After a couple of very quiet years, the European private equity market finds itself at a crossroads at the end of 2010.
After a couple of very quiet years, the European private equity market finds itself at a crossroads at the end of 2010. On one hand, it wants to utilise the billions of dollars that have been sitting on the sidelines for so long. On the other, it needs to provide returns to investors by negotiating profitable exits.
Many houses are still looking to exit pre-crisis deals. So investment managers will need to keep a close eye on the capital markets and secondary buyouts in order to please limited partners.
At the same time, however, international regulation is being finalised, so many are waiting to see what happens. The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive is close to passing in Europe and the Volcker Rule will have implications that reach further than the US. It is essential for European funds to understand the implications of these developments on the region’s regulatory framework and deal structures.
If and when confidence and leverage return to the market, deals will look different. Seller finance, ratchets and earn outs are likely to be more prevalent and there will be any number of bespoke quirks in individual deals. Standard form transactions are a thing of the past, at least for the immediate future.
This one-day IFLR forum will bring together industry experts to examine these and other issues through a series of panel discussions.
On the agenda:
• Consider how regulations, internationally and regionally, will affect private equity in Europe
• Compare the investment options: Pipes, pre-IPO investments and buyouts
• Structuring exits to realise investments via IPO, secondary buyout or dual track offering
• Look at developments in deals across Europe
• Learn the implications of tax changes on the market
• Attend panels that purely deal with the legal aspects of private equity’s recovery
• Listen to legal analysts with coverage of developments in Europe, the Americas and Asia
