Private Equity is such a tough type of financing to help owners of companies understand. The big deals done get the media attention. Some of the stories told are alarming for owners.It is only in the last decade that this type of money has now become available in all sorts of formats for business owners of mid-sized companies. These stories do tend to fly under the media radar.
This is why Loewen & Partners runs CEO Round tables with Ivey Business School to showcase private equity. Yesterday, we had McKinsey and Company and Bill Wignall giving detailed presentations to a room of business owners. Here is the take away from Paul Hogendoorn, owner of OES.
"It’s both a professional benefit and a pleasure to attend your CEO events. Yesterday was no different. (BTW, my most recent column again referenced a key take-away from a previous event).
My big take-aways from this last one were:
- It’s OK not to need PE money
- Know specifically what you want to use any investor PE money for
- The structure of a deal can make even an otherwise unattractive deal workable
Ken enjoyed it to. Much of the first presentation was greek to him (and therefore intimidating – which was consistent with my first experienced a couple years ago), but he recognized the value in gaining some exposure to it, and he really enjoyed the second speaker."
The second speaker was a professional manager, Bill Wignall, who gave his experience in accessing Angel, Venture Capital and Private Equity Fund money. It was a great day and it is always gratifying to see that you are helping business owners.
