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????“他們約談我們的首席財務官和財務主管，詢問我們的內部控制、現金管理以及財務后勤職員的教育背景……他們還希望了解我們的人力資本政策，比如證券交易和政治捐款。” |
????"They came in to interview our CFO and controller, to ask about our internal controls, how we manage cash and the educational background of our financial back-office employees… They also wanted to know about our human capital policies, like securities trading and political donations." |
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????說這番話的可不是一家受到財務調查的公司的首席執行官，而是私募股權公司GTCR的負責人菲利普?坎菲爾德，他說的是像他們這樣的公司正日益受到潛在投資者的調查。 ????“我們預見到了如今盡職調查會變得更嚴格，但其深度仍讓我們感到意外，”坎菲爾德補充稱，“對那些過去假定存在競爭力的領域也有深入核查。” ????也難怪坎菲爾德吃驚。其位于芝加哥的公司已有30多年歷史，回報率高于行業均值；在其他人隨波逐流之時，該公司恪守“基于平臺的”投資策略。同時在業內，GTCR也以提供一些對投資者最友好的基金條款而著稱，比如不攫取所謂的“交易費”。 ????最后，GTCR是成功的。其第10支基金募資32.5億美元，明顯高于僅30億美元的目標。但過去一年大多數時候，當投資者說“跳”的時候，坎菲爾德和公司都感覺不得不問一聲“多高”。 ????這些投資者中就有波士頓“基金中的基金”(FOF)管理公司HarbourVest的董事總經理約翰?莫里斯。 ????莫里斯承認，過去一年盡職調查已變得更為嚴格，像他們這樣的公司不再有必須快速決定的壓力。 ????“現在我們對未實現投資進行大量分析，并能觀察幾個季度的表現后再做決定，” 莫里斯表示，“我們不再擔心如果我們不立即投資，就會被某支基金拒之門外。” ????其他基金投資者談到了約談私募股權公司上支基金支持的每位首席執行官，了解這些首席執行官所在公司的成敗有多少可歸因于私募股權公司(而不是整個市場的力量或公司管理層)。或者試圖弄清私募股權公司對各宗交易負責的是哪些雇員，而不僅僅是關注表現最好和最差的交易。 ????所有這些都反映了私募股權業力量天平的偏移，過去基金經理對投資者頤指氣使(“如果今天你不愿照我們的條款投資，有的是人愿意”)。如今，掌握主動權的變成了投資者——這很大程度上是因為持續的流動性緊張，促使投資者放緩了新投資步伐，并回過頭來認真地審視現有關系。 ????例如，研究公司Preqin的報告顯示，2010年關閉募集的私募股權基金平均募集期為18個月，較2008年初延長了50%。GTCR是例外，只有8個月募集期，但很多私募股權基金的募集期超過了兩年。 ????對于今年試圖募集新資本的幾百家私募股權公司而言，這樣漫長而繁復的流程將是常態，雖然未來可能會有所改變。 ????“我認為一切都是周而復始的，”莫里斯表示，“我確信在未來的某個時點基金募集速度將加快，投資者提出的問題也會減少。但我想，我們誰都不知道這種情況何時會出現。” |
????That isn't the CEO of a company under investigation for financial irregularities. It's Philip Canfield, principal of private equity firm GTCR, describing the increased scrutiny that groups like his are facing from prospective investors. ????"We anticipated that due diligence would be more rigorous this time around, but the depth of it still managed to surprise us," Canfield adds. "There was deep probing into areas where, in the past, there was an assumed level of competence." ????It's hard to blame Canfield for being taken aback. His Chicago-based firm has been around for more than 30 years, has produced above-average returns and has stuck to its "platform-based" investment strategy when those around it were chasing fads. Moreover, GTCR was known to have some of the industry's most investor-friendly fund terms, such as not hogging so-called "deal fees." ????Ultimately, GTCR was successful. The firm raised $3.25 billion for its tenth fund, compared to a target of just $3 billon. But for most of the past year, Canfield and company felt compelled to ask "how high" when its investors said "jump." ????One of those investors is John Morris, a managing director with Boston-based fund-of-funds manager HarbourVest. ????Morris acknowledges that due diligence has gotten more stringent over the past year, and that firms like his no longer feel pressure to make quick decisions. ????"We are now doing a lot more analysis of unrealized investments, and have the flexibility to take a wait-and-see approach with how they perform over a couple of quarters," Morris says. "We are no longer concerned about getting shut out of a fund if we refuse to commit immediately." ????Other fund investors talk about interviewing every CEO that a private equity firm backed in its last fund, to understand how much of that company's success or failure is attributable to the firm (as opposed to larger market forces or company management). Or how they try to figure out which PE firm staffers are responsible for each and every deal, rather than just focusing on the best and worst performing transactions. ????All of this is part of a larger power shift within private equity, where fund managers traditionally have lorded over their own investors ("If you don't want to invest today on our terms, we can easily find someone else who will"). Today, it's the investors who are in charge – largely due to prolonged liquidity challenges that caused them to slow down new commitments and seriously reexamine existing relationships. ????For example, research firm Preqin reports that the average private equity fund closed in 2010 had been in market for 18 months, up 50% from early 2008. GTCR was an exception to this trend with just an 8-month fundraise, but there are plenty of shops that have been at it for more than two years. ????Such lengthy and detailed processes will be the norm for the hundreds of private equity firms that try to raise new capital this year. The more interesting fundraisings, however, may come later. ????"I think these things are cyclical," Morris says. "At some point in the future, I'm sure funds will get raised faster with fewer questions asked. But I don't think any of us know when that future will begin." |
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