Sebastian Grutter

Going into Q4 and onwards, inflation should be less of a concern-- and so should the labor market due to full employment. Natixis portfolio strategists discussed labor, inflation, Fed cuts, and other market movers in a recent webinar--check out the replay:

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🏆 **Celebrating Team Success: A Lesson from INEOS Britannia as they prepare to be the first British challenger in the America's Cup for 60 years 🏅** In the fast-paced world of an investment bank, we often emphasize individual team PnL. But let's not forget the vital lesson that success truly stems from the collective efforts of diverse roles within a team. The recent triumph of INEOS Britannia to reach the America's Cup serves as a powerful reminder of this principle. Just like on a trading floor, the sailing team consists of a myriad of experts, each playing a crucial role in securing victory. Over 230 people working 24/7, for a race comprising 8 sailors to push the limits of human and machine for under 30 mins of racing. Let's remember that in our pursuit of success, it's not just about one shining star but the constellation of talents working together harmoniously. Cheers to the unseen heroes and unsung champions within our teams—your efforts are the backbone of our victories. Good Luck to INEOS Britannia ... Bring the America's Cup home!! 🏆 A great video demonstrating the operations and people required to achieve this great sailing feat : https://lnkd.in/ewu_S4S3 #TeamWork #Success #TradingFloor #InvestmentBanking #Leadership #Inspiration

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My thanks to Citywire and Baroness Ros Altmann for the below article, which Baroness Altmann has written in response to Henry Cobbe, CFA’s article earlier this week. See below. Two key points are as follows: 1) everyone is calling for transparency and full correct disclosure. Investment trusts (or listed closed ended investment companies - LCICs) disclose all expenses via their reports & accounts, as they always have done. 2) LCICs share characteristics with OEICs but they do not have “ongoing charges”. Ongoing charges are deductions from investor capital that occur annually. For LCICs, there are recurring operating expenses (part of which is analagous to ongoing charges of OEICs), but these are known in advance and impact the NAV not the share price. The share price discounts (encapsulates) theses expenses. The value of the investment with a LCIC is the share price not the NAV. In a lively and good-natured comments section to my LinkedIn post earlier this week, Mr Cobbe called for a consultation. But first we need to wait for the results of the extensive consultation on HMT’s Statutory Instrument taking the UK out of the PRIIPs regime and into the new UK-only Consumer Composite Investment (CCI) regime. 329 signatories (the most significant response to a HMT consultation ever apparently) signed the LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) response calling for LCICs to be excluded. LCICs are not “CCIs” (or even PRIIPs). Investors have no contractual right to receive a share of NAV at a time of their choosing (as they have with OEICs). Prospectuses are usually clear on this point. The value of the investment in a LCIC is the share price. If HMT decide to keep LCICs in scope of CCI, the FCA will surely consult on the disclosure regime. Incidentally, our arguments apply to ALL LCICs, even those investing in vanilla equities. I have long characterised LCICs has inhabiting a spectrum from ordinary listed operating companies to OEICs. Some are closer to either end, but none are at either end. We need a disclosure regime that is bespoke for LCICs and we mustn’t crowbar them into either category. Our campaign group has come up with a “Statement of Operating Expenses” that we suggest all LCICs could disclose. This surfaces expenses correctly and in a way that will aid comparison between LCICs & OEICs. Finally, our campaign group share some of the aims of the The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) but we do not agree with their back up proposals. We believe ongoing charges of OEICs, ETFs should be aggregated in the OCFs of fund of funds. These are deductions from capital. LCIC expenses should not be aggregated for the reasons outlined above: they simply do not have ongoing charges. Thanks again to Baroness Ros Altmann and Henry Cobbe, CFA for shining a light on this wonderful sector. https://lnkd.in/eB96qPrG

