Relationship between dealflow and marketing output
I recently wrote a
short piece on GP communications and transparency that looked at quite how open private equity fund managers in Europe really are. Not as open as they could be? Definitely. Not as open as they
should be? Without doubt. Well, European GPs
are communicating with the market, even if some don’t welcome inbound enquiries in quite the way they might. But what are they communicating?
Well, the IE Consulting team and I read through almost 700 press releases from European buyout and growth capital investors (2006-2010) so you don’t have to. And the results of our research are summarised in an article in this month’s Private Equity Europe:
More Than a Big Deal?
I think GPs are so focussed on announcing their transactions that they are neglecting the opportunities they have to communicate everything else they – and their portfolio companies – do. But what do you think? Please let me know, below!
Categories: Communications and marketing, Europe, Investor Relations, Private Equity and VC, Research and surveys
Tags: bad news, buyouts, good news, Investor Relations, manager selection, marketing, press, private equity, regulation, social media, the press, transparency, venture capital
I’m not talking about venture capital, because those guys definitely get it (well many of them, at least). I’m talking about small buyout houses, mid-market buyout houses and upwards.
1. Fundraising
In markets where LPs and consultants are overloaded with information on new funds coming to market, one would think that a new channel of communication (this is all social media, collectively, are) would be pounced on. And it is free. Have you seen anyone outside of the venture space really doing anything interesting?
2. Deal origination
Particularly in a time when operational expertise is prized over financial engineering, one might expect that a medium perfectly suited to the demonstration of expertise would be a key weapon in the arsenal of any deal origination team. I was fortunate to speak with David Teten on this topic recently and he definitely gets this, too. There is so much that COULD BE done. And so little BEING done. The first team that grasps this and runs with it is going to steal a considerable march on the competition.
I think I am going to give a little more thought to this topic and I ‘d be interested in anyone else’s views.
