2020 Top 10 tech predictions – To introduce the Private Equity Wire Global Outlook Report 2020, the team at RFA has made the following 10 predictions on technology and how they might impact the industry over the next 12 months. We took a considered approach before settling on these 10 trends based on what we’ve seen across our client base, the conversations we’ve had (and continue to have) on a daily basis, as well as from research into business drivers and emerging technology:
2020 Top 10 tech predictions – To introduce the Private Equity Wire Global Outlook Report 2020, the team at RFA has made the following 10 predictions on technology and how they might impact the industry over the next 12 months. We took a considered approach before settling on these 10 trends based on what we’ve seen across our client base, the conversations we’ve had (and continue to have) on a daily basis, as well as from research into business drivers and emerging technology:
1. Spend on technology will increase (for successful firms anyway). Studies show that profitable firms spend proportionately more on technology than their counterparts with shrinking margins. Interesting that the old adage “spend to accumulate” is appropriate for technology spend too.
2. Hybrid and public cloud use will increase as the major vendors continue to add more services. BUT this will add complexity so managers will need to engage with experts in public cloud management.
3. SaaS adoption will continue to rise due to its simplicity, reliability and predictability. From OMS to CRM systems, SaaS adoption is growing.
4. Serverless Computing will continue to grow in popularity simplifying operations and enabling agility for managers.
5. Data analytics intelligence will improve workforce optimisation and inform product and service transformation. This is a huge growth area across the sector – we have multiple projects going on with clients to give them better data analytics as well as live dashboards and cloud based data warehousing.
6. The “digital workspace” will be even more important. Employees expect and will soon demand the freedom, the flexibility and tools to do their jobs well from anywhere without relying on phones or email.
7. Alternative fund managers will use AI technology to power automation solutions that will drive efficiencies and allow them to do more with less manpower as well as utilising automation tools within workflow management.
8. Managers will strive to keep headcounts as lean as possible. They will do this by continuing to outsource functions.
9. Security Operations, Automation and Response (SOAR) will be the buzz phrase of 2020. As attacks increase in velocity and sophistication, so responses must become faster. Intelligent cybersecurity is the way forward.
10. Technology Risk Management will take centre stage in 2020. Risk assessments are critical for alternative fund managers.
George Ralph (pictured), Managing Director, RFA (UK)
The macro picture
Henry H McVey, Head of Global Macro & Asset Allocation, KKR
We would overweight allocations to environmental, social, and governance investments (ESG) – This theme is not new at KKR, but we do want to use our 2020 outlook to highlight our growing focus on investing in companies whose core business model addresses critical global challenges. Consistent with this view we have been spending an increasing amount of time with our Impact co-portfolio managers and colleagues Ken Mehlman and Robert Antablin.
As a result, we enter 2020 with an intensifying focus on increasing allocations to investments aligned with global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Many of these investments dovetail directly with macro themes we’ve highlighted before. For example, recent trips to India and China again emphasised a focus on renewables, food safety, environmental safety, and waste management, as middle class populations focus on concerns linked to quality of life, the environment, and worker safety. Other rising macro themes include workforce development, as global companies, universities, and cities address the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s unprecedented technological disruption.
Similarly, climate change is producing historic rain events, which harms water quality via storm water runoff. Overall, the global backdrop that we are describing leads us to look across all KKR’s investment platforms to partner with companies that mitigate climate change, enhance resilient development, protect water quality, manage waste responsibly, and enhance learning and workforce development.
We also continue to integrate the consideration of relevant ESG issues into the governance, value creation and risk management efforts of all of the investments we make.
By helping to implement strategies at our portfolio companies that, among other things, optimise environmental footprints, promote diversity and inclusion, create better employee-executive alignment, emphasise good governance and enhance supply chains, we are supporting their efforts to improve and protect value.
(Reproduced with permission from KKR’s INSIGHTS Global Macro Trends Report, January 2020)
Jason Thomas, Head of Global Research, The Carlyle Group
Monetary policy in the eurozone is a spent force. Rates will remain low indefinitely, but there is little hope that new unconventional policies will succeed where others – quantitative easing, longer-term refinance operations, forward guidance, negative interest rates, etc – have failed. A reckoning for the limits of monetary policy is long overdue, and Lagarde’s appointment looks to be an important step in this process.
In Lagarde’s first speech as ECB President, monetary policy was treated like a sideshow, accounting for just 12 per cent of the discussion of policies to boost eurozone growth (and some of this space was used to question whether negative interest rates did more harm than good).14 The rest of the speech was a plea to policymakers to rely more heavily on fiscal policy and internal market reforms, including a capital markets union, the single market in services, and the digital single market.
