Private placement agent

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A private placement agent or placement agent is a firm assisting fund managers in the alternative asset class (e.g., private equity, [1] infrastructure, real estate, hedge funds, and venture capital) and entrepreneurs/private companies (e.g., start-ups and growth capital companies) seeking to raise private financing through a so-called private placement.

Contents

Background

The placement agent acts as an intermediary between those seeking to raise money and those who may be interested in investing. They are typically mandated by fund managers. A few placement agents are structured as groups within large investment banking firms, but more frequently as separate boutique investment banks, sometimes captive to an Alternative Asset management group or specialist fund marketer.

Placement agents will often seek to raise capital from a variety of institutional investors (e.g., pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, funds of funds, and sovereign wealth funds) as well as family offices and high-net-worth individuals. Some placement agents have an exclusive focus on a particular type of institutional investor such as US pension advisors for corporate and public pension funds.

Placement agents are most often compensated through fees based on the amount of money raised (success fee) or supported by the fund or company they are actively representing (retainer fee).

Functions

Within the context of fund managers, placement agents can serve several functions:

Within the context of private companies, placement agents typically focus on raising the following types of financing:

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

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Venture capital Form of private-equity financing

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Investment management is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of investors. Investors may be institutions, such as insurance companies, pension funds, corporations, charities, educational establishments, or private investors, either directly via investment contracts or, more commonly, via collective investment schemes like mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, or REITs.

A "fund of funds" (FOF) is an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing directly in stocks, bonds or other securities. This type of investing is often referred to as multi-manager investment. A fund of funds may be "fettered", meaning that it invests only in funds managed by the same investment company, or "unfettered", meaning that it can invest in external funds run by other managers.

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Equity co-investment

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In finance, the private-equity secondary market refers to the buying and selling of pre-existing investor commitments to private-equity and other alternative investment funds. Given the absence of established trading markets for these interests, the transfer of interests in private-equity funds as well as hedge funds can be more complex and labor-intensive.

Campbell Lutyens American independent private equity advisory firm

Campbell Lutyens is an independent private equity advisory firm exclusively focused on primary fundraising and secondary transactions in the private equity, private debt, and infrastructure and energy markets. The firm has offices in London, New York City, Hong Kong and Singapore and comprises a team of over 120 professionals representing over 35 nationalities.

Baird (investment bank) American investment firm

Robert W. Baird & Co. is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company. It is the principal U.S. operating subsidiary of Baird, an international, employee-owned financial services firm providing investment banking, capital markets, private equity, wealth management, and asset management services to individuals, corporations, institutional investors, and municipalities.

Alternative investment

An alternative investment is an investment in any asset class excluding stocks, bonds, and cash. The term is a relatively loose one and includes tangible assets such as precious metals, collectibles and some financial assets such as real estate, commodities, private equity, distressed securities, hedge funds, exchange funds, carbon credits, venture capital, film production, financial derivatives, cryptocurrencies, and non-fungible tokens. Investments in real estate, forestry and shipping are also often termed "alternative" despite the ancient use of such real assets to enhance and preserve wealth. Alternative investments are to be contrasted with traditional investments.

Private-equity firm Company sponsoring start-ups or operating companies through private-equity investment

A private-equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leveraged buyout, venture capital, and growth capital. Often described as a financial sponsor, each firm will raise funds that will be invested in accordance with one or more specific investment strategies.

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Coller Capital is one of the largest global investors in the private equity secondary market ("secondaries"). It was founded in 1990 by the UK-based investor and philanthropist Jeremy Coller.

Olympus Partners is a private equity firm founded in 1988 to make equity investments in middle market leveraged buyouts and growth capital financings. Although the firm invests in a wide array of industries, over time it has developed deep knowledge and experience in the following sectors:

On March 23, 2009, the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Reserve, and the United States Treasury Department announced the Public–Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets. The program is designed to provide liquidity for so-called "toxic assets" on the balance sheets of financial institutions. This program is one of the initiatives coming out of the implementation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) as implemented by the U.S. Treasury under Secretary Timothy Geithner. The major stock market indexes in the United States rallied on the day of the announcement rising by over six percent with the shares of bank stocks leading the way. As of early June 2009, the program had not been implemented yet and was considered delayed. Yet, the Legacy Securities Program implemented by the Federal Reserve has begun by fall 2009 and the Legacy Loans Program is being tested by the FDIC. The proposed size of the program has been drastically reduced relative to its proposed size when it was rolled out.

Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is about an alignment of an investor's beliefs and values with the allocation of capital to address social and/or environmental issues.

Atlantic-Pacific Capital (APC) is an independently owned placement agent. APC has established relationships with a network of institutional investors in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Australasia, and the emerging markets to which it markets private equity funds.

Needham & Company is an independent investment bank and asset management firm specializing in advisory services and financings for growth companies. Needham & Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Needham Group, which also operates a private equity investment business and an investment management business.

Eaton Partners

Eaton Partners is a global placement agent that assists in raising capital for funds managed by some of the largest private equity firms, hedge funds, real assets and real estate funds in the world. The firm is also one of the oldest placement agents in the private funds industry. Eaton Partners raises capital primarily from institutional investors including private and public pension funds, endowment funds, family offices, fund of funds, foundations and other large pools of money that invest in alternative asset classes.

Asante Capital Group is a private equity advisory firm with offices in London, New York City, Hong Kong, and Munich. The firm is active across primary capital raising, secondaries advisory and direct investment transactions. Asante partners with fund managers globally and across the strategy spectrum including buyout, growth, venture, private debt, infrastructure and real assets. To date, Asante has assisted the placement of over 100 funds and transactions with more than 60 notable investment firms, including Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe, Chequers Capital, Creandum, LLR Partners, Montagu Private Equity, One Equity Partners, Summit Partners, NIO Capital, Whitehorse Liquidity Partners, and others.

References

  1. Buyout firms race to spend cash piles, Financial News, 21 March 2011