Discuss what options are emerging for private equity firms to finance their GP commitments, expansion into new strategies or geographies and succession planning?

What options are emerging alongside traditional debt and equity for GPs to finance commitments for flagship funds, expansion into new strategies or geographies, and succession planning? What do you need to know about preferred equity portfolio finance?

Chair - Michele Giddens
Partner & Co-Founder, Bridges Fund Management

Although a well-established process in hedge fund investing, operational due diligence (ODD) is still a relatively new discipline for Private Equity firms. It’s evolving rapidly as managers of all sizes realise they need to prepare themselves to deal with greater investor queries. As such queries, and indeed on-site visits from a more engaged investor base, increase, they need to have a heightened awareness of their overall control environment, operating model and third-party service providers they use. The challenges that come with this are relatively straight forward, the different approaches to solve them less so.

Chair - Ben Wilkinson
CFO, Draper Esprit

Join us to discuss the latest trends and challenges around investor reporting. We will take this opportunity to look at how ESG, valuations, fundraising, reporting templates, and due diligence are being addressed within the industry. This is a time for you to gather and discuss candidly with your peers how the demands being placed on your respective businesses are being addressed and share ideas. You will have a forum to network, forge new connections, and knowledge share during this session.

Chair - Neel Mehta
Chief Financial Officer, DWS Private Equity

Discuss how demonstrating a robust, analytical approach to business & operating risk, via a framework approach can enable value creation across the fund life cycle.

Looking at risk in the same way across the portfolio can create consistency in decision-making, reducing the possibility of value erosion through conservative or laidback approaches to risk.

Chair - Jim Weight
Founder, Weight Partners Capital

Explore how and why funds are changing the way they use financing solutions, look at the evolution of subscription facilities and discuss whether trust and a long term relationship or the transaction itself are more important when choosing a financing partner. Examine how the ILPA guidelines have changed the way we work and consider the top three things the perfect bank would deliver to a fund / fund manager.

Chair - Tim Farazmand
Chairman, Palatine Impact Fund

With the eventual outcome and impacts of the Brexit negotiations still uncertain, planning for the future has been challenging for most businesses. However, with the increasing likelihood of a no-deal scenario, private equity (PE) owners and their portfolio companies should now have a clear view of any significant impacts on their workforce, supply chain, customer base, regulatory constraints and exit strategies to secure existing business value and, where possible, tap into any competitive advantage. How can companies maximise Brexit readiness without spending resources on outcomes that may not materialise?

Join Mats Persson, Head of International Trade and Brexit Lead at EY UKI, who was a Special Advisor to the Prime Minister 2015-2016 for a discussion on how PE owners and their portfolio can best clarify and qualify risk, preserve value and identify opportunities in each of the three most likely negotiation outcomes.

Chair - Gurpreet Manku
Deputy Director General and Director of Policy, BVCA