Lagarde delivered much the same message in the press conference following her first Governing Council meeting, arguing that “it takes many to actually dance the economic ballet that would deliver on price stability but also employment and growth (emphasis added).” If policymakers want faster growth, they need to look to Brussels and national capitals rather than to Frankfurt.
Lagarde has not come to destroy the law and prophets but to fulfil them. This isn’t a rethink of policy but its logical extension. The cost of public debt and deficits ultimately depends on interest rates. Consequently, the promise of easy monetary policy today is not its ability to stimulate incremental private spending, but the fiscal space it creates for euro area governments to reduce tax burdens and boost investment in new technology and infrastructure. Lagarde is just asking that policymakers internalise the implications of persistently low interest rates and adjust policy accordingly.
The European economy is badly in need of improved fiscal and monetary policy coordination. Lagarde’s ballet metaphor is apt and one she is likely to keep pressing throughout 2020.
(Comments used with permission from Global Insights: Five Questions for 2020 Report)
What is your outlook for US middle market investing?
Renee Noto, President, Brightstar Capital Partners
Even though the total number of US middle market private companies far exceeds the number of public companies, the landscape for private capital investments continues to become more competitive. True proprietary deals require more time, more work and new ways of discovery. Since inception, we have been deliberately proactive about expanding our network of relationships among founder and family-owned companies in the United States.
We made a purposeful decision to invest in the infrastructure necessary to build on our strong ties with the communities and business associations that can be sources of proprietary deal flow, and in a communications network that reaches the right target audiences.
In 2020, private equity firms will need to prove they are true value-added partners to the businesses they look to acquire, not just capital. Identifying opportunities to add value will be increasingly difficult in an environment where prices for assets are reaching all-time highs. Firms will need to innovate and think of new ways to approach finding investment opportunities.
What is your biggest fear for 2020, as a PE investor?
Jeff Diehl, Managing Partner and Head of Investments, Adams Street Partners
The erosion in credit underwriting standards over the last several years, particularly in the broadly syndicated loan market, has enabled the largest PE firms to pay full valuations for businesses with highly adjusted and “pro-forma” EBITDA figures. In many pockets of the market, forward projections of EBITDA have also been aspirational. Fortunately, rising valuation multiples have been a tailwind for returns, and have masked some underachievement of EBITDA. However, the broadly syndicated loan market is starting to signal that underachievement of lofty EBITDA estimates is becoming more common.
So, my biggest fear as a PE investor for 2020 is a correction in valuation multiples. While this would be a welcome development for buying companies, it would turn a tailwind for recent PE returns into a headwind and would expose the PE firms that have posted good returns despite having a number of underachieving companies in their portfolio.
How do you view the fundraising environment for global private equity in 2020?
Thomas Franco, Partner, Clayton Dubilier & Rice
2020 will continue the trend of political and economic volatility that has been the backdrop of the investment landscape in recent years. Private capital is well suited to play a constructive role in this kind of stormy environment.
One of the strengths of the asset class is that it tends to thrive in turbulent times when more conventional capital becomes defensive. During the financial crisis and the great recession that followed, more risk averse forms of capital stayed on the sidelines. Private capital frequently filled the void, providing needed solutions to sellers confronting significant pressure. Asset owners clearly recognise that private capital’s flexibility and adaptability can be powerful competitive advantages in periods of uncertainty.
That said, the more challenging the market conditions are, the more investors place a premium on experience, which should benefit firms raising fund three and above versus firms raising fund one or two. Expect this ‘flight to safe hands’ trend to continue this year.
Janet Brooks, Partner, Monument Group
LP appetite for private equity remains robust but the fundraising environment is becoming ever more competitive. This year saw record numbers of first-time funds enter the market, while many established GPs returned to the market faster than expected and others launched new strategies or vehicles to capitalise on this appetite. This has created a ‘two lane’ market for fundraising – with managers in the fast lane closing at cap in a matter of weeks while those in the slow lane need to have both tenacity and resilience to arrive at successful outcomes. This is a pattern that looks set to continue into 2020.
In a competitive market, where LPs typically have less time but greater demands when it comes to diligence, GPs need to ensure they stand out to meet their fundraising targets. A demonstrable track record is of course key, but the ability of firms to differentiate themselves with a well-articulated investment thesis and proposition will be increasingly important to help get into the fast lane.
