OUR MID-MARKET PANEL

Nathan Brown
(Managing Director – Wind Point Partners)

Omar Hassan
Principal and CFO – Cloverlay

Heramb Ramachandran
(CFO – XPV Water Partners)

Brian Ramsay
(President – Littlejohn & Co)

Alex Slusky
(Founder and CIO – Vector Capital)

Béla Szigethy
(Co-CEO – The Riverside Company)

Ted Virtue
(CEO – MidOcean Partners)

How is the relationship between GPs and LPs evolving?

Omar Hassan: They’re more sophisticated, and looking for a continuous collaboration with GPs. We’ll have periodic updates with LPs about our pipeline and discuss things we’ve passed on that might still make sense for them in a different area of their portfolio. LPs aren’t just clients; they’re partners.

Béla Szigethy: It’s constantly evolving for the better, meaning greater transparency in both directions: LPs being clear about what they want and GPs being transparent about what we expect to deliver.

Brian Ramsay: For the last several years, LPs have been looking to deepen their connections with PE firms they view as priority relationships. This might mean committing larger dollars to a smaller number of GPs, seeking co-investments with trusted firms or supporting the growth of PE firms by allocating to their new strategies.

Nathan Brown: GPs and LPs are finding more ways to collaborate and add value to one another. LPs have become more sophisticated on how to leverage their experience and network to bring ideas and new capital to GPs. We’ve benefited from LPs bringing us deal ideas, referrals to executives and secondary opportunities.

Alex Slusky: The days of only spending time with LPs around fundraising are gone. We are in constant communication with our LPs and we often approach them early if we are pursuing an especially large deal that we may not otherwise be able to complete on our own, or seek a complex financing package. They’ve become true partners to our business.