In this episode, Ross Butler talks to Karen Sands, COO of Federated Hermes’ private equity division, where she oversees $20 billion in private market assets as part of a larger $770 billion AUM. Karen provides insight into Federated Hermes' shift into private markets, their strategic focus on ESG, and her role in managing operations. They explore t…

Founded in mid-1990s, Partners Group launched its first vehicle accessible to individual investors in the early naughties. Today it is at the frontline of the democratisation of private equity. In this episode, Ross Butler speaks to Joanna Asfour, the firm's managing director of client solutions, to discuss how private equity can help DC pensioners…

Jim Strang, serial private equity NXD and chairman of Hg Capital Trust, discusses the complexities of the private equity landscape on the Fund Shack podcast. Fundraising and Market Dynamics: Market Polarization: Large platforms and top-performing specialists continue to raise significant capital, while mid-sized players face extended fundraising cy…

Sunaina Sinha, Global Head of Private Capital Advisory at Raymond James, talks to Ross Butler about the challenges of raising private capital funds in today's market. This episode is supported by Datasite, the leading M&A platform for dealmakers. https://www.datasite.com/en Fundraising cycles have extended to 22-23 months on average, reflecting the…

Ross Butler hosts Patrick Turner, Managing Director at VSS Capital Partners, a US-based lower mid-market private equity firm founded in 1981, originally named Veronis Suhler Stevenson. Patrick joined VSS in 2014, bringing a wealth of experience from his extensive career in leveraged buyouts in the US, and private equity in China. VSS focuses on the…

Fatou Diagne is co-founder of Bootstrap Europe, which acquired the German portfolio of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023. She provides a fascinating insight into the elite world of lending to the top tier of venture-backed businesses. Venture debt might not have the brand-pizazz of its equity cousin, but from a risk/return perspective it ticks all the bo…

Mike Smeed is managing director of InMotion Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of Jaguar Land Rover. In this episode of the Fund Shack podcast, he speaks to Ross Butler about what the company looks for in start-up candidates and the rapidly evolving nature of corporate venture capital. Mike the Managing Director of InMotion Ventures, the corpora…

Foresight Group was a pioneer in renewable energy investment back in the 1990s. Today, it's a diversified investment group listed in London. Its founder and chairman, Bernard Fairman, talks about its expansion into global infrastructure, why he favours hydrogen over electric, and his plans to build out the firm's UK venture investment arm into an i…

MidEuropa pioneered private equity buyout investing in Central Europe, launching in 1999. Robert Knorr has been a partner since 2007. He was recently awarded Private Equity Mid Market Leader of the Year at the Real Deals private equity awards for his pivotal role in investment in the region. In this podcast he talks to Ross Butler about opportuniti…

Fund Shack Podcast Featuring Etienne Deshormes of Elm Capital In this engaging episode of the Fund Shack podcast, 🎙️ Ross Butler interviews Etienne Deshormes, CEO of Elm Capital, to delve into the intricacies of the private equity secondary market. Elm Capital, founded in 2004 by Etienne after his career in investment banking at JP Morgan, speciali…

With a deal drought across the global private equity industry, we talk to Chris Field of global law firm Dechert about what's next for M&A and buyout deal flow for 2024. We discuss valuations and defensive deal structures as vendors and buyers find ways to come together. Top quote: "I have never worked on an earn-out, ever, that has not resulted in…

Private equity is a great way of investing in uncertain, high growth environments. Strange then, that the African private equity industry is so small. In fact, Stephane Bacquaert, managing partner of Adenia Capital, argues that the mature Western private capital industry has systematically misunderstood the African opportunity, and its risk profile…

Private equity fund managers are racing to find structures that will allow small private investors to invest with them. Meanwhile governments are introducing ELTIF and LTAF structures to encourage "democratization". Henry Freeman has been working at the nexus of public and private equity for two decades. And he has concerns. Henry is founder of the…

Moral Hazard in Alternatives - Daniel Zwirn on Fund Shack's Private Equity Podcast Daniel Zwirn discusses his unique approach to alternative investments through Arena Investors LP, emphasizing a merchant banking style. He explores the advantages of historical financial models, moral hazard in fund management, and strategic flexibility in navigating…

Medieval Foundations of Modern Private Equity - Hans Lovrek on Fund Shack's Private Equity Podcast Hans Lovrek, Founder of Commenda Private Equityuncovers the historical foundations of modern private equity by analyzing medieval Florentine documents, revealing structures similar to today's limited partnerships. His method of historical institutiona…

