The Mergermarket Private Equity Podcast

Navigating the mid-market with Ronin Equity Partners

Yang Chen, a partner at Ronin Equity Partners, speaks to Mergermarket Funds Editor Tom Cane about the challenges and opportunities in today's market. Topics of discussion include the wider M&A market, supply chain mitigations for mid-market PE firms, driving value creation in family and founder-led businesses, and the family office landscape. Yang also discusses her career trajectory to date, and reflects on how the private equity landscape has evolved during that time.

How sponsors are navigating changing IPOs

Public listings have been a notoriously difficult exit path for sponsors over the past two years but recent months have witnessed a signal change as vendors learn how to navigate new equity capital markets. Mergermarket’s Head of Auctions sits down with ION Analytic’s Global ECM Editor Sam Kerr to take stock of how funds are viewing ECM, structuring listings for the best outcomes and what Donald Trump might mean for global equity markets. * Introduction - 00:34 * Large-cap exits - 1:49 * Failed sale to IPO - 4:50 * Structuring a successful listing - 9:09 * A new US President - 16:55 You can listen to the podcast on your favourite podcasting platforms, including Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/0cU8QivK7zOQg1kzd6hpK3] and Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mergermarket-private-equity-podcast/id1447500264]. If you would like to hear more podcasts produced by ION Analytics, you can access the ION Analytics channel on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/channel/ion-analytics/id6449604121].

Deal financing's impact on M&A in 2024 and beyond

Mergermarket’s Head of Auctions Rachel Lewis speaks with Debtwire’s Head of Private Capital Josh O’Neill about how the deal financing environment for private-equity buyouts is evolving as we approach the end of 2024. As we head into the final quarter of the year, European buyouts are on par with the total disclosed value seen across the whole of last year - standing at EUR 133bn. The total number of deals is, however, still down at 946 versus 1,234. Direct lenders have always had a vital role to play in financing leveraged buy-outs but their approach to auctions, to lending and to sponsors has changed in a higher interest rate and high inflationary environment. Against this backdrop, O’Neill and Lewis discuss from both of their sides of the table - equity and debt - how the changing financing environment will impact the pipeline for the rest of the year and heading into 2025. * Introduction - 0:25 * Pipeline from the lenders’ perspective - 2:35 * Protecting downside risk - 7:57 * Lending relationships with sponsors and auctions - 12:00 * Opportunities in lapsed deals - 19:59 * Debt-for-equity swaps - 22:45 Theme music: ©2012 Kick Up The Fire

The changing face of fundraising with Reach Capital

Funds editor Harriet Matthews speaks to William Barrett, co-founder and managing partner at private capital adviser Reach Capital, about the changing private capital advisory market, how the firm is advising its private equity (PE) clients to navigate primary and secondary fundraises in the current market, and what’s next for the independent placement agent. Investment banks have been building up their private fund advisory capabilities in recent years via consolidation, with notable recent deals including Houlihan Lokey’s acquisition of Triago. They have also hired staff and even engaged in joint ventures with specialised firms to offer fundraising or secondaries advice to their clients. Against this backdrop, and as an independent private capital advisor, Barrett discusses how Reach Capital has continued to develop its service offering, including the addition of private wealth capabilities. He also shares insights into how Reach Capital approaches taking on primary and secondary capital raising mandates. Given the challenging fundraising market, there are certain steps that GPs can undertake to pave the way for a successful fundraise, according to Barrett. This includes knowing your client, including the context they are operating in and the other types of investment opportunities that might be on the table for them. Lastly, Barrett shares his outlook for the primary PE fundraising market and how this will develop in the coming months, and discusses how Reach Capital is planning to continue to grow its service offering and the technology and data that supports it. Introduction – 0:42 Interview with William Barrett, Reach Capital – 2:19 Current state and evolution of the private capital advisory market – 2:27 Adapting to the needs of GP clients – 5:24 Getting comfortable with taking on primary mandates – 10:00 Taking on secondary mandates: comfort and transparency – 12:39 Advice to GPs: speak to your clients, prepare, and tailor your LP pitches – 16:07 The outlook for primary private equity fundraising – 22:07 What’s next for Reach Capital? – 24:38 You can listen to the podcast on your favourite podcasting platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. If you would like to hear more podcasts produced by ION Analytics, you can access the ION Analytics channel on Apple Podcasts. Theme music: ©2012 Kick Up The Fire

Private Equity and M&A Forum Europe round-up

In this episode, funds editor Harriet Matthews and senior private equity reporter Rachel Lewis share insights from the Mergermarket Private Equity and M&A Forum Europe [https://community.ionanalytics.com/mergermarket-ma-and-private-equity-forum-europe-2024], exploring the outlook for private equity buyouts, exits and fundraising, as well as the outlook for specific markets, including the UK. The Forum, which took place on 21 May at the Landmark Hotel in London, brought together private equity and M&A market participants for a day of panel discussions and networking. In her keynote speech, JP Morgan’s global head of M&A Anu Aiyengar summarised the macro drivers for dealflow in 2024 across public and private markets, highlighting UK take-private activity in particular as a bright spot for dealmaking. Elsewhere at the conference, panellists discussed topics including the prevalence of preferred equity as a liquidity solution for GPs, how GPs are approaching fundraising in a liquidity constrained environment, and LP preferences and concerns in the current market. While much has been made of a potential uptick in dealmaking in 2H 2024, conference attendees were cautious when it came to making predictions. Positive indicators include strategic appetite for private equity-backed assets, with hope for interest rate cuts also expected to allow the cogs in the private equity machine to start whirring again. Mergermarket data round-up – 1:28 Keynote speech takeaways – 3:51 UK market sentiment – 5:20 Fundraising outlook – 6:18 Preferred equity and bridging the valuation gap – 7:20 Returns and distributions – 10:50 Large-cap exit options – 12:15 You can listen to the podcast on your favourite podcasting platforms, including Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/0cU8QivK7zOQg1kzd6hpK3] and Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mergermarket-private-equity-podcast/id1447500264?ign-mpt=uo%3D4&mt=2]. If you would like to hear more podcasts produced by ION Analytics, you can access the ION Analytics channel [https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/channel/ion-analytics/id6449604121] on Apple Podcasts. Theme music: ©2012 Kick Up The Fire