A WORLD LEADER IN PRIVATE EQUITY ADVISORY TRIAGO PROVIDES PRIVATE EQUITY FUNDRAISING SERVICES, SECONDARY TRANSACTION ADVISORY AND STRATEGIC SOLUTIONS FOR GENERAL PARTNERS AND LIMITED PARTNERS SEEKING TO OPTIMIZE SUCCESS IN THE GLOBAL PRIVATE EQUITY MARKET Founded in 1992 as one of the first private equity fund placement agents, we have completed over 150 fundraisings on five continents and advised on the transfer of more than 2,600 secondary positions in private equity funds. Triago has also undertaken more than 50 strategic advisory mandates for GPs and LPs looking to launch, boost, or restructure PE fund operations. The hallmarks of our service are alignment with client interests, independence, creativity and confidentiality. FUNDRAISING Matching smart money with superior private equity plays. SECONDARY TRANSFERS Maximizing value in a highly inefficient marketplace. STRATEGIC ADVISORY Industry knowledge and experience set us apart. The Triago quarterly Our publication that delivers unique insight into trends and developments in Private Equity. Sign up to read our latest edition and receive notifications of future publications. Sign up here Thoughts from our roundtable contributors The Triago Quarterly invites leading business figures to comment and exchange ideas on key questions facing the world of private equity. Read here or below “It might make sense to follow an index strategy in asset classes where the difference between the best and the worst is small, but spending time and money to weight your portfolio towards exceptional managers will always be the surest way to achieve optimum returns in private equity.” CHUCK FLYNNBREGAL PRIVATE EQUITY PARTNERS, MANAGING DIRECTOR “It’s counterintuitive, but covenant-lite loans have positively impacted fund performance and the ability of challenged private equity-backed companies to bounce back.” STEVE PAGLIUCABAIN CAPITAL, MANAGING DIRECTOR “Not all real assets always work as an inflation hedge, so that shouldn’t be a principle reason why investors buy them.” MARK BARNARDHOWARD HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE, MANAGING DIRECTOR “In such a complicated investment class, you should be devoting years to getting to know managers before you invest with them.” MICHAEL LINDAUER ALLIANZ CAPITAL PARTNERS, GLOBAL CO-HEAD OF FUND INVESTMENTS “Unorthodox PE structures often mean GPs sell services too cheaply to build sustainable businesses, or to deliver returns that satisfy investors.” CONNI JONSSONEQT PARTNERS, MANAGING PARTNER & CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD “It strikes me as reasonable for retail investors to have the opportunity to access private equity, since it has substantially outperformed almost every other asset class.” DAVID JEFFREYSTEPSTONE GROUP, PARTNER, HEAD OF EUROPE “Another big challenge today is communications. At the best-run firms, the once generally accepted ad-hoc approach to investor relations has morphed into a formal, broad public relations function.” COLIN BLAYDON TUCK SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT DARTMOUTH, PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT AND DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR PRIVATE EQUITY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP “An average annual return of slightly more than 10 percent on secondaries is realistic in this new world.” VINCENT GOMBAULTAXA PRIVATE EQUITY, MANAGING DIRECTOR “Recapitalizing general partners who have had trouble monetizing assets post-financial crisis, and who can’t raise capital in a traditional manner, could become a large part of secondary market volume in the next few years.” JONATHAN COSTELLOMORGAN STANLEY ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT PARTNERS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR “Performance has almost nothing to do with the discount or premium paid relative to declared net asset value, though performance does correlate strongly with buyer ability to conduct analysis and forecast the value creation potential of all investments.” PHILIPP SCHNYDERPARTNERS GROUP, MANAGING DIRECTOR, CO-HEAD OF PRIVATE EQUITY SECONDARIES “The sovereign debt crisis increases the appeal of investment in Europe, provided you can find the right GPs.” DAVID ALLENCANADIAN PENSION PLAN INVESTMENT BOARD, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF PRIVATE DEBT “Macro-economic issues and market volatility should not impact a good general partner’s ability to produce superior long-term returns.” ALASTAIR GIBBONSBRIDGEPOINT CAPITAL, SENIOR PARTNER “Private equity performance in emerging markets is more negatively impacted by macro crisis than it is in developed markets.” FRANCESCA CORNELLILONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL, CHAIR OF THE FINANCE FACULTY AND ACADEMIC DIRECTOR OF THE COLLER INSTITUTE OF PRIVATE EQUITY “In 2000 there were 741 active venture capital GPs, and today there are 357. Annual capital flows in 2012 are again in the $15 billion to $20 billion range. Those figures are a better indicator of the opportunity to make good returns today than lagging indexes.” NORM FOGELSONGINSTITUTIONAL VENTURE PARTNERS, GENERAL PARTNER “Good GPs in venture capital are optimists, and good GPs in buyouts are cynics.” PETER LAWRENCEFLAG CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, FOUNDING PARTNER “As an LP, we don’t try to adjust the risk profile of our existing private equity portfolio because GPs and portfolio company managements already do that.” DAVID TURNER GUARDIAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA, HEAD OF PRIVATE EQUITY “There’s a degree of irony in reducing the relative importance of judgment to a percentage, but I’d say seventy percent of your final decision is based on qualitative judgments and only thirty percent on numbers you can crunch.” MICHAEL STUDERPARTNERS GROUP, HEAD OF PORTFOLIO & RISK MANAGEMENT “Organizational stability and generational transition were always