Private equity is going global. When it gets there, it will run into Actis, Advent International, Darby Overseas Investments, General Atlantic and Investcorp, five private equity firms that have been global from the word go.
The differences between the operations of these firms highlight the rather nebulous definition of the term “global”. In other words, just as there is no one right model for a domestic private equity firm, there is no one right model for a global private equity firm.
Today, large and small private equity firms alike are finding that they simply must establish operations beyond borders. This is because the portfolio companies in which they invest must compete in a global market and must take advantage of the suppliers and buyers around the world. These firms are also going global because LPs reward them for doing so. A firm with a proven strategy in the US often finds support for an expansion of that strategy to new markets, which translates to an increase in assets under management. LPs are also eager to commit more capital to the emerging markets and are often comfortable doing so through a known franchise that has hired experienced local teams.
In profiling the operations of Actis, Advent, Darby, General Atlantic and Investcorp, PEI Manager thought it would be interesting to examine the hub-and-spoke structure of these five firms, which markets they have targeted, how the offices are staffed, how the economics work across geographies and strategies, and how their funds have been structured. We hope these case studies are valuable to you as you plot the expansion of your own franchise, whether this means a two-man affiliate office on the other side of the Atlantic, or a string of offices from Dubai to Mumbai to Shanghai.
General Atlantic
A global firm with a global fund Â
General Atlantic was one of the earliest firms in the growth equity sector to have expanded abroad. Founded in 1980, the firm began seeking out international opportunities ten years later. It made its first investment in Europe in 1989, China in 1999, Brazil in 2000 and India in 2002.
The Greenwich- and New York-based firm now has offices in Palo Alto, London, Düsseldorf, Mumbai, Hong Kong and São Paulo. The US houses the bulk of General Atlantic’s deal team: its Greenwich office has nine investment professionals, and the New York office has 28. But around half of General Atlantic’s deals are outside of the US, so everyone does a fair amount of traveling. Of nearly $9 billion in total capital the firm has invested, over $4 billion was committed to deals outside of the US.
On average, General Atlantic devotes 1.6 investment professionals per portfolio company. The firm is organised along a matrix structure, where professionals have first a regional focus based on their location, and then a sectoral focus on one of the five sectors the firm targets: financial services, energy and resources, media and consumer, healthcare, and enterprise solutions.
“There’s a lot of cross sharing, a lot of collaboration,” says Patricia Hedley, General Atlantic’s head of marketing. “If we see an energy opportunity, our head of energy sector is involved whether that opportunity is in Europe, India, China or Brazil.”
One world, one fund
The firm’s fund structure fosters this type of integrated approach. General Atlantic manages around $15 million in capital in a global evergreen fund. The fund’s 30-some limited partners make capital commitments that are drawn down over a five year period, after which they have the opportunity to renew their commitment. The commitment periods are staggered so the LPs come up for renewal at different times.
Compensation is tied to the performance of all the companies in the fund, rather than the investments in their region or sector.
Thus, everyone has an incentive to help out wherever possible. “The fact that we don’t have separate individual funds, and the fact that we’re all compensated on the firm as a whole, makes a difference in terms of how people focus on these opportunities,” Hedley says.
Even the very topmost level of management is spread out across the globe. General Atlantic is governed by three committees: an executive committee, an investment committee, and a portfolio committee. All three committees have members from multiple offices. Its operating partners too include special advisors in India, China and Brazil. In this way, authority isn’t centralised at headquarters, but at the same time individual offices aren’t autonomous either.
Non-investment activities, however, are largely handled in Greenwich or New York. The IT staff is largely based there, as well as the finance team. Investor relations is handled out of New York and Greenwich as well. Because General Atlantic’s group of LPs is relatively small – around 30 investors, mainly high net worth families and a few institutions – and concentrated in Europe, Canada and North America, reporting and communications are fairly simple matters. And because of the structure of the evergreen fund, fundraising isn’t overly burdensome either.
Local professionals, global resources
General Atlantic prefers to hire local people, rather than sending US professionals abroad, Hedley says.
Some of them might have spent time in the US, for education or work, and then returned to their home country, and some of them might have studied and worked exclusively in their home country. One of General Atlantic’s managing directors in India studied at the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, and then spent six years running McKinsey & Company’s Indian operations. Another went to the US to study at Harvard Business School and then spent much of his career in New York and London working for Goldman Sachs and UBS.
