The State of the Private Equity Industry—Is It All Down Hill From Here?
In the past private equity has been a solid way of investing taking in trillions of capital, but with the ever changing world we live in, what is the state of the industry? Private equity investments typically consist of money being placed in a company by venture capital firms, private equity firms or angel investors. These are companies that are not publicly traded on any stock exchange and typically they are looking to launch, grow or prepare for a buyout. The money invested is typically aimed at expanding or creating new products or in some cases to fund a restructuring of the company. Private equity is a powerful force in the success of private companies that are not publicly traded. So what is the state of the private equity industry?
The Private Equity Industry Is Healthy
To answer that question, I spoke with Jonathan Coslet, Chief Investment Officer, and Senior Partner of TPG Capital. Jonathan explained that the private equity industry, like all industries, “is maturing but the core raison d’etre for the industry is growing rapidly and that’s because of our core client, our pension funds and our sovereign wealth funds in particular.” Jonathan compared the private equity industry to state governments. He said whereas the average state government is getting about 7-8 percent annually on its investments, the average firm in the private equity industry has returned about 13 or 14 percent every year over the last 30 years. “So it’s been delivering very strong returns against a US stock market that’s maybe 7 or 8 percent. So the need for the pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies endowments to outperform fixed income securities and regular way public equities is creating real demand for our services.” Because of these factors the industry is growing and today the private equity industry has about $2 trillion of capital under its control.”
Growth Investing
I asked Jonathan what investment strategies he prefers the most. He mentioned two generic approaches that he would take as an investor: growth and inflection. He explained growth to be the following: “there’s going to be a lot of folks who are 65 and 85 or older so there’s going to be a huge demand for healthcare services. So that’s just a secular growth that’s driven demographically and I need to figure out which part of that sector I want to get in front of because it has the most growth and has a supply-demand imbalance.” It’s important to get in front of something with a growing demand while supply is still lagging because this gives you pricing power.
Inflection Investing
On the other hand, with inflection investing it’s not the slope of the curve, it’s the second derivatives, or the rate of change. “The slope is inflecting up so being in front of something that’s about to change and that usually means an industry that’s being disrupted in transition. It happens to be that healthcare has both characteristics: it’s growing and it’s changing.” When you look for something that has both growth and dynamic change together you find the “hot spots” of investing and if done right it can lead to tremendous success.
Check out my interviews with Jonathan Coslet below. For more interviews with Jonathan Coslet click here!
Jonathan Coslet- Investment Strategies
Jonathan Coslet- The State of Private Equity
Will Taxing the Rich Even More Improve Inequality?
Will Taxing the Rich Even More Improve Inequality? It’s been the cry of democratic lawmakers and many of the less fortunate for years: “We need to tax the wealthy even more.” “The rich have to pay their fair share of taxes, too.” The problem is the rich already pay a huge portion of the country’s…
It Pays to Be Rich for These Five Tax Breaks
It Pays to Be Rich for These Five Tax Breaks Although it’s true that the ultra-wealthy are heavily taxed, and in many cases unfairly, there are also some tax break advantages that favor the upper class more than those in the middle. Let’s take a look at some of these breaks. Most common and first…
New Jersey Governor Says Enough is Enough on Taxing the Wealthy
New Jersey Governor Says Enough is Enough on Taxing the Wealthy It seems that no tax is a bad tax when it comes to the “left” side of the government. It’s a well-known fact that the wealthiest Americans pay the largest portion of the country’s taxes. However, there are some government leaders that lean “right”…
Clinton’s Using Careful Strategies to Avoid Tax They Support
Clinton’s Using Careful Strategies to Avoid Tax They Support Have you ever wondered what wealthy democrats do when tax laws they support and vote for come back to apply to them? Although people typically associate being wealthy with republicans, there are plenty of rich democrats in the nations’ capitol as well. So just what do…