Yaron Valler is a founder of venture capital firm Target Global. He is a successful entrepreneur and investor, and was part of the team at Intel that invented the Pentium Processor. In this episode of the Fund Shack podcast, he talks to Ross Butler about how AI will change ‘everything’, virtual reality, how government’s should direct innovation and…

Sanjay Panchal is a partner at Livingbridge, a leading international growth capital investor, where he specialises in healthcare. In this episode he speaks to Ross Butler about the opportunities for private equity investors across the healthcare sector. [00:00:00] Ross Butler: You’re listening to Fund Shack. I’m Ross Butler and this week I’m talkin…

Marcus Maier-Krug is partner and co-head of portfolio management at Arcmont. He has been working in private credit since before the global financial crisis. In this episode, recorded in November 2023, we discuss what constitutes alpha in private credit, what it’s attractions are as an asset class, whether it can retain the market share it has taken…

Alejandro Alcalde Rasch is a senior director in Advent International‘s portfolio support group. He joined Advent in 2010 having been chief transformation officer and head of supply at Gröhe AG and a partner in McKinsey’s chemicals practice. In this Fund Shack podcast, Alejandro talks to Ross Butler about the genesis of Advent’s dedicated portfolio …

Harvard professor Josh Lerner explains the risks and requirements of public intervention in establishing a thriving venture capital and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Professor Lerner tells Ross Butler that seeding a venture capital industry is a difficult and slow process – it’s not just the case of emulating Silicon Valley. With reference to his clas…

Andros Payne talks to Ross Butler about the holy grail of private equity value creation: a systematic, quantitative approach to cultural and behavioural change. What makes businesses work well? Andros Payne is an engineer and entrepreneur who has spent two decades codifying and benchmarking the behaviours of senior and middle managers that are prov…

Private equity podcast with Ross Butler and Reynir Indahl of Summa Equity on Impact investment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesAv Fund Shack

Warren Hibbert of Asante Capital Group explains the log-jam in the private capital fundraising market on the Fund Shack podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesAv Fund Shack

Douglas Hansen-Luke speaks to Ross Butler on the Fund Shack podcast. Topics: impact investing, university spin-outs, pension fund reforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesAv Fund Shack

Jonathan Blake is head of international funds strategy at Herbert Smith Freehills. In the 1980s, Jonathan was responsible for devising the very first limited partnerships for venture capital and private equity in the UK and Europe, and was responsible for convincing the British government that these closed-ended funds were a legitimate structure an…

Trevor Hope is Chief Investment Officer of Gresham House Ventures, the growth capital arm of one of the UK’s oldest companies. In recent years, the firm has been growing rapidly, consolidating the market for Venture Capital Trusts, tax-break vehicles for individual investors to access growth business in the UK. In this podcast with Ross Butler […] …

The so-called perma-crisis of political and economic volatility witnessed in the UK, and beyond, has made the business of raising and investing long-term funds is even more uncertain than usual. To help private markets practitioners navigate these choppy waters, we spoke with David Gauke, Damien Crossley and Shailen Patel from Macfarlanes. David Ga…

Laura Dillon leads Waterland Private Equity‘s Dublin office, which she established in 2020. Laura has had a varied career both in private equity and business. She has worked at several private equity firms, including Apax Partners and Riverside, and set up a distribution business with her family that was sold to a corporate acquirer. In […] Learn m…

Paul Newsome is head of portfolio management at Unigestion, a Switzerland-based asset manager with a global private markets platform. Paul has been at the firm for two decades, during which he has set up its private markets operation in North America, and has been instrumental in establishing its directs, co-investment and secondaries programmes. I…

David Larsen has been at the forefront of alternative assets valuation policy for several decades. He is managing director at Kroll, which was acquired by Duff & Phelps in 2018, and advises many of the largest alternatives institutions on private equity transactions and valuations policy. He has been vice-chair of IPEV – the International Private […

Michael Lindauer is co-CIO of Allianz Capital Partners. He joined the institution in 2003 and has been an influential decision-maker with regards to backing private equity managers, and a respected and informed LP. He is based in Europe and has responsibility for ACP’s global private equity investment programme. He talks to Ross Butler of Linear B …

Jim Strang is chairman of HgCapital Trust, a senior adviser to CVC Capital Partners, independent director at the Business Growth Fund, a senior adviser at Bain & Company, an advisory director at Campbell Lutyens, a Fellow at the London Business School, and a senior adviser at Hamilton Lane. Back by popular demand, this is Jim’s second time on Fund …