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One of those Thursdays that sums the job up perfectly… This morning’s daily meeting with the investment team discussed the key overnight investment themes, including US #MonetaryPolicy and investee earnings releases. Next up, time to write some responses to investment questions posed in a potential client RFP. Then its a call with the fabulous Simon Woolnough and Elle McKeogh to plan some exciting ways of spreading the word about the Epworth Investment Management Limited #MultiAssetFund - watch this space! After a quick bite to eat, its time to meet the management of an exciting new potential #AlternativeAsset that I have been researching for the fund, very interesting session! Following that, an #Engagement call with one of our investee companies to discuss their #Biodiversity strategy as part of #NA100+. With all that and plenty more wrapped up, just enough time to put my cheeky 9 month old daughter to bed before dinner. Bring on Friday! #SustainableInvestment #CharitableInvestment

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The asset manager with around $2.9 trillion invested across listed and private assets reached into the ranks of Macquarie Group to hire Dean Hoang, who has been appointed executive director of secondaries in J.P. Morgan’s $33 billion private-equity group. The appointment follows departure of Timothy Henn, who left J.P. Morgan as executive director to join asset manager and investment consultant Cliffwater. There he manages Cascade Private Capital, another new vehicle tailored to wealthy investors. Both Cascade and the JPMorgan fund are examples of interval funds, which have proliferated in recent years at firms such as Blackstone, Apollo, and KKR & Co. where they are regarded as the best way to attract individual investors. These “retail investors,” defined as individuals with $100,000 to $30 million or more to invest, were estimated to control investible assets of as much as $150 trillion globally, according to Bain & Co. Investors can back JPMorgan Private Markets Fund for as little as $25,000, compared with $1 million or more for most institutional funds, and can redeem portions of their capital on a quarterly basis, The Wall Street Journal has reported. The JPMorgan interval fund had around $640 million of assets as of September, more than half invested in assets acquired on a secondhand basis, according to a November presentation. 

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I loved seeing my colleagues Lisa Sun and Roque Calleja talking about the evolution of the secondaries market in Private Equity International, they are both deeply passionate about growth in this asset class and what it will take to be successful as the market evolves.  Two things caught my attention: 1. How fast the market is growing – 62% yoy increase in volume H1 2024 over H1 2023.Given a higher-volume second half, we are on track for the largest year ever at ~$150bn. To think this market was just $60bn 4 years ago. They also call-out how we are seeing more first-time buyers and sellers in the market which will only lead to further expansion. 2. How secondaries are at the epicenter of everything our clients are asking us about – the outlook for distributions, new options for exits given slow pace of recovery in IPO and M&A, and not to mention how the intersection of data and technology will bring more scale and more transparency to private markets. Lisa Sun says it best: “Historically, secondaries has been data rich but analytically poor, so the ability to both capture that data but then also to use it to drive better decision making definitely represents a competitive advantage.” Read the full publication here: https://1blk.co/3XBo5Bh #Secondaries #PrivateEquity

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An interesting liquidity opportunity for GP stakes investors in private credit and other specialist strategies as banks such as J.P. Morgan and others look to add managers to their asset management division product offerings. Looks like J.P. Morgan had discussions with #Chicago-based #credit specialist Monroe Capital LLC, who had sold a GP stake to Bonaccord Capital Partners in 2021. Private equity fund managers are also actively pursuing specialists such as General Atlantic's acquisition in 2023 of Iron Park Capital Partners, LP. As M&A picks up, slowly but surely over the next few years, expect several more deals and continued, much-needed private markets fund manager industry #consolidation. So the best way to play #gpstakes in private markets? Investing in specialists by investment strategy, geography, industry or just purely having a great track record. The recent investment by Blue Owl Capital and Lunate in Chicago-based healthcare specialist Linden Capital Partners is the best of all examples. #alternativeassets #privatemarkets #fundmanagers #privatecredit #privateequity #capitalmarkets #acquisitions #specialization

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Gain.pro's research got featured in the Financial Times :) more about the current state of PE below!