The firm doesn’t have trouble competing with local funds for either personnel or deals, because for the type of investments General Atlantic makes – growth equity – having a global network is of the utmost importance, Hedley says. Young firms looking to move into the next phase of growth want to deliver to markets all over the world, and an international firm can provide that access. For instance, General Atlantic helped to facilitate Lenovo’s acquisition of IBM Thinkpad, which launched the Chinese computer maker onto the global stage. And when GE spun out its business outsourcing division, Genpact, General Atlantic helped Genpact connect with international customers.
“We focus on growth companies, and we help them continue in their growth,” Hedley says. “One of the key ways in which we add value over time is through the global network that we provide. Many companies see a benefit in having an investor that can help them expand globally.”
Darby Overseas Investments
Boutique with global management Â
With more than 50 investment professionals working in 10 countries around the world, Darby Overseas Investments certainly lives up to its name. The mid-cap private equity firm is based in Washington, DC but its presence has spread through offices in Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Vienna, Warsaw and Budapest. The firm plans to open branches in Istanbul, Hong Kong, Mumbai and Seoul in the future.
After it was founded in 1994 by former US Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady, Darby started out in Latin America. Among its regional funds, 1999’s Darby Latin America Mezzanine Fund was among the first sources of mezzanine capital in the region. It is still continuing to break ground there, as its recent Brazil Mezzanine Infrastructure Fund is the first such fund devoted exclusively to Brazilian infrastructure.
Over the years the firm has expanded to Asia and Eastern Europe with funds such as Korea Emerging Infrastructure Fund and Emerging Europe Fund, which have invested in everything from an industrial bakery in Turkey to a coffee company in India to a dairy products concern in Latvia.
While other private equity firms have also diversified internationally over the years, Darby senior managing director Clark Nielsen says that Darby’s status as a wholly owned subsidiary of Franklin Templeton gives it a unique advantage. The San Mateo, California-based global investment management organisation, which has over 60 years of investment experience and manages around $200 billion in assets, acquired Darby in 2003.
As a boutique private equity operation within a massive global investment management organisation, Nielsen says Darby gets the best of both worlds. Darby has a great deal of independence on front office operations such as portfolio management and investment decisionmaking, while Franklin provides support on back office issues such as personnel, office space and technology infrastructure that can be expensive for a firm on its own.
This also comes in handy when deciding where to establish a new base. “When we are planning a new office in Mexico City, for example, we will talk to the Darby people on the ground there, determine what do they view as their space needs, what infrastructure do they think they are going to need, what are their growth plans over the next five years, et cetera,” Nielsen says. “We will also survey other groups in Franklin Templeton that have an interest in a Mexico City office and get their input. It’s very collaborative in that respect.”
Boots on the ground
With so much of its business in emerging markets, the firm places a premium on gathering intelligence through a local presence. Most of its investment officers live in the countries in which they do business and have a better understanding of the local customs, regulations and ideal companies to invest in. Once the local teams have found good investment prospects, the firm follows a standardised process that is used in all regions.
This involves local teams originating the deals and doing some preliminary work, then proposing the best ones to an investment committee made up of senior managers from around the firm. Nielsen says that while some local investors like to participate in such committees, more and more the firm is keeping these decisions controlled by senior Darby management.
If the committee gives a green light the local team goes back and finalises aspects like due diligence, structuring and negotiating final terms, and then sends the deal back to the committee for final approval.
After the deal is closed the local team is responsible for monitoring the deal, reporting back to the committee on valuation and other matters and eventually managing the exit process. Throughout the process the main office gives the local teams a lot of room to maneuver.
“The local teams have a lot of responsibility for the deals they originate and close,” says Nielsen. “I would not say it’s a case of Washington calling the shots at all.”
Joint ventures are rarer at Darby, so they come under greater scrutiny. The firm currently manages its Korea Emerging Infrastructure Fund with Hana Bank and its Brazil mezzanine fund is a joint venture with Brazilian private equity manager Stratus Group. Stratus was more involved on the fundraising side due to its local connections and knowledge, while Darby will take the lead on making instruments due to its mezzanine financing experience.
“Ultimately those decisions on joint ventures are collective because the local folks have to be comfortable with it and the people in Washingtonhave to be comfortable with it,” he says. “We want to make sure we have a partner and a structure we can live with before we put our name on it.”
