Plenary sessions
Wednesday, 11/11, 3:00 pm - Demystifying Private Equity
Moderator:
- Glenn Youngkin, Managing Director, The Carlyle Group
Panelists:
- Steven Mayer, Managing Director, Cerberus California LLC
- Erik Ragatz, Managing Director, Hellman & Friedman LLC
- Doug Leone, Managing Partner, Sequoia Capital
- David ibnAle, Managing Director, TPG Group
- Chris Masto, Senior Managing Director, Friedman Fleischer & Lowe
At a session entitled “Demystifying Private Equity,” Glenn Youngkin, Managing Director, The Carlyle Group focused less on explaining the industry as he did on shattering some of the common myths about private equity firms and what they do.
Chief among those myths: that private equity firms buy companies in highly leveraged, layoff-inducing, short-lived and economically illogical transactions.
Not true, said Youngkin. With a point-by-point presentation, Youngkin took on those assumptions. Private equity firms hold their investments for an average of 5.3 years. The transactions, he said, are often done with very modest leverage. Private equity-backed firms have sales growth nearly twice the national average, and 80% of the time, they increase employment in the companies in which they invest.
The final myth: that all private equity firms are the same. For proof, Youngkin introduced a five-person panel of executives whose firms featured different investment styles and operational strategies.
They included Erick Ragatz, Managing Director, Hellman & Friedman, LLC; Steven Mayer, Managing Director, Cerberus California LLC; Doug Leone, Managing Partner, Sequoia Capital; David ibnAle, Managing Director, TPG Growth; and Chris Masto, Senior Managing Director, Friedman Fleischer & Lowe.
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