Financial engineering or operational value add? As private equity's growth has evolved over several decades, the mechanics of deal structure, capital structure, and motivations have undergone changes across several eras. No longer just the barbarians at the gate anymore, many private equity firms have turned their attention from balance sheet gymnastics to delivering actual operating expertise for portfolio companies. In this episode of Capital Decanted, we answer important questions - what is driving this evolution? How are deal structures different today vs. in the late 1980s? And what is the playbook for a segment of the industry trying to deliver true value? To help us answer these questions, we are joined by Jacob Kotzubei, Co-President of Platinum Equity.
Introduction: (0:48)
Halftime: (52:00)
Guest: (58:31)
Guest: Jacob Kotzubei, Co-President, Platinum Equity
Asset-based lending has come of age, but its evolution has made it challenging to put it in a homogeneous category or asset class, given its complexity and diversity of the underlying universe. From receivables and real estate to royalties and R&D, the range of collateral backing these loans raises questions about ABL's position within the broader private credit complex. In this episode, we attempt to define the history and parameters of ABL, including how loans are structured, as well as crucial due diligence and portfolio construction considerations. To help us explore these topics, we're joined by Greg Turk, Deputy CIO of Illinois Police Officers' Pension Investment Fund, and Cedric Henley, Partner and Chief Risk Officer of Specialty Finance at SLR Capital Partners.
Introduction: (0:48)
Halftime: (57:12)
Guest: (1:02:45)
Guests:
Cedric Henley, Partner and Chief Risk Officer of Specialty Finance at SLR Capital Partners
Despite being thousands of years old, China’s current economic and political system began to take shape only in the late 20th century, particularly following the economic reforms initiated in the late 1970s. Today, China represents one of the largest economies in the world, a breeding ground for innovation, and an exciting capital market increasingly open to foreigners. However, recent policy swings and geopolitical events have called many items into question - is China investable? Is it possible to develop a long-term view despite short-term geopolitical headwinds? And, most importantly, will the many years of progress toward economic and political pragmatism win the day? We're joined by China private capital investor pioneer, Ed Grefenstette, CEO and CIO of the Dietrich Foundation.
Introduction: (0:48)
Halftime: (1:20:43)
Guest: (1:28:52)
Guest:
Ed Grefenstette, CEO and CIO, The Dietrich Foundation
With the tectonic plates in trade, geopolitics, economics, and national security seemingly shifting under our feet in real time, we stepped back to talk about some of the major themes defining the future of this industry. With a lens towards the current uncertainty and risk of global regime change, we examined where our profession, and particularly private capital, is likely to evolve. No one was better equipped to guide us than Casey Quirk co-founder and current Global Head of Investor Relations at Bain, Kevin Quirk.
Introduction: (0:48)
Guest: (6:50)
Guest:
Kevin Quirk, Global Head of Investor Relations, Bain Capital
After many booms, busts, and shakeouts in crypto markets, the pump seems primed for broader adoption in institutional portfolios. Are we really doing this? How might a seemingly crypto-friendly Trump Administration fuel further adoption in the largest capital market in the world? In this episode, we use history as a guide, exploring the phases of crypto adoption and wrestling with whether we're truly in a new era or if the headlines are overhyping reality. Join us and our guests, Robbie Mitchnick of BlackRock and Greg Tusar of Coinbase, to explore further.
Introduction: (0:48)
Halftime: (1:01:46)
Guests: (1:07:58)
Guests:
Greg Tusar, Head of Institutional Product, Coinbase
Robert Mitchnick, Head of Digital Assets, BlackRock
Greedy sinners or enterprising saints? The growth of private equity's influence on the economy can no longer be ignored. Like it or not, private equity's reach surrounds our daily lives and its impact on society can be felt across all sectors of the economy. In this episode, we outline a more balanced middle between the extremes of proponents and detractors and highlight two virtuous examples of how private capital is being used for social and financial good.
Introduction: (0:48)
Halftime: (46:25)
Guests: (52:13)
Guests:
Pete Stavros, Co-Head, Global Private Equity, KKR
Daryn Dodson, Founder, Managing Partner, Illumen Capital
What do co-investments, secondaries, joint ventures, and NAV lending have in common? To some, they sound like complex investment vehicles - to us, they represent the cutting-edge tools reshaping how asset owners build portfolios. Gone are the days of relying solely on the binary choice between insourcing or outsourcing investment capabilities. Today’s institutional investors have a dynamic, customizable toolkit at their fingertips, empowering them to craft strategies that truly serve their stakeholders. Join industry leaders Scott Chan and Molly Murphy as they dive into this exciting evolution, unpack the innovative investment vehicles driving change, and discuss the challenges and opportunities in implementation.