On the legal side, Darby has an in-house general counsel, Jonathan Haddon, and in-house lawyers in each of the regions it does business. It has also developed relationships with outside counsels encompassing both big multinational firms that have capabilities across borders as well as smaller local firms. “And in many cases the local firms are critical, because they really do know not only local regulations and customs but they are also very plugged into the markets and they’ll have intelligence on local business issues, the sector and the people.”
Staying in touch
Darby has made more than 20 investments in Asia, 13 in Central and Eastern Europe, and 40 in Latin America. With so many deals scattered across different time zones, the firm has maintained certain practices from it earliest days in keeping track of its myriad activities.
“Every Monday morning we have a staff call and basically everybody calls in and we go around region by region,” says Nielsen.
“People give updates on what is going on, what issues they see, how their deal-flow looks, any portfolio problems or items of interest, fundraising issues, anything at all. That’s a really useful tool and sitting in gives you a pretty good sense of what is going on around the firm.”
The firm also has a reporting structure under which senior managing directors for each region are responsible for keeping in contact with the teams there, while chief operating officer Richard Frank does a lot of traveling to get a sense of what is going on in various offices.
Reaching out to the LPs is also important especially during times like these. Nielsen says that in addition to periodic reporting for all the funds, annual reports and client visits, Darby also sent out a client communication to investors recently to reassure them about plans for the portfolio.
While videoconferencing has not been seen as necessary internally, it has proven beneficial in recruiting if a potential hire can’t make the trip to the office in Hong Kong for instance.
Locking in talent
As with many international private equity firms, finding the best talent in distant markets is essential for Darby’s expansion efforts. Nielsen says the goal is to recruit top-level people who want to work in their home country. This includes hiring recruiting firms in Asia, Europe and Latin America and going to campuses and posting on the websites of top business schools like Harvard and Stanford. “You’d be amazed at how many responses we get from things like that,” he says. “You see a lot of people that have gone to business school in the US, worked for a few years on Wall Street, maybe want to make the transition to private equity and want to go back to their home country.”
Just as important as getting people in is keeping them on board, which is why Nielsen says compensation is something the firm spends a lot of time on.
“At the end of the day in private equity track record is what counts, and track record is people, so you need to keep your people,” he says.
Since compensation standards are set depending on the competitive demands of the individual markets, the firm spends a lot of time keeping tabs of the market conditions and compensation in all the areas in which they are active. Darby’s employees are paid a base salary, bonuses based on the firm’s and the individual’s performance and shared carried interest in a fund. The firm also splits carried interest earned with the team.
Darby also has a programme allowing its investment professionals to invest in the funds that they manage and leverage such investments, while the firm recently implemented a new sharing programme with its investment teams based on the performance of the seed capital not only in the funds but in the pool of funds around the firm.
“Everyone has not only an interest in what they are doing in their own particular jurisdiction but has some sort of tie-in to the firm as a whole,” Nielsen says. “That’s one of the things that’s difficult for a global firm, making sure that people focus not only on what they are doing but also can feel connected to the firm as a whole.”
Actis
A fully emerged player in the emerging markets Â
Actis is known for investing where others fear to tread. Four years after spinning out from the UK’s CDC Group, the firm’s 30-some partners are spread out over 13 offices. While some of those offices are in familiar turf for global private equity firms today – Beijing and Mumbai for example – few other firms can claim an outpost in Karachi or Lagos.
The UK government founded the CDC Group in 1948 to rebuild its colonies after World War II. The organisation was funded with a zero-coupon loan from the government, and was expected to break even. The CDC initially loaned to agribusinesses, then later to project finance. But by 1997 its mandate began to evolve. Rather than functioning as a development lender, the CDC would become an equity investor, and would try to marshal third-party capital to invest in frontier economies.
But the CDC’s close ties to the government made it difficult to woo outside investors, who tend to be more interested in financial returns than social benefits, and who also tend to be wary of potential government interference. In recognition of this problem, the group decided to split into two parts. The first, which would retain the name CDC, would invest the government’s money as an LP with the goal of creating development benefits in poor countries.
The new group, called Actis, would act as a general partner, independent of the government, seeking investment opportunities and raising capital from outside investors.
By 2004, Actis had raised $1.4 billion in additional capital from some 70 LPs. At press time the firm was close to wrapping up fundraising for a $2.5 billion global private equity fund and a $1.25 billion infrastructure fund. The CDC Group remains a cornerstone investor in the new funds, having committed around $1 billion to the infrastructure fund and $650 million to the global PE fund.
