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私募股权募集资金步伐放缓
 作者: Dan Primack    时间: 2011年05月12日    来源: 财富中文网
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就在不久前,私募股权基金公司还很少遭遇尽职调查,唯恐被拒之门外的投资者总是急于写下支票。而如今,是投资者掌握了主动权。
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    “他们约谈我们的首席财务官和财务主管,询问我们的内部控制、现金管理以及财务后勤职员的教育背景……他们还希望了解我们的人力资本政策,比如证券交易和政治捐款。”

    "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."

私募股权公司GTCR负责人菲利普•坎菲尔德

    说这番话的可不是一家受到财务调查的公司的首席执行官,而是私募股权公司GTCR的负责人菲利普•坎菲尔德,他说的是像他们这样的公司正日益受到潜在投资者的调查。

    “我们预见到了如今尽职调查会变得更严格,但其深度仍让我们感到意外,”坎菲尔德补充称,“对那些过去假定存在竞争力的领域也有深入核查。”

    也难怪坎菲尔德吃惊。其位于芝加哥的公司已有30多年历史,回报率高于行业均值;在其他人随波逐流之时,该公司恪守“基于平台的”投资策略。同时在业内,GTCR也以提供一些对投资者最友好的基金条款而著称,比如不攫取所谓的“交易费”。

    最后,GTCR是成功的。其第10支基金募资32.5亿美元,明显高于仅30亿美元的目标。但过去一年大多数时候,当投资者说“跳”的时候,坎菲尔德和公司都感觉不得不问一声“多高”。

    这些投资者中就有波士顿“基金中的基金”(FOF)管理公司HarbourVest的董事总经理约翰•莫里斯。

    莫里斯承认,过去一年尽职调查已变得更为严格,像他们这样的公司不再有必须快速决定的压力。

    “现在我们对未实现投资进行大量分析,并能观察几个季度的表现后再做决定,” 莫里斯表示,“我们不再担心如果我们不立即投资,就会被某支基金拒之门外。”

    其他基金投资者谈到了约谈私募股权公司上支基金支持的每位首席执行官,了解这些首席执行官所在公司的成败有多少可归因于私募股权公司(而不是整个市场的力量或公司管理层)。或者试图弄清私募股权公司对各宗交易负责的是哪些雇员,而不仅仅是关注表现最好和最差的交易。

    所有这些都反映了私募股权业力量天平的偏移,过去基金经理对投资者颐指气使(“如果今天你不愿照我们的条款投资,有的是人愿意”)。如今,掌握主动权的变成了投资者——这很大程度上是因为持续的流动性紧张,促使投资者放缓了新投资步伐,并回过头来认真地审视现有关系。

    例如,研究公司Preqin的报告显示,2010年关闭募集的私募股权基金平均募集期为18个月,较2008年初延长了50%。GTCR是例外,只有8个月募集期,但很多私募股权基金的募集期超过了两年。

    对于今年试图募集新资本的几百家私募股权公司而言,这样漫长而繁复的流程将是常态,虽然未来可能会有所改变。

    “我认为一切都是周而复始的,”莫里斯表示,“我确信在未来的某个时点基金募集速度将加快,投资者提出的问题也会减少。但我想,我们谁都不知道这种情况何时会出现。”

    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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@DuoDuopa:彼得原理,是美国学者劳伦斯彼得在对组织中人员晋升的相关现象研究后得出的一个结论:在各种组织中,由于习惯于对在某个等级上称职的人员进行晋升提拔,因而雇员总是趋向于晋升到其不称职的地位。    参加讨论>>
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