SFI Master Classes

Current Situation

Private equity, defined as privately negotiated investments in public or private companies, with the goal of increasing the value of the target company, has become a major asset class over the last few years. Significant inflows of money have transformed the investment space and opened up new fund-raising opportunities for privately held firms. More and more investors show interest in private equity investments. However, many challenges lie ahead: Will the considerable increase in dry powder hurt future returns? Are special purpose acquisition companies a threat to the traditional PE industry? Did the COVID-19 crisis affect the private equity industry? Can the private equity industry address institutional demand for increased Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting and implementation?

Objective

Building on industry practice and recent academic insights, this Master Class will provide a high-level overview of the principles of investing in private equity. The Master Class will discuss, using the latest available data, implementation approaches and both opportunities and shortcomings of current practice. 
Overall, the master class aims to equip banking and finance professionals with up to date and relevant high-level knowledge about the private equity industry. Specific objectives are:

• Becoming familiar with the institutional details of the private equity industry and keeping up with recent trends such as ever larger funds, dry powder, and the evolving secondary market
•  Examining the risk/return trade-off and potential illiquidity of private equity investments and discerning different methods to access exposure to private equity
• Discussing fee drag, J-curve, and limitations of popular performance measures through an actual case study
•  Analyzing best-in-class approaches toward ESG reporting in the PE industry
• Understanding the potential for ESG improvements in portfolio firms.

Target Audience

The Master Class is aimed at non-private equity investment specialists in the financial industry who wish to broaden their knowledge capital and deepen their understanding of private equity investing. For instance, portfolio managers or relationship managers working in asset management and private banking will find the Master Class useful in order to get familiar with the private equity industry.

SAQ Recertification

This Master Class is an acknowledged SAQ recertification measure for the CWMA profile and comprises four learning hours.