David Ewing is a managing partner at ECI Partners and one of the UK mid-markets best known investors. He speaks to Fund Shack's Ross Butler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesAv Fund Shack

Subscribe now: Apple Podcasts | Spotify Mirja Lehmler-Brown is the founding managing director of Hayfin Capital Management‘s Private Equity Solutions investment team. She previously worked with Hayfin founder Tim Flynn (listen to his Fund Shack podcast here) at Goldman Sachs, before moving into PE fund investment with Aberdeen Asset Management and …

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify In 2019, Tariq Fancy quit as BlackRock’s most senior sustainability investor. In 2021, he released an in-depth three-part essay explaining his disillusionment with the concept of stakeholder capitalism and the ESG investment industry that has grown up alongside it. In this private chat, he explains why sustaina…

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify In his 20s, Luke Johnson led the acquisition of Pizza Express and as chairman, helped it become the UK’s leading pizza brand. He has since established and helped develop household names, Strada, Giraffe, the Ivy, Zoggs and Integrated Dental Holdings, as part of his family office vehicle, Risk Capital Partners. …

Fabian Chrobog is founder of North Wall Capital, a Western European special situations investor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesAv Fund Shack

Alistair Lester is CEO of Aon’s M&A and transactions services business in EMEA. This is not the conversation you think. Aon has spent recent years building out its capabilities across the risk spectrum. Transcript Ross Butler: Alistair, you are the CEO of Aon’s M&A business in EMEA, but it’s not your first bout there. […] Learn more about your ad c…

Dan Aylott is Head of European Private Investments at Cambridge Associates. This is a Fund Shack ‘private chat’ about the large opportunity set in the European private equity market, from buyouts through to venture capital, with a focus on growth strategies in all these markets. Transcript: Ross Butler: You’re listening to fund Shack. I’m Ross […] …

Cyril Demaria is a leading private equity thinker, fund investor, and affiliate professor at EDHEC. He is the author of numerous books on alternative investment, most recently co-authoring Asset Allocation and Private Markets (March 2021). This is a Fund Shack ‘private chat’ about the difficulties of reconciling a liquid with an illiquid investment…

Today I’m speaking with Bob Long CEO of Conversus. Bob originally listed Conversus Capital in Europe in 2007, and it was the largest listed private equity vehicle of its day. He recently relaunched the Conversus brand within the private markets, giant StepStone, and together they’ve recently launched the new liquid evergreen private equity vehicle …

Simon Witney on sustainability and corporate governance. In this episode, I’m speaking with Simon Witney, who’s probably the best known private equity lawyer in Europe. He’s currently a senior consultant at Travis Smith where he spends much of his time advising clients on sustainability. He’s been chairman of the BVCA’s Legal and accounting committ…

Carl Bradshaw is a partner in the law firm Goodwin’s private equity group. He has advised European, American and Asian private equity sponsors on cross border LBOs, public to privates, co-investments and special situations. We talked in late March 2021 about deal appetite going into the second quarter of 2021 new deal-making processes and the rise …

Patrick Sheehan of ETF Partners talks to Fund Shack's Ross Butler about creating sustainable prosperity with venture capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesAv Fund Shack

Demystifying private equity on Fund Shack, with Oxford Said's John Gilligan and the ICAEW Corporate Finance Faculty's David Petrie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesAv Fund Shack

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Hendrik Brandis is co-founder and partner at Earlybird Venture Capital Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesAv Fund Shack

Vania Schlogel of Atwater Capital talks to Fund Shack's Ross Butler about bridging the world's of big buyouts and creative industries Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesAv Fund Shack

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify World leading thinkers join Fund Shack’s 50th anniversary debate on Milton Friedman’s article The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits. Ross Butler: It’s half a century since Nobel prize winning economist, Milton Friedman wrote an AR opinion. Article entitled the social responsibility of bus…

Avi Turetsky leads Landmark Partners’ Quantitative Research team, which just co-authored a new way to measure private equity performance, called the Excess Value Method. In this Fund Shack private equity podcast, Avi Turetsky, who leads Landmark Partners’ Quantitative Research team, discusses the groundbreaking “excess value” method, which has the …

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Wol Kolade is the managing partner of Livingbridge, a mid-market private equity firm with offices in the UK, Melbourne and Boston. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesAv Fund Shack