Module 9: Evaluating and Managing Co-Investments

The LP Education Webcast Series is presented with the generous underwriting support of EMPEA Leadership Circle Members, Denham Capital, Siguler Guff and The Abraaj Group.

Key topics to be discussed include:

  • What are the latest sentiments around co-investments and how should LPs approach this collaborative investment strategy?
  • Why are co-investments attractive to LPs, and which LPs are using this strategy effectively to drive returns?
  • What are the challenges in executing co-investments from both the LP and GP perspectives?
  • Will co-investments become more or less popular over the next 5-10 years?

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Speakers inlcude:

Roberta Brzezinksi, Managing Principal, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ)

Roberta Brzezinski is Senior Director, Growth Markets for CDPQ, a Canadian pension fund manager investing across asset classes in global markets. Prior to joining CDPQ, Roberta served as chief investment officer of TAU Investment Management, a growth equity fund manager focusing on Asian manufacturing investments. Roberta was one of the original partners of Abris Capital Partners, a leading growth buyout investor in Central and Eastern Europe. She also served as managing director at Emerging Markets Partnership, manager of the $6 billion AIG Infrastructure Funds, where she was active in Southeast Asia, Central Europe and Latin America. Prior to joining EMP, Roberta was vice-president at NCH Capital, a leading fund manager focused on Eastern Europe, and began her career as an investment officer for the International Finance Corporation. Roberta holds an MBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an AB magna cum laude from Harvard College.
Mounir Guen, Chief Executive Officer, MVision Private Equity Advisors

Mounir Guen founded MVision in 2001. He is a veteran fundraising specialist, advisor and manager, and has led the development of MVision to the point where it is now the world’s leading independent international private equity placement agent.

Previously Mounir spent 13 years at Merrill Lynch where he was a Managing Director and was responsible for building up the international non-US business, both on the General Partner and Investor level, and creating a particularly strong franchise. He established an innovative proactive origination program for Europe and extended the concept to a global model.

He has been selected as one of the top 50 most influential personalities in Private Equity in Europe, and served on the EVCA European Valuation Committee to establish policy currently in use. He currently serves on the EVCA International Relations Committee. Mounir’s over 20 years of experience and deep knowledge in the private placement business and, more importantly, his deep relationships with leading global investors are unrivalled in today’s market. His focus on the General Partner as the client is the principle on which MVision was built and upon which it executes every day.

Mounir has an ABD Postgraduate Degree in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and History from Georgetown University, and a Master of Science degree in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Gunnar Stork, Director Equity and Mezzanine, Africa and Latin America, DEG

Gunnar Stork heads the risk capital business for Corporates and Funds in Africa at DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft, the German development finance institution. Prior to this he was the Director of DEG in Mexico, responsible for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean from 2008 till 2012. Before joining DEG in 2001, he held various positions in the international tax structuring and consulting business.

He holds a Masters Degree in Business from the University of Cologne, Germany and a Masters in International Management from CEMS – the Community of European Management Schools at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium.
Moderator: Josh Lerner, Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking,  Harvard Business School

Josh Lerner is the Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking at Harvard Business School, with a joint appointment in the Finance and Entrepreneurial Management Units. He graduated from Yale College with a Special Divisional Major that combined physics with the history of technology. He worked for several years on issues concerning technological innovation and public policy, at the Brookings Institution, for a public-private task force in Chicago, and on Capitol Hill. He then obtained a Ph.D. from Harvard’s Economics Department.

Much of his research focuses on the structure and role of private equity organizations. This research is collected in two books, “The Venture Capital Cycle” (MIT Press, 1999 and 2004) and “The Money of Invention” (HBS Press, 2001). He is a Research Associate in the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Corporate Finance and Productivity Programs, and organizes the NBER Innovation Policy and the Economy Group and the Entrepreneurship Working Group. His latest books are “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “International Differences in Entrepreneurship.” He is the winner of the 2010 Global Entrepreneurship Research Award.