But beyond just raising capital, the firm worked hard on developing and maintaining the true partnership culture of a private equity firm. Keeping the far-flung team tightly knit and fostering the culture of collaboration has been a high priority for the firm.Actis is known for investing where others fear to tread. Four years after spinning out from the UK’s CDC Group, the firm’s 30-some partners are spread out over 13 offices. While some of those offices are in familiar turf for global private equity firms today – Beijing and Mumbai for example – few other firms can claim an outpost in Karachi or Lagos. The UK government founded the CDC Group in 1948 to rebuild its colonies after World War II. The organisation was funded with a zero-coupon loan from the government, and was expected to break even. The CDC initially loaned to agribusinesses, then later to project finance. But by 1997 its mandate began to evolve. Rather than functioning as a development lender, the CDC would become an equity investor, and would try to marshal third-party capital to invest in frontier economies. But the CDC’s close ties to the government made it difficult to woo outside investors, who tend to be more interested in financial returns than social benefits, and who also tend to be wary of potential government interference. In recognition of this problem, the group decided to split into two parts. The first, which would retain the name CDC, would invest the government’s money as an LP with the goal of creating development benefits in poor countries. The new group, called Actis, would act as a general partner, independent of the government, seeking investment opportunities and raising capital from outside investors. By 2004, Actis had raised $1.4 billion in additional capital from some 70 LPs. At press time the firm was close to wrapping up fundraising for a $2.5 billion global private equity fund and a $1.25 billion infrastructure fund. The CDC Group remains a cornerstone investor in the new funds, having committed around $1 billion to the infrastructure fund and $650 million to the global PE fund. But beyond just raising capital, the firm worked hard on developing and maintaining the true partnership culture of a private equity firm. Keeping the far-flung team tightly knit and fostering the culture of collaboration has been a high priority for the firm.
One firm
Actis emphasises that it runs its operations as a single firm. Investment professionals are assigned to deals based on their sector expertise just as much as their location. Mobility is encouraged and members of the investment team are constantly traveling between offices.
The entire firm met in Delhi this March, an event that happens annually. The entire partnership meets three or four times per year formally.
When face-to-face interaction isn’t possible, team members are kept in the loop through other means of communication. The senior partner, Paul Fletcher, conducts regular firm-wide conference calls which are then posted on the internet for those who can’t listen in person. Even more frequently, an internal business bulletin is sent out. Actis also makes heavy use of videoconferencing to keep everyone in touch. This presents a challenge as the phone systems in many of the markets where Actis operates aren’t always reliable. In these cases, Actis will lay down its own dedicated network of phone lines.
But at the same time as the Actis team is global and unified, the firm also prides itself on local knowledge of all the markets in which it operates. The firm runs a global MBA recruitment programme at Harvard Business School, LBS and Wharton, but it also uses its local networks to recruit people on the ground.
“It’s the combination of the deep geographical expertise with the specialist international sector expertise, which is an unusual combination that we think really makes a difference, particularly when our competitors in some of our markets operate more of a fly-in model,” says Larissa Joy, Actis’s chief operating officer.
Actis structures its compensation to reflect and foster this culture.
A portion of a partner’s carry compensation is based on the performance of the companies in his region, and a portion is based on the performance of all of the firm’s private equity investments. A small portion also comes from a company-wide pot that reflects the performance of every asset class, including infrastructure.
“We have a global compensation committee and we align our carry to make sure that we retain and motivate our best performers,” Joy explains. “Our compensation model is also global. What that means in real terms is a person on the Actis team in China with carry in the global fund receives a proportion of their carry from their local performance, as well as a portion of their carry from the global performance of the whole firm. We think that’s vital because it motivates people to think both from a global emerging markets point of view as well as from their own geographical perspective.”
Actis initially raised funds dedicated to specific regions, but its most recent private equity fund (and its new infrastructure fund) are global, which will shift the compensation structure even further away from regional differentiation.
A global fund has several advantages over regional pools of capital, Joy says. It gives Actis exposure to the best-in-market teams across the emerging markets, rather than in specific countries; it allows Actis to diversify by region, sector and deal type; it allows for an appropriately flexible and dynamic asset allocation within the parameters agreed with LPs; it allows for a more efficient deployment of capital for LPs, who need only sign up with one manager, making one commitment and paying one fee; and it allows Actis to choose the best deals out of a pan-emerging markets deal flow.
