Erik Hirsch: “GPs Are Essentially Service Providers”
He predicted he’d be misquoted and taken out of context, so I will try not to do that here. Very simply, Eric Hirsch, Chief Investment Officer of Hamilton Lane, believes that limited partners should not view private equity pros as partners. GPs, he said, provide a service to LPs, and should act accordingly. Speaking in a keynote interview at Buyouts South in Boca Raton, Hirsch noted his comment might get him in trouble with some GPs, but nevertheless made the argument against the idea of a “parternship.” That phrase twists the real meaning of an LP-GP relationship, he said. “The word “partner” makes it seem like an LP needs to support a GP even when things go awry, because they are partners,” he said. When in reality, investors have hired general partners to generate superior returns over a 10-year period and the relationship should be viewed as such.
