested parties who see this as a major opportunity given pre-existing availability of capital. The M&A lead therefore must be likeable, honest, numerically literate and offer something other than just price as specifically in such environments the sellers will worry about the post-acquisition outcome for their staff and themselves. This requires a more people orientated skillset, going beyond the traditional accountant profile that has been favoured in the past’.

A recent visit to Copenhagen and Stockholm allowed us to reconnect with a number of our Nordic Private Equity clients who are helping to drive forward a range of crucial environmental and sustainability themes:  including energy transition, circular economies, resource efficiency, clean mobility solutions and more. These funds embody the region's profound commitment to impact investing, with sustainability and ESG principles embedded in its core, and a genuine dedication to fostering innovation.    The Nordic market is quickly becoming a hub for top Private Equity talent, owing to its progressive stance on ethical investing and sustainability, as well as its employment policies that put employee well-being front and centre.    We hope to be spending much more time in the region. #international #nordics

Spotlight on international: A recent visit to Milan during fashion week showed the vibrant cultural scene attracting both Italians and non-Italians to the city, coupled with better quality of life and generous tax incentives from the government.    Travelling with members of our Private Equity team and Consumer team, we were able to connect with individuals on both the investment and management team side, all of whom were quick to highlight the levels of energy returning to the city. In a post-pandemic world, Milan has seen an influx of finance professionals, returning in pursuit of improved work life balance. With many firms valuing local presence (Advent, Bregal, EQT, CVC to name but a few), coming home is a genuine option. The tax incentives offered by the government provide an added benefit: if new residents meet certain conditions, the system exempts 70% of income from tax. This is also drawing in both finance and management talent from further afield, with Milan’s expat community continuing to grow.   The city provides an enticing blend of culture, history and dynamic business opportunities, and we are looking forwards to spending much more time in Milan over the coming months. #international #privateequity #consumer