Introduction: (0:48)
Halftime: (59:28)
Guests: (1:05:57)
Guests:
Molly Murphy, Chief Investment Officer, OCERS
Scott Chan, CFA, Chief Investment Officer, CalSTRS
How does a legacy private capital partnership who has thrived solely in the institutional draw down LP ecosystem, assemble the apparatus to begin distributing those strategies to the individual investor? When client acquisition and conversations, investor sophistication, product design, culture, operational support etc. are all fundamentally different...where do they start in this overhaul? What challenges and pitfalls have they experienced along the way? What battle scars and advice can they share with others that are considering the same or in the early stages themselves. Join us as we draw a blueprint in a very applied and practical manner.
Introduction: (0:48)
Halftime: (54:00)
Guests: (59:39)
Guests:
Shane Clifford, Managing Director–Partner and Head of Global Wealth, Carlyle
Doug Krupa, Managing Director, Global Client Solutions, KKR
AI dominates headlines and investment conferences these days…often to excess. Sensational stories like “Here’s the robot that will steal your job” and charges of “Disrupt, transform or die” fill our feeds and raise fearmongering narratives that channel Issac Asimov’s I-Robot or James Cameron’s Skynet--of course from the Terminator series. Quant shops, hedge funds, and algorithmic trading firms have embedded AI in their models for over a decade. But have we hit a tipping point where applications of these accelerated computing capabilities are ready to invade the more traditional asset management business? What are those use cases and which are most promising? And how should we think about peaceful future co-existence of the human and the machine in managing portfolios. Martin Escobari and Dave Morehead join us to unpack this provocative topic.
Introduction (0:48)
Halftime (42:35)
Guests (50:44)
Guests:
Martin Escobari, Co-President, Managing Director, Head of Global Growth Equity, General Atlantic
Dave Morehead, Chief Investment Officer, Marketable Investments, Baylor University
Today’s asset management business has quickly transformed into a race to build out a stable of thoroughbreds--investment strategies across a spectrum of conventional public equity and debt as well as offerings across the continuum of private capital--equity, credit, secondaries, real estate, infrastructure etc. What makes recent history particularly unique are the crossover deals from traditional managers with alternative managers. For several decades, traditional long only mutual fund shops and institutional firms stayed in their lane and idiosyncratic, complex private capital partnerships lived in a different world---there was a peaceful co-existence and mutual exclusivity. Those distinctions and parallel worlds have evaporated. We explore why with two of the most revered leaders in the industry and compare and contrast their different approaches to meeting this challenge.
Introduction (0:47)
Halftime (47:03)
Guests (53:15)
Guests:
Jean Hynes, CEO, Wellington Management
Jenny Johnson, CEO, Franklin Templeton
No investor claims to be short-term but in the face of the seductive siren call of the emotionally volatile markets, even the most disciplined of investors buckles at the knees. The apparatus and systems in which we work---governance, investment policy, benchmarks, asset allocation frameworks, compensation systems along with the behavioral spiral that haunts us all in times of market trauma tend to perpetuate herd mentality. With the help of some of the best minds on the subject, we work to define long term investing more precisely, explore the virtues of a multi-cycle horizon, and warn of the common pitfalls that so easily break our convictions.
Introduction (0:48)
Halftime (50:00)
Guests (55:50)
Guests:
Welcome back to season 2 of Capital Decanted… well, almost! John Bowman, CFA teases the episode and the “greatest asset in investing” – can you guess what it is? Find out on September 30!
Private Credit has risen from obscurity within the private equity financing world to a greater than $2T asset class in just over a decade. In this episode, we examine the conditions (M&A, debankification, regulation, staying private longer) that accelerated post the GFC that created a torrent of issuance and demand for private credit across direct lending, asset backed credit, structured credit, and innovative special situations. And more importantly, we debate whether we’ve come a little too far, too fast, and if some rationalization and refining is needed before this exciting space continues its upward trajectory.
