Private capital: the crossover between private equity and private wealth
September 2018 | SPECIAL REPORT: PRIVATE EQUITY
Financier Worldwide Magazine
September 2018 Issue
Private capital is a term that is being used more and more often to describe the crossover between capital provided by private equity (PE), venture and growth capital investors, and private wealth investment by high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and family offices. Given the expediential rise in private wealth – the ‘EY wealth management outlook 2018’ predicts that the global volume of net investable assets of HNWIs will increase by around 25 percent to almost $70 trillion by 2021 – and the cultural changes that are taking place around HNWIs making direct investments, we are seeing more and more crossovers between the worlds of PE and private wealth.
As exits of PE-backed companies and the PE industry itself continue to produce HNWIs, and as HNWIs become more and more likely to reinvest in growth companies either on their own or alongside PE, this is a trend that is likely to continue to grow and gather momentum.
Crossovers between the worlds of PE and private wealth
The worlds of PE and private wealth are connected in myriad different ways, and the PE industry itself is a key creator of HNWIs.
The creation of HNWIs by PE. Given that one of the pillars of PE is the incentivisation of management as part owners of a business, any successful PE deal of scale should result in the management team realising significant proceeds, and effectively becoming HNWIs. These HNWIs, having been through PE-backed investment, are clearly au fait with PE deals and investing generally, and increasingly likely to use some of their proceeds to make investments in growth companies. This is creating a whole new investor base. In addition, given the success of PE as an industry, deal executives in PE houses have also joined the ranks of HNWIs; again, having an in-depth knowledge of investing, they too are also increasingly likely to make growth capital investments in their own right.
HNWIs investing in PE or co-investing alongside PE. One of the key investment pools for investment in PE funds themselves is the private wealth pool, either HNWIs direct or through family offices or fund of funds. As the pool of private wealth dramatically increases, we would expect to see this pool of investors increase. HNWIs and family offices are also increasingly looking to co-invest alongside PE funds and we expect to see this trend continue. As entrepreneurs who have become HNWIs increasingly look to reinvest in growth companies, they often also wish to be involved in the companies that they invest in, and therefore we are often seeing HNWIs not only investing alongside PE, but also taking a more active role in the businesses they invest in, either through chairman or consulting roles. HNWIs often look to make investments in the same or a similar space to the one in which they made their money originally, and so they can bring their knowledge and contacts to the table as well as purely funding. If they have made their money as a management team of a PE-backed investment, then they understand how the PE model works and can help management teams who are maybe going through the process for the first time.
HNWIs selling businesses to private equity. Another area where HNWIs and PE interact is that HNWIs often are business owners and may look to sell their businesses to PE, often rolling a stake into a new company alongside a PE house and therefore effectively co-investing.
Increasing trend for HNWIs to reinvest in growth companies
A key cultural shift in recent years is more HNWIs looking to reinvest a portion of their money into new ventures. Whereas in the past someone experiencing a significant liquidity event may have then looked to retire, more people in such a situation are looking to actively invest a portion of the proceeds and be involved in the businesses in which they invest. Why is this?
Tax benefits. With a view to help boost the economy and the funding available to early stage companies, the UK government introduced tax advantaged schemes such as the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS). Both the EIS and SEIS schemes have been hugely successful. This has resulted in a whole generation of HNWIs looking to make investments in growth companies and has greatly encouraged direct investment by this pool of investors.
The age profile of new HNWIs. The tech boom has led to tech entrepreneurs often exiting businesses and having significant liquidity events at a relatively early age. These people do not tend to want to retire at this point and therefore look for opportunities to get back involved in growth companies, as investors but also as people who can help guide the business. On a grand scale, there is the example of Elon Musk who had a significant liquidity event on the exit of PayPal, but who then went on to found SpaceX and co-found Tesla. On a smaller scale, serial entrepreneurialism is on the rise. Partly driven by the age profile of tech entrepreneurs exiting businesses relatively early in life, but also with increased active lifespans, older investors are not ready to retire or stop actively investing until much later in life.
Culture of entrepreneurialism. The tech boom has helped foster a culture of entrepreneurialism, partly through the ease of setting up businesses in the tech sphere compared to bricks and mortar businesses. This has also partly been driven by the cultural shift to younger generations looking to set up start-ups and growth companies rather than work for more traditional established institutions, companies and firms. This seems to now be permeating other age groups, and older HNWIs who have had significant liquidity events are more open to going back into the market and looking to set up new businesses even later in life – sometimes in completely different areas from where they originally generated their wealth.
Growth of family offices. As more and more HNWIs look to reinvest in growth companies, many are looking to professionalise how they invest, and to set up their own investment vehicles. Traditionally, family offices often invested in growth companies indirectly by investing in PE funds or other platforms. Increasingly, however, HNWIs, through their family office vehicles, are looking to make direct investments – in their own right or alongside PE. In 2008, there were an estimated 1000 single family offices worldwide. A decade later, EY reports that the number has grown to more than 10,000 family offices globally. We see this trend continuing and that the interaction between family offices and traditional PE houses will continue to grow. Indeed, several family office vehicles have effectively become PE houses.
Conclusion
Given the massive increase in the pool of private wealth, and the projected further exponential increase as per the EY wealth management outlook, the fact that many HNWIs are being created by PE and the change in culture to one of serial investing and serial entrepreneurialism, the crossovers between PE and private wealth will continue to grow in importance.
Malcolm MacDougall is co-head of corporate and head of private equity at Charles Russell Speechlys LLP. He can be contacted on +44 (0)20 7427 4544 or by email: malcolm.macdougall@crsblaw.com.
© Financier Worldwide
BY
Malcolm MacDougall
Charles Russell Speechlys LLP