In terms of market segments and sectors in vogue, we are seeing a lot of focus on the technology space across all spheres from venture, through to growth and buyouts as investors target fundamentally strong business models and companies that should be well positioned to grow even in an economic slowdown. In addition, we are seeing a general increase in growth equity strategies, which offer a larger and differentiated pool of deal targets. The lower mid-market also continues to be attractive as incumbents move upscale, allowing for new market entrants.
Overall investors are on the hunt for teams and strategies that can best withstand any economic downturn and deliver above-average returns through the entire economic cycle. This edge may come in the form of deep domain expertise, a strong brand identity combined with a solid track record or a unique deal sourcing model.
Warren Hibbert, Managing Partner, Asante Capital Group
Very much a continuation of the patterns observed in 2019. The first half of 2020 is jammed with a number of large raises and most LPs had allocated for at least half of 2020 by Q3 2019. The second half of this year may prove a slower half in terms of fundraising, but I wouldn’t bank on it! The volume of deals across Western Europe and North America began to fall off through the second half of 2019 and this should have a lagging impact on the frequency of fundraisings overall in 2020/21, pointing to a further fall of in fundraising numbers. So overall I’d predict a slight fall in funds raised in 2020 relative to 2019 (which was marginally down on 2018), but a very robust year overall with a substantial sum raised.
What excites you most about the deal landscape for the year ahead?
Karsten Langer, Managing Partner of Riverside Europe
What excites me most about the PE landscape as we enter 2020 is that market conditions for Private Equity in general and Riverside in particular continue to be favourable. In 2019 every one of our European portfolio companies grew revenues, and budgets for 2020 are strong. The market for entrepreneurial businesses seeking succession or a growth partner – the type of companies we invest in – is strong. And the market for the “bigger and better” businesses we are looking to exit is strong. So while the year still has twelve months to go, and we are prepared for any market setbacks, we are starting out in very good shape.
Andre Hakkak, CEO, White Oak Global Advisors, LLC
I expect investors to be more discerning with their private credit portfolio – distinguishing between managers focused on sponsor-based term loans and those that can provide differentiated, diverse credit exposure. Investors across the board have become more knowledgeable about private credit over the past few years, and most are catching on to the fact that there is a thin line between highly levered term loan risk and equity risk. Sponsored lending managers may see a slowdown in fundraising volume, with more capital being allocated to specialty finance managers who have strong asset protection behind their credit facilities and special situations managers who are able to capitalise during a market downturn.
Tristan Nagler, Managing Director, Aurelius Equity Opportunities
Each year, the results of the Aurelius Corporate Carve-Out Survey demonstrate a growing awareness of the trend of larger businesses divesting non-core assets and we are looking forward to seeing that continue in 2020. In complex situations like carve-outs, price isn’t always the deciding factor when a seller chooses a buyer. Buyers that possess operational, expertise and the ability to transact quickly often gain the edge in competitive processes and very few firms have as much experience as we do after 14 years of investing in these opportunities.
We are also excited about the continued opportunity in the UK. Much of the political and economic uncertainty that limited M&A activity in 2019 has been resolved by the outcome of the General Election and we are anticipating an uptick in the number of deals over the year ahead. Year-on-year we’ve grown our UK-focussed investment team and 2020 will be no different, which is testament to the fact that the UK remains an important market for a pan-European investor like us in the decade ahead.
To what extent might we continue to see take-back private deals?
Tristan Nagler, Managing Director, Aurelius Equity Opportunities
Publicly listed UK companies have clearly been an attractive market to private equity buyers in recent years and there’s no reason that trend won’t continue. Alongside this however, we are likely to continue seeing larger, listed companies divesting non-core assets to buyers like Aurelius. Corporate carve-out transactions present the management teams of listed businesses with an alternative to being bought outright. It allows the company to exit non-core business divisions and focus its attention – both time and money – on its core operations. Not only does this present acquisition opportunities for potential buyers, but also allows listed companies to ensure the market is valuing the business correctly as often non-core operations aren’t reflected in a company’s share price.
What is your outlook for market valuations in 2020?
Pete Wilson, Partner, 3i Private Equity
I think the polarisation in pricing of assets will continue and, if anything, become more marked as the macro-economic environment potentially toughens. For the highest quality businesses with strong and defensible market positions, proven organic growth, multiple routes for expansion and great management teams, valuations will remain strong in 2020 – driven by robust demand, but also scarcity of these type of assets. Equally, investors will continue to be discerning and for assets that aren’t necessarily in that top quality category we will continue to see more softening in valuations and / or failed processes.