Guests:
Katie Koch, CEO, TCW
Kipp DeVeer, Partner and Head of Credit, Ares Management
Private Markets Valuations…do these quarterly marks properly represent fair value or are they make believe…contrived from the fictional world of GP machinations? Do these interim valuations, as one commentator put it, “not matter;” or as another proclaimed provocatively, are they simply a case of “volatility laundering.” Is the gap or “lag” with public market equivalents relevant…are we anchoring to the right bogey…or arbitrarily comparing objective value to an emotionally manic patient, to paraphrase Warren Buffett? In today’s episode, our inaugural episode of Capital Decanted, we are going to lean in to this divisive and complex topic with some help from Scott and Andrea.
Guests:
Scott Kupor, Managing Partner, A16z
Andrea Auerbach, Global Head of Private Capital, Cambridge Associates
After a four decade relative period of global stability, the world order has fractured and grown more unpredictable. The new multi-polar reality poses a major problem for leaders and investors as our traditional guardrails, narratives, and structures seem less useful. How should an investor integrate geopolitical trends into their investment thesis and what pitfalls and common mistakes should we watch out for?
Guests:
Anastasia Titarchuk, CIO, New York State Common Retirement Fund
Marko Papic, Partner, Clocktower Group
Since the arrival of Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) in the early 1950’s by the legendary Harry Markowitz, the industry has been sturdily anchored to this philosophy and all of it’s artifacts when constructing portfolios. In recent years, however, an enterprising handful of large institutional asset owners have begun challenging the common wisdom of a strategic asset allocation approach given it tends to breed silo behavior, unhealthy competition for resources and attention, unrecognized duplication or disjointed risk exposure across the portfolio, and difficulty in managing the capital pool holistically around a view of the future. This is the story of how CAIA convened some of the most reputable and largest asset owners in the world to amplify the benefits of TPA and perhaps, the beginning of a new era.
Guests:
Permanent Capital or GP Stakes structures aim to take further advantage of long-dated patient capital in private markets. Furthermore, they allow the LP to participate in additional cash flow streams with the GP that are elusive in a traditional fund structure. In other words, it allows LPs to get exposure to a variety of alternative asset managers as minority owners in the GPs themselves. But does this provide a purer incentive alignment of investors and GPs or simply split allegiance and attention between multiple masters? In this episode, with the help of the largest GP Stakes participant, Blue Owl, and a large LP in their fund, USAA, we examine the evolution of the approach, its idiosyncratic and multi-faceted return stream, and try to honestly assess some of the myths that haunt the space.
Guests:
It’s another coming of age story on Capital Decanted. In this case, since Dayton Carr conceived the space in 1984, we’ve seen private capital secondaries morph from a niche set of transactions of distressed limited partner selling to a more than $600B asset management and liquidity tool utilized by the most sophisticated LPs and GPs in the world and now devoid of the original stigma that plagued these activities. We’ll examine that winding and explosive history of their beginning and then tackle the state and progression of today’s market with partners from the two largest secondaries funds on record.
Introduction (0:47)
Halftime (47:15)
Guests (52:34)
Guests:
Vern Perry: Global Head of Blackstone Strategic Partners
Taylor Robinson: Partner, Lexington Partners
Blockchain, Bitcoin and Bubbles, oh my. No technology in history has caused more rancor and division for investors than crypto and blockchain. But does history teach us that passion might portend something special? With the help of the most authoritative crypto investor on the planet, A16z’s Chris Dixon, we explore the history of computing platform evolution and the conditions to identify the next one while avoiding frothy FOMO. We discuss how to construct a responsible framework for investing in emerging technologies versus a casino mindset. We review the inherent advantages of blockchain networks for content creators and founders and conclude with some of the more promising use cases on the horizon.
Introduction (0:48)
Halftime (1:01:41)
Guests (1:07:03)
Guest:
Chris Dixon, Partner at A16z
One of the key doctrines of modern investment management is diversification, and yet it is remarkably absent from team construction across all spectrums of the investment profession. Countless studies have shown that there is a diversity premium for organizational performance, capital allocation and indeed, investment outcomes and yet we seem trapped in mid teen representation of women. More concerningly, progress seems to have stagnated in recent years. In this episode we lament the lack of impact but more importantly delicately attempt to unearth the root causes of this flattening of the curve, namely the pipeline, COVID, and the DEI movement. Join us for this earnest and honest assessment of what works, what doesn’t, and how a more mature discourse is needed on this generationally important topic.
Introduction (0:48)
Halftime (43:58)
Guests (47:23)
Guests:
Nicole Musicco, Former Chief Investment Officer of CalPERS and angel investor
Ron O’Hanley, Chairman and CEO, State Street Episode Sources
