Analysis

Is the economic impact of private equity measurable?

With the public scrutiny under which the activities of the private equity industry has been placed in recent times, the importance of measuring the economic and social impact of venture capital and buyouts in domestic markets has increased. In line with...

Riskkapital 2008

On 11 March Riskkapital 2008 was held in Stockholm, hosted by the Swedish Venture Capital Association. Women were recognised as the saviour of the European venture community; the Swedish Government said it hoped to reform the taxation of the asset class;...

A greener path to success

Rising energy and raw material prices combined with changing public attitudes towards global warming have created an upswing in cleantech investments. But who is best suited to monetise this, generalists or dedicated funds? Linn Ronning investigates

2008 DVCA Toplederconference

On 5 March, the Danish Venture Capital Association held its annual venture capital and private equity conference in Copenhagen. The day-long event included a number of high-profile speakers and a bit of controversy ... Linn Ronning reports

Mezzanine funds gather pace

Francois Rowell speaks to Olivier Bossan, leader of Argos Expansion's management team, about the rise of sponsorless mezzanine funds and what this means for the French private equity market

Q & A

Richard von Gusovius, vice president at Campbell Lutyens with responsibility for LP relationships in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany, talks to Domitille Lainey about the state of the market

On the fast track east

Austria has lagged behind its DACH neighbours in terms of activity. However, its slow-but-steady approach has seen it weather the recent market blip - and now it has cast its eyes east

Q&A - Placement agents

The Southern European market has experienced the impact of limited liquidity when it comes to completing leveraged transactions, but the industry is seeing a range of opportunities surfacing, translating to new players disembarking and fundraising reaching...

Q&A - GPs

Recently undertaken fundraising efforts have proven encouraging for both established houses such as Investindustrial and N+1 and newcomers such as Magnum. GPs are adapting, offering investors alternatives through which to add value to portfolios. Francinia...

  • GPs
MiFID changes the rules in France

Francois Rowell talks to George Pinkham of SJ Berwin about the technicalities of the MiFID's transposition into French law and what this means for French private equity

Relaxing taxes

In January 2006, Finnish tax law was relaxed in order to attract foreign investors to Finland. But the Finnish track record still is not good enough to attract capital, with few international investors investing in Finnish funds. It is hoped that Further...

European LPs: optimism, naivety or realism?

Despite the recent credit crisis, there appears to be relative optimism among European LPs compared with their North American and Asian counterparts. Would the immaturity and naivety of the European private equity industry be the cause of this so called...

  • LPs
Spanish set new records

The Spanish mid-market segment saw intensive fundraising, investment and divestment during the course of 2007

Great exit-pectations

The market has aligned opinions of LPs and GPs: both have dampened exit expectations for 2008

A new frontier

Sovereign wealth funds have the resource to emerge as serious challengers to private equity in the M&A space. However, unless they address transparency concerns these ambitions are likely to be thwarted by protectionist government intervention.