Tristan Nagler, Managing Director, Aurelius Equity Opportunities
We are currently in a high valuation environment and there is clearly a hope that they will decrease in 2020. High valuations are often an indicator of the increased amount of debt being used to finance transactions and when this is at significantly high levels it is often the precursor to a crash. However, whether there will be a correction in 2020 remains to be seen given the levels of dry powder in both the European private equity and private credit markets.
As a value investor, particularly one with a strong focus on corporate carve-outs, we avoid paying large multiples and the use of debt to finance transactions. As a result, we are less exposed to this market dynamic, although it does mean we expect to see growing competition in carve-out and primary situations as traditional GPs seek returns that are harder to achieve in a high valuation environment.
Milorad Andjelic, Partner, Abris Capital Partners
My outlook on market valuations in Central and Eastern Europe in 2020 is that they will at least stay stable, but more likely rise relative to 2019. The key reason for this is the unprecedented amount of liquidity that has poured into private equity over the past few years and the need to invest it. The pressure to invest will likely drive valuations up and CEE is probably no exception, given that all key mid-market players have liquidity and are looking to invest. Furthermore, given the increasingly uncertain global macro situation, assets viewed as defensive – such as agriculture, consumer non-durables, healthcare/pharma, utilities, education and education-related products/services – are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries vis-à-vis market valuations.
Karsten Langer, Managing Partner of Riverside Europe
I expect valuations to remain high for quality companies, driven in part by continued low interest rates, but cyclical or lower quality businesses may find it increasingly difficult to attract buyers at all.
What new trends/developments might we see in the PE secondary marketplace in 2020?
Cari Lodge, Managing Director & Head of Secondaries, Commonfund Capital
2020 is positioned to set another record for the secondary market as long as we don’t see a major correction in the public markets. We would estimate the market to grow to USD125 to USD150 billion in 2020. This growth will be driven by both more General Partner-led transactions and more Limited Partnership interest sales.
High quality General Partners will continue to utilise the secondary market to provide limited partners with innovative secondary liquidity solutions. These General Partners, through the secondary market, are able to retain their best companies where they see the ability to generate upside with both continuations funds or single asset transactions. Existing investors benefit from the potential for increased liquidity. Currently, GP-led transactions are approximately a third of the secondary market.
At Commonfund, we continue to see lots of small Limited Partner interests selling. We expect the trend of portfolio management to continue, especially with the number of tail end (funds over ten years old) growing each year. With the rise in private capital fundraising, the secondary market as a derivative of this growth, will also continue to expand.
Additionally, we expect secondary fundraising to grow in 2020. Despite the growth in the secondary market, it is still small relative to the overall private capital market. In 2020, we expect more LPs to invest in the secondary market based on the attractive characteristics of secondaries. Secondary funds are capital efficient, have strong risk adjusted returns and return capital back more quickly resulting in shorter fund lives.
Valerie Handal, Managing Director, HarbourVest Partners
The Secondary market has grown more than ten-fold in the last decade, with many participants predicting that transaction volumes will have reached circa USD100 billion in 2019. The rise and increasing acceptance of GP-Led deals has been one of the most fundamental developments in secondaries in recent years, and these transactions now represent the fastest growing subset of the market. We see this growth of GP-led market continuing in 2020 and specifically single-asset continuation funds taking-off. This proliferation of GP-leds is particularly exciting as each transaction is unique, requiring creative thinking and innovation around assets, structures and terms, which fits well with our expertise of executing complex deals and our deep private markets platform.
Andrea Auerbach, Managing Director, Head of Global Private Investments, Cambridge Associates LLC
Secondary transactions are going mainstream. In the past, fairly experienced investors have long used secondary transactions to shape their private investment portfolios, but in 2020, these types of deals could become mainstream for the rest of us. Direct secondaries, which are plentiful in today’s market, offer LPs flexibility and fee savings, but turnaround times are tight and so favour the prepared investor.
While adverse selection is always a risk, careful underwriting and transaction discounts can boost returns. Last year, Cambridge Associates saw USD8.0 billion (338 deals) in direct secondaries opportunities and by the end of 2019, we assisted our clients in the purchase of nearly half a billion dollars of LP interests since establishing a dedicated secondaries team in 2016. And noteworthy, the clients who pursued these direct secondaries were ‘all creatures great and small’ – all types, sizes, and geographies.
