November 2002 Issue

PEMI 2002-11-01 Staff Writer FundBaring Private Equity Partners AsiaFirmBaring Private Equity PartnersAm

Previously pigeonholed as a specialist consultants operating in the heavy industry sector, environmental due diligence experts are increasingly visible in a broad range of M&A transactions. Ricky Morton explores the environmental due diligence process and assesses the claim that the consultancy has a critical role to play in buyout transactions across the industrial spectrum.

The Nordic region comes high on the list of key parts of the world for private equity firms looking to grow their investor base. Private Equity International found a number of smart investors capable of deploying significant capital, but it will take time to convert good relationships with local institutions into solid commitments.

On the face of it, Scandinavian buyout practitioners and Silicon Valley venture capitalists may not have much in common. Though among the things they do share are very fond memories of the 1990s, a decade in which both groups enjoyed considerable success. But times have changed.

Private equity firms are under pressure to deliver better information more efficiently to their limited partners. Failure to do so can antagonise increasingly sensitive investors, compromise future fund raising and is one reason why more LPs are calling for greater transparency in the industry. Private Equity International looks at the two key facets of information management and transmission: the technology that GPs are using to manage the information and the administrative channels they use to disseminate it.

One man's loss is another's opportunity: with a myriad of corporate entities struggling to survive the downturn, restructuring and turnaround opportunities abound for private equity firms who've got the appetite. But there aren't many of those around finds Robin Burnett.

Phil Cooper heads the private equity fund of funds business at Goldman Sachs. He's not come through the Goldman ranks and doesn't seem to fit the popular image of a Goldman person. He runs a team that manages approximately $11bn of capital committed to all varieties of private equity funds around the world. Philip Borel spoke to him about his past, his plans and the principles he uses to invest in the asset class.

This summer a seemingly never-ending wave of default news swept through the capital markets. Private equity backed transactions and their sponsors didn't escape unscathed, but are the prospects for what's ahead really that dim?

In early October, the $13bn University of Texas Investment Management Company, UTIMCO for short, released performance data on the 150 different buyout and VC funds it is invested in. The resultant furore bought into sharp focus what different people understood to mean when talking about transparency in the private equity industry. Private Equity International asked Bob Boldt, UTIMCO's president, chief executive officer and chief investment officer, about what prompted this move, what impact it's had and what implications it may have going forward.

Back on top of the agenda 2002-11-01 Staff Writer Everybody was talking about it, but nothing much seemed to be happening. The transparency debate has been bubbling along ever since CalPERS got hearts racing by publishing performance data about its portfolio of private equity funds on its website. A lot of c