risks that the industry needed to address, but the 2008 financial crisis amplified this.” CHRISTOPHER KOJIMAGOLDMAN SACHS, GLOBAL HEAD OF THE ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS & MANAGER SELECTION GROUP “If you don’t seek out the best GPs, adding private equity to your overall portfolio is not going to improve your risk/return profile.” DAVID BELMONTCOMMONFUND, CHIEF RISK OFFICER “We’ve learned that the best protection against losses, particularly in difficult markets, is making sure a GP has enough of his own capital invested in his fund so that a loss hurts.” JAN FABERBREGAL INVESTMENTS, MANAGING DIRECTOR “LPs looking to do co-investments must be able to identify the transactions where the GP has a real edge.” TOM KECKSTEPSTONE GROUP, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER “Across all emerging markets we want exposure to burgeoning consumer demand – this is the core appeal of developing economies.” JUAN DELGADO-MOREIRAHAMILTON LANE, MANAGING DIRECTOR “If you look at the relative promise of developed markets versus emerging markets, the latter are on every level where I want to be going forward.” SIMON MURRAY GEMS, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN “There are some [frontier market] economies that are interesting, where you don’t see a lot of private equity activity. To justify more investment, there must first be more good GPs operating in these markets.” ERNEST LAMBERSEMALTERNATIVES, CO-FOUNDER AND CIO “A good investment all boils down to the price you pay, whether you are talking about fast or slow growing economies.” JEAN ERIC SALATA BARING PRIVATE EQUITY ASIA, FOUNDING PARTNER & CEO “When you acquire mining assets it often takes years to develop cash-flow and profit. We couldn’t invest in mines with consistent success without private equity strategy.” ROSS BHAPPURESOURCE CAPITAL FUNDS, SENIOR PARTNER “The issue of doing deals for fee flow is linked with secondary buyouts, which reached the shocking record of nearly 60 percent of total buyout value in 2010.” JON MOULTONBETTER CAPITAL, CHAIRMAN “One useful priority could be lowering the hurdle rate significantly. That could keep GPs and LPs better aligned in what is likely to be a relatively low-return environment going forward.” CHARLIE AYRESTRILANTIC CAPITAL PARTNERS , CHAIRMAN “Changing rules for corporate competition is the most risky thing in the directive for private equity and for the European economy.” JAVIER ECHARRITHE EUROPEAN VENTURE CAPITAL ASSOCIATION, SECRETARY GENERAL “By placing a discount or premium on assets, secondary market investors already give you an independent assessment of the accuracy of GP valuations.” KLAUS BJØRN RÜHNEATP PRIVATE EQUITY PARTNERS, PARTNER “With infrastructure, you can safely enhance returns with the same leverage levels as in traditional buyouts or, in some cases, with even more leverage.” KATHRYN LEAF WILMESPANTHEON VENTURES, HEAD OF GLOBAL INFRASTRUCTURE "The majority of attractive investments in Sub-Saharan Africa – for us and others - concern the building of basic businesses that should exist but that simply don’t." ALYKHAN NATHOOPARTNER, HELIOS INVESTMENT PARTNERS "Investments in Sub-Saharan Africa may make a better return than Asian investments, but investors need greater expertise, more local understanding and a bigger dollop of patience than what was required in Asia." MARLON CHIGWENDEMANAGING DIRECTOR AND CO-HEAD OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, CARLYLE GROUP "In private equity, investing in a new geography is a way to protect your returns by diversifying them. You should not be trying to boost returns in exchange for greater risk." ARNAUD DE CREMIERSPARTNER, ADAMS STREET PARTNERS "Globally, one of the most interesting developments of recent years is the collapse of European barriers to successful venture capital investing. Europe offers the prospect of 3x returns for fund investors for the first time." FRED DESTINPARTNER, ACCEL PARTNERS "One of the keys to investing success is only take stakes in start-ups in markets that really are as big as the entrepreneurs’ vision. That keeps business plans and investment burn rates in line with the opportunity." DEVEN PAREKHMANAGING DIRECTOR, INSIGHT VENTURE PARTNERS "Although the investment flow to Silicon Valley is higher by several orders of magnitude than flows going to other regions, the average returns in the Valley have been the greatest. In almost every conceivable new category pioneered in recent decades, the global leaders have emerged in Silicon Valley." GARY LITTLECO-FOUNDER & PARTNER, CANVAS VENTURE FUND “Acquisitions of smaller managers can be an attractive way for big managers to get access to sought after sector expertise.” ALISTAIR WATSONSENIOR INVESTMENT MANAGER, ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENTt “Combining L Capital’s Asian and European operations with Catterton’s network in North America and South America, gives us the kind of global offering that will maximize returns.” PHILIPPE FRANCHETSENIOR PARTNER, L CAPITAL MANAGEMENT “The benefits of scale usually come by branching into new areas or specialties and using the same platform for fundraising, compliance and reporting.” CHRISTOPHE EVAINCEO, INTERMEDIATE CAPITAL GROUP “If you apply common sense it’s hard to imagine a scenario where the risks of investing in China outweigh the promise.” JONATHAN JIA ZHUMANAGING DIRECTOR, BAIN CAPITAL “Scale can’t be underestimated when it comes to China’s appeal, in particular in relation to the country’s venture capital market.” YAR-PING SOOPARTNER, ADAMS STREET PARTNERS “We tell our investors that as the second largest economy in the world, China today is just a small step away from being the biggest. Understanding the big picture helps bring home the depth of the opportunity set in China.” DEREK SULGERPARTNER & FOUNDER, LUNAR CAPITAL © COPYRIGHT TRIAGO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Legal notice Credits