FAMILY DIRECT INVESTING

The panel brought together representatives of family offices and family-backed investment vehicles from the United States and Europe; the discussion focused primarily on the challenges of cross-border direct investing. Each of the panellists noted the dramatic increase over the past few years of direct investing transactions, as well as the increased participation of family offices and family-backed investment vehicles in auctions and other competitive processes. The consensus was that this trend will continue and, in all likelihood, accelerate in the coming years.

The panel was asked the following question: When you look at a cross-border investment opportunity, what strategies do you employ that might be different than in a domestic deal, for instance, around due diligence, local partners and other advisors, and ongoing management and oversight? Dan Gay of Kensington Capital stated that finding a trusted local partner was the key to a successful cross-border investment; the other panellists agreed that they would not undertake a significant cross-border investment without a local partner who would play an active role in the oversight of the investment.

Several of the panellists indicated a preference for gaining cross-border exposure through the activities of their portfolio companies, that is to say, investing in a domestic company with international operations, which itself may engage in cross-border M&A activity. Paul Carbone of Pritzker Private Capital shared that he would rarely expect to know more about a cross-border opportunity than a local investor, but that his portfolio company management would be in a better position to evaluate cross-border opportunities in their industries.

 

Regarding trends for 2018, the panellists all commented that valuations were high, and that this could have an effect on transactional activity. On the other hand, it was noted by both Michael Riemenschneider of Reimann Investors and Philipp Haindl of the Serafin Group that there is a tremendous amount of capital looking to be deployed, and that if political uncertainties settled a bit, a further uptick in direct investing activity during 2018 could be expected.

 

Finally, the panel discussed the increasing role of independent sponsors and other intermediaries in the direct investing market. Both Anton Sternberg of Stonehage Fleming and Rupert Weber of McDermott noted that, given the challenges often faced by family offices in connection with sourcing quality deals, the role of such intermediaries would likely increase, at least in the short term.

 

The panel closed with a discussion of socially responsibleor impact investing; the consensus was that this investment model was in its early stages, but would assume a more prominent role in the direct investing world as a younger generation begins to assert itself within family offices.

 

From left to right: Paul Carbone, Pritzker Group Private Capital; Daniel Gay, Kensington Capital Holdings; Philipp Haindl, Serafin Group; Dr. Michael Riemenschneider, Reimann Investors; Anton Sternberg, Stonehage Fleming Family & Partners; Rupert C. Weber and Mark S. Selinger, both McDermott Will & Emery
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DEBT FINANCING: FUND OR BANK?

Olya Klüppel (Global Growth Capital), Jurij Puth (GSO), Jürgen Breuer (Pemperton Asset Management), Stuart Hewer (SEB), Dr Nicolaus Loos (IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG) and Didier Beltai-Menth (Bayerische Landesbank), discussed the current German debt finance environment and the competition between banks and (alternative investment/debt) funds as provider of financial accommodation. McDermott’s, Dr. Oliver K. Hahnelt moderated the panel discussion.

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CROSS-BORDER M&A FROM THE UNITED STATES AND WITHIN EUROPE
This panel featured the insights of Melville Mummert (Raymond James), Dr. Carsten Böhm (McDermott Will & Emery), Daniel Cole (Marlin Equity Partners Limited), Robert Goldstein (McDermott Will & Emery), Andreas Bösenberg (Sun European Partners) and Chris McIntire (KPM Analytics).The panel highlighted disruptive factors, such as the US administration, but ended with a fairly optimistic outlook for 2018....
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Olivier Garnier, founder and managing partner of Bryan, Garnier & Co., and Khaled Bahi, Chief Financial Officer of Symetis, presented the acquisition of Symetis, the third largest player in the European market for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), by Boston Scientific. Since its introduction in 2002 as a new ground-breaking procedure, TAVI has grown to become a $2.3 billion market with the expectation that it will increase to approximately $4 billion by 2020. Given the only alternative to treating Severe Aortic Stenosis (which affects 2 percent of the world population over the age of 65) is long and highly invasive open-heart surgery with general anaesthesia, it is not difficult to see why a procedure that requires only local anaesthesia and can be completed in 45 minutes...
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Dr. Christian Figge, Vice President, General Atlantic, Jennifer Kelly, Chief Executive Officer, Founder, Minxli, Dr. Sven Oleownik, Partner, Head of Germany, Gimv Germany, Christoph Weigler, General Manager Germany, Uber Germany and Dr. Thomas von Werner, Managing Director, EMH Partners, discussed the impact of digitalisation on the way they do business. Dr. Michael Cziesla, Partner Private Equity / M&A, McDermott Will & Emery, moderated the panel. The panel mainly covered the following three areas: How Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Changes the Way We Do Business Regulatory Challenges for Digital Platforms M&A in a Digital World – Threats and Opportunities The industry as a whole is changing massively as a result of digitalisation. The panel started by discussing the i...
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Dr. Stephan Rau and Kristian Werling, both from McDermott Will & Emery, moderated a thrilling panel on Health Care and Life Sciences M&A on both sides of the Atlantic. Hervé Ronin (Bryan Garnier & Co), Dr. Charles Niehaus (Alliance Medical), Benjamin Seifert (AUCTUS Capital Partners AG) and Dr. Oliver Schulte-Ladbeck (PwC) contemplated listing at the European state exchange, the competition of strategies and financials and the run for chief data officers (CDOs), chief marketing officers (CMOs) and other pharma services providers....
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