Governance across borders
The firm’s London headquarters isn’t the centre of power in the firm, but the other offices aren’t autonomous either. All deals are brought before an global investment committee whose members come from every region. The composition of the committee varies from deal to deal so that the best possible team reviews the investment, but it typically consists of the chief investment officer, senior partner Paul Fletcher, the portfolio manager, the appropriate sector leader and the heads of each of Actis’s three largest regions.
Non-investment decisions that affect the whole firm are made by the firm’s executive committee.
That committee is composed of the heads of each region, the heads of each asset class, and other senior members of the firm.
But one area of the firm’s operations is centered in a single location: the firm has a large in-sourced shared service center in Delhi, Actis Global Services.
That operation handles the whole firm’s finance activities, fund administration, IT and human resources functions. The firm had previously managed these functions out of London, but two years ago decided to move the operation to India to take advantage of the skilled labor market there.
Actis’s limited partners are just as varied a group as its investment professionals. Of the firm’s 90-some LPs, 35 percent are based in North America, 40 percent in Europe, just over 10 percent in the Middle East and Africa, and 15 percent in Asia and Australia.
Actis’s six investor relations professionals are based in the US and London, and spend a large part of their time traveling around the globe to meet with investors.
Given that Actis invests in markets that are outside the usual geographic purview of the private equity community, constant communication with the limited partners is important. The firm will also regularly take investors on trips to places like Africa and India to see Actis’s portfolio companies firsthand.
“Our policy is always to be very open with investors.” Joy says.
“We communicate very regularly with investors both on a formal basis, through investor panels, briefings and reporting, and informally as and when appropriate. Jonathan Bond [Actis’s head of investor relations and fundraising] also publishes a regular podcast communication to investors to make sure that we keep investors abreast of any developments that are relevant to their interests in the fund.”
Investcorp
Linking Gulf money with global deals Â
Building bridges
As one of the few publicly listed private equity firms with a global focus, Investcorp has to make sure it balances profits with openness and good corporate governance. But rather than seeing its obligations toward its stakeholders as a burden, the firm instead believes that high standards—combined with a unique business model—has contributed to its success since it was founded by former Chase Manhattan banker Nemir Kirdar in 1982.
Since then Investcorp has grown to be one of the largest and most diverse alternative investment managers in the world, with listings on both the London and Bahrain stock exchanges. It currently has more than $17 billion in assets under management, spanning leveraged buyouts, venture capital investments, real estate holdings, global asset management and its newest business line: Gulf growth capital. The firm experienced its two most profitable years to date for the fiscal years 2007 and 2008, including booking profits of $582 million for the period ending July 30.
The firm boasts of launching a new business concept more than 25 years ago, by creating a bridge between wealth in the Gulf region and investment opportunities in the West. As such, its principal strategy has been to channel the wealth of its more than 1,000 clients in the Gulf into investments in North America and Western Europe. Over the years Investcorp has invested in companies ranging from luxury retailers like Gucci and Tiffany’s to smaller players with big potential like American Tire Distributors and Finnish credit information agency Asiakastieto.
Dividing responsibility
Investcorp’s operating structure is based on a network of six business teams divided between the offices in Bahrain, London and New York, with its investment professionals drawn from over 30 nationalities.
Corporate investment in North America and real estate are based in New York, corporate investment in Europe is based in London, while asset management, investment placement and financial management are based in Bahrain.
The private equity teams in New York and London identify and arrange investments in mid-size companies that have a strong track record, high potential for growth and capable managers, while the Bahrain office places the investments among a pool of its clients in the Gulf. The firm’s investors can choose the amount they invest in each transaction or specify the overall amount they want to invest equally over several transactions, with Investcorp encouraging as much diversification in their portfolios as possible.
During the holding period the management of each portfolio company follows its own business plan, although they can call on management specialists in New York and London to help build value. The asset management team based in Bahrain, including fund specialists and risk analysts, also travels on a regular basis to meet existing clients and establish new relationships in the six Gulf states.
The firm’s more recent Gulf growth capital line of business will have a team of 15 investment professionals led by two co-heads, and have reviewed around 38 deals in the region in the third quarter alone, according to chief operating officer Gary Long. It also recently hired former Morgan Stanley executive James Tanner to join the Bahrain office and oversee fundraising across all its activities.