With the increase in availability of information and the continued maturation of the private investment market overall, direct secondaries are only going to become more commonplace and will be worth taking a position on, pardon the pun!
Warren Hibbert, Managing Partner, Asante Capital Group
Further concentration of capital amongst the 15 largest managers, which includes further expansion of fund strategies within each of the asset managers. So in essence, further consolidation in the market as both LPs and GPs look to gain efficiencies in a market where there is not enough resource/time for LPs to review the 3,000-4,000 funds in the market.
We would expect to see more GP IPOs given some recent successes (EQT) and buoyance in the IPO market generally, with more of a trend towards tapping the retail market to fund private equity going forward in parallel with the traditional institutional market.
Also, expect more creativity around terms – not only for those top 5 per cent of managers who can dictate terms, but also at the other end of the market where some well-established firms may need to be creative to raise capital through tough vintages (going to deal-by-deal or constructing attractive co-investment vehicles)
If you had to make one prediction on co-investing for 2020, what would it be?
Corentin du Roy, Managing Director, HarbourVest Partners
Market share consolidation in the co-investment market will continue in 2020, with the most successful players being those that can provide speed and certainty of execution for GPs. The co-investment market has evolved from broadly syndicated processes to more of a partnership model between GPs and co-investors. We have seen this materialise across our deal flow as well: more than 60 per cent of our capital deployed since the beginning of 2018 has been in solutions-oriented opportunities where we are often co-underwriting the deal alongside the lead GP.
However, with this, GPs expect co-investors to be more sophisticated.
2020 will highlight the continued importance of being an active, solutions-oriented partner for GPs, and will require co-investors that can meet a GP’s needs for a large balance sheet (write large checks, absorb broken deal costs), speed and the ability to provide solutions like co-underwriting, warehousing and growth capital.
Warren Hibbert, Managing Partner, Asante Capital Group
Leverage catches up. There seems little chance of a correction in 2020, but given the extent of investment being made via revolving facilities today in advance of drawing funds, combined with the pricing levels, I would predict that one mega fund may trip on one of their largest initial deals leaving the fund under water just as it’s getting going, at which point LPs may exercise the (complex) option to default on the initial drawdown and avoid a loss, leaving the banks holding the LP position at full value and carrying an illiquid position and loss. This may have a significant ripple effect on the rest of the fund finance market, given the billions currently drawn in this manner.
Please offer a prediction on how the GP/LP relationship might evolve in 2020
Michael Hacker, Managing Director, AlpInvest Partners
GPs have been much more proactive in utilising innovative transaction structures to create liquidity and increase investment capacity. After several years of pursuing GP-centred secondary transactions, we expect to see GPs embrace preferred equity and structured equity solutions. In 2020, we expect to see the first large fund-level dividend recap utilising preferred equity.
Carolina Espinal, Managing Director, HarbourVest Partners
Greater interconnectivity between GPs and LPs will evolve to navigate the backdrop of macro-economic and political uncertainty and volatility that loomed in recent years, and is unlikely to dissipate in 2020. Both parties will work together to help private companies grow, strengthen operations, create jobs, invest in new technologies and become more profitable. In line with this, it is probable that LPs will ask GPs to communicate more on their approach to environmental, social and governance issues at their firm and within their portfolios.
The appeal of private equity as an asset class to retail investors will also increase in 2020, leading to LPs broadening in both type and volume. This development will carry forward so that proven GPs may seek to grow their businesses through franchise extensions given the LP support.
LPs will remain focused on seeking outperformance in leading PE managers that have demonstrated they can deliver, and as a result GPs will continue to raise significant funds from LPs given favourable market conditions. In addition, with continued pressure on fees and liquidity, LPs will seek to partner with GPs more closely as co-investors in companies, as partial owners of the GP or identifying solutions using full capabilities of the secondaries market to generate liquidity.
What new trends/developments might we see in regards to ESG investing across global PE for the year ahead?
Elias Korosis, Partner at Hermes GPE & Portfolio Manager, Hermes GPE Environmental Innovation Fund
I think 2020 will be a year where sustainable investing might become more mainstream. It’s moved from the outskirts of PE investing to centre stage and as we’ve already seen at the start of the year with the Australian bushfires, such negative events can, paradoxically, focus the mind and get people to pay attention to these issues. This is another opportunity for the global sustainability movement to really deeper into mainstream consciousness.