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Monthly views: Conditions remain favourable for equity markets overall but we trim exposure to tech stocks following their stellar run. Read the full article https://lnkd.in/gRqBaKB7 #assetallocation #investmentoutlook #barometer

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BREAKING NEWS: Bill Ackman expecting to benefit from private equity industry‘s pressure to generate liquidity There was an interesting nugget of information burried in yesterday’s quarterly update call Bill Ackman did for shareholders of his London & Amsterdam listed permanent capital vehicle Pershing Square Holdings (PSH) — in relation to Ackman's hunt for a target 🎯 company to take public via his innovative SPAR structure (SPAC successor vehicle): "Just briefly commenting on Pershing Square Spark Holdings, this is our new version of an acquisition company approved by the SEC. We have not been sitting on our heels, so to speak. We've been aggressively looking for potential companies to take public by merging the Spark. And the beauty of this entity versus typical SPACs are number one, there are no underwriting fees. There's no founder stock, no shareholder warrants. So, the dilutive securities and uncertainties associated with SPACs really don't exist here. We can identify a counterparty, we can negotiate, do our due diligence, negotiate a transaction, commit to the party and they will know that subject only to the registration statement going effective, they will become a public company. They will know the valuation at which they will go public, obviously the price per share. They'll know they have Pershing Square as an anchor investor for $1️⃣billion, $2️⃣billion and $3️⃣billion whatever the commitment we make and then the potential to raise a larger amount of additional capital from the exercise of rights. And once that prospectus is approved, the rights begin to trade for a 20-day period and the rights holders can do what to sell or exercise. And we think it's a great vehicle. We've met with a number of the big investment banks 🏦, all of which are pitching us ideas on occasion. But again, we're looking for a business that meets Pershing Square's quality and growth objectives and there are, those are fewer and far between so to speak in terms of what we're looking for, but if we find the right business, we think it's an excellent vehicle. ➡️It's a great vehicle for private equity firms that are today getting a fair amount of pressure from their LPs for liquidity, because unlike a typical IPO execution where it's difficult to do more than a primary offering, even a couple of billion primary offering is what we considered a large deal. 🐳 Here we could literally buy a $🔟 billion secondary stake enabling limited partners to get liquidity 💦 and the managers to send a very nice positive message to his or her investors. So, we expect to do a transaction here and when and if we have something to announce, we'll go ahead and do so." (+++Opinions are my own. Not investment advice. Do your own research. Past performance is not indicative of future results.+++) Tap the bell 🔔 to subscribe to my profile & you'll be notified when I post. 💸

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📣 Announcing the $17bn final close – significantly above target – of Senior Debt Partners 5. “The direct lending market in Europe remains attractive from an investment perspective through economic cycles, and we have a significant pipeline of opportunities,” commented Peter Lockhead and Mathieu Vigier, Co-Heads of Senior Debt Partners at ICG. Today’s announcement underlines the appeal of a “clear investment strategy and our differentiated origination platform, and we are grateful to our clients for the support they have shown”. Capital at risk. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. #PrivateMarkets #PrivateCapital #Alternatives

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‘We wondered at 3bps versus 7bps, are people going to switch? And they have.' State Street Global Advisors's gamble paid off when it cut fees on its SPDR S&P 500 Ucits ETF. To the tune of €6bn! Vipul Faujdar, head of UK wealth sales, took Citywire Selector through the fee cut, but also some changes to the distribution team's approach. Despite this success, Vipul says when he approaches clients in the UK it is no longer just 'ETF, ETF, ETF'. ✂ Index, liquid alts, hedge fund replication... offering clients more options. 🚅 UK platforms continue to stall ETFs, 'we thought the tech would evolve' 🛠 Bespoke solutions: 'It starts with a headline pitch'. PS With flows coming off fee cuts like this, I wonder it now takes to make inroads in the ETF space? . Read now 👇 #assetmanagement #ETFs #funddistribution

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Best main street explanation of secondaries I’ve seen, with it taking into account the ‘what if’ of the stock market instead, and the cost of borrowing to advance short-term liquidity. Everything is cyclical, and as long as learning takes place every cycle, and contingencies evolve, I’m confident that pensions and PE will remain strong partners over the coming decades.

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Nice to see Joe Easton’s positive article focusing on London’s successes, far too often the commentary of London as a financial hub is overly negative. The stats show that the City remains an unrivalled centre, one which has the potential to attract significantly more activity and capital for the benefit of the whole of the UK. London Still Europe’s Share Sale Capital Even With Few IPOs - Share sales of $11.3 billion dwarf other European cities - UK remains in top spot even after rate hikes spurred downturn https://lnkd.in/eRtShiNM

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Co-investments: the great private equity diversifier! Mid-cap private equity deals offer potential for rapid repositioning of companies and shorter J-curves. An interesting article from my Flexstone Partners ' colleagues that share in particular on our three key value creation concepts.