Sharing the wealth
One of Investcorp’s biggest competitive advantages is its close relationship with its clients in the Gulf, especially those that are shareholders in the firm and thus have an even greater stake in its success. Investcorp’s ownership structure is divided among public shareholders, management and strategic shareholders, with public shareholders owning approximately 38.7 percent of ordinary shares and Gulf-based nationals and institutions holding 19.1 percent of shares which are traded on the Bahrain Stock Exchange. Nearly 20 percent of Investcorp’s shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange and held by international institutions.
In order to ensure a stronger commitment among all parties through shared ownership, clients, shareholders and management all participate in each of Investcorp’s investment products. Investcorp retains a 15 percent to 20 percent stake in each transaction and places the rest with its clients, while the firm’s employees co-invest in its investment products as well.
When it comes to attracting top-quality talent, the firm pays approximately two-thirds of its overall executive compensation in the form of variable incentive compensation that is highly correlated with Investcorp’s net income. For instance, when former Investcorp executive Thomas Middelhoff joined the firm in 2003 to head its European corporate investment arm, he was given an equity stake in the firm along with salary and stock options, surpassing his previous salary as chief executive of Berterlsmann.
Advent International
The sun never sets on this Boston megafirmÂ
Although it’s not exactly unique to see a private equity firm described as “global” these days, that was not the case when Bostonbased Advent International spun out of TA Associates in 1984.
Since then the firm has maintained its global focus even when many currently hot emerging markets were seen as investment graveyards.
This has given the firm a level of experience and expertise in many markets where its competitors are now trying to catch up.
The firm has 15 offices and six affiliates in 23 countries, and manages more than $24 billion. It is one of the top 20 private equity firms in the world in terms of assets under management, and claims to have the broadest geographic reach of any private equity investor.
Although the firm is based in Boston, the majority of its dealmakers are in London and Frankfurt. In contrast to competitors who have broadened the types of deals they do internationally, Advent has instead spun off its venture activities and narrowed its focus to mid- to upper-mid-size global buyouts. This, Advent believes, gives the firm an advantage as it employs the skills and resources of a large firm to mid-sized transactions.
Allocating human resources
Among its recent deals was the acquisition of Frango Assado, the leading operator of highway restaurants in Brazil, which was Advent’s third Latin America investment in September.
The firm has been active in the region since 1996, investing in more than 35 companies, as well as raising the largest-ever investment fund last year.
Because the region has relatively few experienced private equity professionals, all Advent staff in Latin America up to the senior executives attend investment committee meetings to ensure they have a common understanding of the asset class and its facets.
This is part of an apprentice strategy that Advent employs to some degree in all its offices.
When assigning deals Advent has a few main criteria for determining who comprises the investment team, with location being one of the most important.
For instance, if a portfolio company is headquartered in Germany, then the deal will likely be led by professionals in the Frankfurt office.
But borders are not the only consideration, as sector and finance expertise are also important. The investment team in North America is broken up into subsets of the five main sectors Advent targets: business and financial services, industrials, retail and consumer, healthcare and life sciences and technology, telecom and media. Far from isolated outposts, the individual offices in each region are in constant contact with each other regarding pending deals. The firm believes such open communication, for instance between a Central European dealmaker talking with a counterpart in Latin America, gives it an edge over its competitors and helps in gathering important intelligence.
Golden handcuffs
Although Advent’s early embrace of global markets gave it almost a decade-long head start on the competition, maintaining that edge also means finding the best talent in each region and keeping them there. That’s why Advent has implemented a compensation system that rewards success while also fostering teamwork throughout the firm.
Part of this structure includes giving employees in each region at least 50 percent of the economics from the deals done there, and then appropriately balancing compensation from the rest of the organisation. The importance of such issues is reflected by the fact that the firm’s 12 managing directors spend the largest chunk of their time outside of investment strategies on human resources, including revisiting promotion criteria and trading ideas about how to best help employees develop their careers.
Unlike other firms Advent has no limit on its number of managing partners or strict guidelines on when partners can be promoted. As it makes deals in new markets like the Dominican Republic and evaluates potential investment destinations such as China and India, Advent is seeking to ensure that important assets like its investment professionals keep it ahead of the pack.
Kevin Ley also contributed to this article
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