As the investment management industry has become institutionalized, an ecosystem of “GP seeder” investors have emerged who anchor-invest in emerging managers sometimes before their first close, in exchange for preferential terms. We’ve also seen the emergence of “GP stakes” investors, who buy stakes in established firms, typically once they are at least a decade old. Over $60 billion has been raised to date to acquire GP stakes of established private equity firms, with recent high-profile examples including Vista, Vistria, Clearlake, Dragoneer, TSG Consumer, Veritas, H.I.G., and L Catterton.
Among the topics we’ll discuss:
- How do you attract the interest of GP seeders and stakers for your investment management firm?
- How do you mitigate the challenge of negotiating with professional investment negotiators?
- How do you gain liquidity?
- What are the typical structures and terms?
Suggested background reading: Should you give an anchor investor a stake in your fund’s management company?
Pre-registration is required and will close at Noon on January 8th, 2024.
Bios
Speaker
Bradford Pilcher
Partner, Bonaccord Capital Partners
Bradford Pilcher, Partner, Bonaccord Capital Partners, has a principal focus on management and development of the BCP business and is a member of Bonaccord’s investment committee. Prior to forming Bonaccord, he was a Director at Guggenheim Partners, where his activities focused on strategic development within alternatives. Previously, Bradford was a Vice President in Swiss Re’s Equity and Fund-Linked Group. He began his career as an Investment Associate at Bridgewater Associates. Bradford earned a Bachelor of Arts in Middle Eastern Language and Culture from Columbia University.
Speaker
Grant Darwin
Partner, Proskauer Rose LLP
Grant Darwin is a partner in Proskauer’s Corporate Department and a member of the Private Equity and Mergers & Acquisitions Group. Grant advises private capital sponsors and private and public companies in connection with a variety of domestic and cross-border buyouts, joint ventures, restructurings and other strategic transactions, including growth and emerging company equity financings as counsel to investors and companies. Asset manager clients frequently look to Grant for guidance in critical life cycle events, including GP/asset manager M&A transactions, as well as GP-stakes and GP-led secondary transactions. Beyond his corporate practice, Grant engages in a range of pro bono efforts and volunteer work, including voter registration and election protection initiatives and serving as a mentor for elementary school students in NYC public schools through Read Ahead.
Joshua Blaine is Senior Managing Director & Head of GP Stakes at Blackstone Strategic Partners. Mr. Blaine joined Strategic Partners in 2001 and is a member of each of Strategic Partners’ Investment Committees, and its Management and Operating Committees. Mr. Blaine has executed on several billion dollars of secondary and capital solution transactions for both investors and general partners. Prior to joining Strategic Partners, he worked in the Private Fund Group at JPMorgan Chase & Co., where he was part of a small dedicated team responsible for selling almost $2 billion of the firm’s private equity partnership interests through a series of secondary market transactions. He previously worked in the Corporate Finance Department at UBS. Mr. Blaine serves or has served on numerous advisory and charitable boards and is currently a member of the Tulane Business School Council. Mr. Blaine received a B.S.M. cum laude in Finance from the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University.
Moderator
David Teten, MBA 1998
Partner, Coolwater Capital
David Teten is a Partner with Coolwater Capital, known as “Y Combinator for emerging VCs”. Coolwater runs an accelerator for emerging VC fund managers and invests as a limited partner, into general partnerships, in fund management companies, and also directly into startups. David is Founder of Versatile VC, backing early-stage “investment tech” companies which help investors generate alpha and succeed. He is Chair of PEVCTech, a community of investors in private companies using technology and analytics to generate alpha, and Founders’ Next Move, a community and set of resources for founders exploring new ideas. He was previously a Managing Partner with HOF Capital; Partner with ff Venture Capital; and Founder of Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of NY.