This is not a niche strategy. We’ve been doing this for over a decade and were one of the earlier GPs to set up a dedicated environmental innovation vehicle. Now, we have Planet as one of the three pillars of our new growth capital strategy fund (the other two being People and Productivity). The reason we are excited about this new fund strategy is that now sustainability is mainstream we don’t have to fish in a small pond to find deal flow. There is increasingly generalist GP deal flow in this space.
The millennial generation is very in tune with this. It informs their buying decisions and as a result I expect the corporate world will follow suit; and already is. This millennial generation looks set to become the largest consumer generation in our history. Environmental sustainability is one of the key parameters that people now care about. Companies are starting to react to that.
Sustainable investing is going to get more and more important as the tragedies get more and more massive. Our natural ecosystem is going to be moving into unchartered territory and this is going to impact businesses and people around the world.
My hope for a solution lies in innovation as these problems grow geometrically. We don’t have time to do things we’ve done in the past a ‘little bit better’, year on year. If you believe the scientific community, we have two decades to prevent irreversible changes to the Planet. The clock is ticking. This won’t be achieved by coming up with solutions that improve things incrementally. It will require deploying more capital towards innovation to have the best hope of achieving the right solutions. As a result, at Hermes GPE, we are invested in the development of established companies that can bring many multiples of impact; those who can bring a 10x effect on how we do things. Artificial intelligence could be one way of achieving these non-linear outcomes.
Keimpe Keuning, Executive Director, LGT Capital Partners
The year 2019 was the year where ESG globally became mainstream also for private equity investors. When integrating ESG factors into private equity investment decision making, we expect that investors will continue to prioritise ESG topics that are most important to them. In a recent survey amongst private equity investors, 53 per cent of all investors state that climate change is their number one environmental concern.
This is followed by pollution with 21 per cent and energy efficiency with 13 per cent as top priority environment concerns. Going forward we expect investors to focus on the impact of climate change on their portfolio companies (TCFD recommendations) and to more actively integrate environmental goals into portfolio company’s business strategies.
In terms of further development of ESG analysis we expect investors will go further in integrating ESG into investment decision-making also by pushing for a greater availability of ESG data and metrics. In addition the trend of (or at least the call for) more standards is a continuous development and debate. Last but not least, we see the SDGs are starting to become more widely adopted and reported on.
Although it is still early days, and time is ticking, a majority of private equity investors have started (or plan to do so in the next two years) to map, assess and report the impact of their investments on the SDGs.
Robert Sroka, ESG Director, Abris Capital Partners
I would describe the ESG trend for 2020 with two words: professionalisation and integrity. Professionalism both from the perspective of private equity firms and their stakeholders. On the private equity side this means improving management processes, better ESG goals, more precise definition of priorities and clear measurement of effects. On the side of LPs, we will see increased professionalisation, with investors asking more precise and targeted questions, and becoming more adept at distinguish valuable ESG practices from those that are merely virtue signalling. As a result, LPs will become an even more valuable partner for GPs in improving ESG practices.
Integrity will become ever more important for private equity firms in 2020, as GPs and LPs pay even closer attention to the quality and effectiveness of the ESG approach. Declarations on ESG policies will be studied in detail by stakeholders to ensure they reflect reality. Such declarations are important as a first step, but it is also necessary to fully implement policies in those areas where the private equity firm has a material environmental and social impact. That is why this ethical side of the ESG approach in the private equity industry will be so important.
Professionalisation and integrity are necessary for the private equity industry to be able to effectively implement the main ESG priorities in 2020:
- Climate change: for the private equity industry and its portfolio companies, one of the key challenges in 2020 will be adaptation to the physical and transactional effects of climate change. Going forward, GPs will need to conduct scenario planning for climate change and tailor business strategies to it.
- EU sustainable finance: the new European Commission regulations in the field of sustainable finance will affect the entire investment market. Although current regulations do not relate directly to private equity, they will have a big impact on industry. Therefore, GPs will need to respond to sustainable finance regulations in 2020.
- Cybersecurity and data protection: this has been an area of concern for some time, but it is now becoming increasingly important for building industry credibility. 2020 will be a time of significant investment in this area.
Kurt Faulhaber, Partner, Stafford Capital Partners
We have passed the days where a cursory look at the industry or product encompasses an understanding of the ESG aspects of an investment. Rigorous analysis using dedicated frameworks, such as the Targets and Indicators within the Sustainable Development Goals, are enabling investors like Stafford to get a clearer understanding of the ESG aspects of our investments, and align clients’ capital with the most sustainable opportunities for competitive advantage while correctly avoiding unnecessary risk.
