Sometimes Private Equity people get poorly characterized as Gordon Gehko from the movie Wall Street. Remember Michael Douglas playing the smooth talking, phone throwing, "lunch is for wimps" smoothie? Oliver Stone, the director says Gehko was supposed to be the greedy, materialistic financier who the audience would vilify but instead, the character probably inspired thousands of MBAs to swerve away from careers in industry and head for Wall street instead. According to John Loewen at Loewen & Partners, "that unsettling, cartoonish image still lingers in the heads of many when thinking about private equity finance people."But there are some private equity guys who are changing this stereotype. How? By playing in their own garage bands in public and having U2's famous lead singer - Bono - on their investment team. How can you not trust those guys?
Check out the story in the Globe & Mail. Here is their amusing description of McNamee's band:
Canada's Venture Capital & Private Equity Association is in Montreal this week for its annual conference and claiming a record number of investors will attend over three days beginning tomorrow. At the gala on Thursday evening, Roger McNamee, who is managing director and a co-founder in 2007 of Elevation Partners, is the marquee entertainment, performing with his rock band Moonalice. Mr. McNamee goes by the name Chubby Wombatt Moonalice when he's playing bass and guitar with the band. Shades of Frank D'Angelo and his Steelback beer and.Mr. McNamee's private equity fund, operating out of San Francisco and Manhattan, runs $1.9-billion (U.S.) focused on investments in media and entertainment companies. Among those on the investment team are a former Blackwater Group principal and a former CFO of Apple. Mr. McNamee is also addressing the conference as a keynote speaker.