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Great analysis Reflecting on Europe’s current state, it’s quite telling when we compare the past with the present. Over a decade ago, we saw the "core" European countries lecturing the Southern nations on fiscal discipline (for the record... as an derivatives sales working for a US bank pitching "hedging strategies on European sovereign debt crisis to a large continental European client base was an interesting time! 😊). Now, however, France is confronting its own fiscal challenges while Germany’s manufacturing sector faces severe pressure. This brings up 3 key questions: With two of the six founding members of the European Economic Community (France and Germany) facing significant challenges, should Italy now be the one to rely on for stability in Europe? Can anyone explain why the Euro remains relatively strong, trading around 1.1 against the USD, given the current economic environment? European banks are still trading relatively high compared to the broader market indices (SX5E, SXXP). Is this a sign of resilience, or are markets underestimating the risks ahead? complex questions, genuinely curious to hear different perspectives. It’s clear that Europe is at a pivotal moment (again)

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Great podcast with Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo discussing the private markets. https://lnkd.in/gWU4FRV3 Took Apollo from $40 billion in assets under management in 2008 to over $700 billion today. A few quick takeaways: Private Credit as a Dominant Force: With fewer public companies and a shift toward complexity in long-term infrastructure projects, Rowan sees the world moving towards private credit as a necessary alternative to traditional banking and public debt markets. Two-Track Business Model: Apollo today operates as two core businesses—retirement services and asset management. The retirement services business, Athene, has grown to $400 billion by focusing on guaranteed retirement income, using Apollo's core expertise to ensure stable returns. The Shakeout in Private Equity: Rowan believes we're entering a phase where firms that merely provided "private markets beta" without delivering true Alpha are going to struggle. The middle ground will be tough, and Apollo is focused on being one of the few that provide high-quality, differentiated private equity performance through discipline and value-oriented investments. Banks vs. Investors: Rowan discussed how banks are becoming less suited to long-term projects like energy transition or data infrastructure due to their funding structures. Apollo has positioned itself to fill that gap by providing investment-grade credit directly, matching long-term capital to long-term needs. Private Assets are the Future: With fewer public companies and more complex private market opportunities, Rowan sees private markets continuing to grow and believes we’ll see further convergence between public and private markets—especially in fixed income and eventually in equity as well. Overall, this discussion really shined a light on how the private markets are evolving, what role firms like Apollo play in providing stability and growth, and how the relationship between banks, investors, and capital is fundamentally shifting.

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Just read this article about the crazy talent war in the hedge fund world. No surprises here—it's like the Hunger Games out there! Sure, sending over a CV with a quick intro doesn’t justify a $400k fee, but that's where top-notch recruiters shine. First call with a candidate? Check if they’ve been approached about your client before. If so, find out when and what happened. Not every candidate will be fully transparent, and some might not even know all the details. We all know there are rogue recruiters who throw CVs around without the candidate's consent, hoping to stake their claim. Sadly, this behavior will persist as long as hedge funds reward it. --------- A wise man once said: “Show me the incentive, and I’ll show you the outcome.” #CharlieMunger --------- This is a loud reminder: Follow up! Not every email gets read, and "just because you sent it doesn’t mean it was received" --- another wise man told me that, you know who you are #TZ ;) --------- Let's change the game—focus on #trust, #transparency, and #realconnections. Happy hunting! #HedgeFund #Recruitment #TalentWar #DoBetter #EislerCapital #PMrecruitin

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https://lnkd.in/dmVJGGBg The Times 3i Group plc #ceo SIMON BORROWS "funds that acquired companies at lofty valuations in the last deal boom face challenges in today’s tougher environment" “There is a very big bifurcation between winners and losers,” “Once the marks and the performance of those things they bought at the top of the market in 2021 and 2022 become apparent, I think they’re going to find it harder to raise new funds. A lot of people invested like crazy in those years and they were expensive years with the benefit of hindsight .#valuations #PE #privateequity #dealmaking #equity #mauritius #africa #india #uk Kick Advisory Services

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