Private investors
Introduction
There is little doubt that private investors face a more challenging financial climate than at any time in a generation.
As financial reforms gather pace attention is focusing on the impact that this is likely to have on the financial services industry, on private equity investors and on the wallets of professionals.
Will there be appetite for more initial public offerings in 2011, thereby providing an exit for some companies' investors - this remains unclear. What is clear is that uncertainty will remain a feature of the landscape for some time to come.
Eric Mindich, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Eton Park Capital Management, USA; Co-Chair of the Governors Meeting for Investors 2010, said at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters in 2010 that leading private equity fund managers and hedge fund managers recognise that they are operating in a world where the relationship between their industry and various stakeholders was changing.
"The perception was changing, in some cases very rapidly. It’s against a backdrop where financial markets themselves are coming under question as to whether they’re the best allocator of resources and, therefore, participants within those financial markets are also facing a similar set of questions", he said, adding that there was a recognition that perhaps the industry had not communicated as well as it could with its various stakeholders and with the public, in order to in some ways articulate better what it is it does, what its role is and how it participated throughout the last several years.
Mr Mindich said that in the private equity world there was a feeling that private equity firms had contributed significantly to growth capital and to efficiencies within corporations. "Within the hedge fund world, there is a feeling that, generally speaking, in addition to hedge funds not having been central to the financial crisis, there was also the view that largely they had fulfilled their mission to investors in terms of delivering absolute returns, and that their investorsthemselves were pension funds, foundations, endowments, all sorts of types of investors like that."
Repowering Transport 2011
Global transportation and fossil fuels are inextricably linked. More than 60% of the 87 million barrels of oil consumed daily powers the world’s transportation system and liquid fossil fuels account for more than 96% of the sector’s energy supply. The Repowering Transport project provides a high-level platform for executives from the World Economic Forum’s Industry Partners in the mobility (automotive, aviation, and logistics), energy (oil and gas, utilities, alternatives), chemicals, and investors industries, and select Global Growth Companies.The project explores...
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April 6, 2011
Private Sector Development in Haiti
The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010 took place only days following the tragic earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January. During a special session in Davos, the Forum pledged to work in partnership with its stakeholders to assist in Haiti’s recovery by focusing specifically on economic development. The following report, produced in partnership with the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), presents the strategy for sustainable growth in Haiti and identifies opportunities for involvement by different international...
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March 22, 2011
Accelerating the Transition towards Sustainable Investing
Financial markets have great transformational power to accelerate the transition towards more sustainable business practices and value creation. Recognizing this pivotal role of financial markets, the World Economic Forum has embarked upon a cross-industry initiative to stimulate the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into mainstream investment analysis.The report focuses on the role of asset owners and asset managers as well as of corporations, governments, accounting bodies, investment advisors and other key...
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January 30, 2011
Private Sector Development in Haiti: Opportunities for Investment, Job Creation and Growth
The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010 took place days after the earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January. During a special session in Davos, the Forum pledged to work in partnership with its stakeholders to assist in Haiti’s recovery by focusing specifically on economic development. This report, produced in partnership with the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), presents the strategy for sustainable growth in Haiti and identifies opportunities for involvement by different international stakeholders to advance that...
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January 24, 2011
Paving the Way: Maximizing the Value of Private Finance in Infrastructure
Given the dramatic need for investments in infrastructure at a time when many government budgets are under severe pressure, the role of private capital in financing infrastructure seems more critical than ever. This Report aims to showcase both the opportunities and the challenges associated with attracting and involving private investors in the provision of infrastructure.
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January 5, 2011
Summit on the Global Agenda 2010
The Summit on the Global Agenda is a unique gathering of the Members of the Forum’s Network of Global Agenda Councils, the world’s most relevant thought leaders from academia, business, government and society.Over 700 participants are engaging in interactive workshops and sessions to set priorities for the most compelling ideas to improve the state of the world and identify the latest trends, risks and innovative solutions to address the world’s challenges.
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November 28, 2010
The Future of the Global Financial System 2009
The Future of the Global Financial System 2009 - Scenarios to 2020.
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November 4, 2010
The Global Economic Impact of Private Equity Report 2009: Globalization of Alternative Investments Working Papers Vol. 2
The World Economic Forum’s research project on the global economic impact of private equity commenced in 2007 and brought together a team of international scholars to conduct in-depth analysis of the impact of the private equity industry and its transactions. The results were published in Globalization of Alternative Investments Working Papers Volume 1: The Global Economic Impact of Private Equity Report 2008. The current volume of Working Papers complements the first by examining: a) management practices adopted by private equity firms...
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November 3, 2010
The Global Economic Impact of Private Equity Report 2010 Globalization of Alternative Investments: Working Papers Vol. 3
This volume of Working Papers expands on the previous two volumes by focusing on: The relationship between the presence of private equity investments in an industry and the growth rates of productivity, employment and capital formation. The record of government support for venture capital in terms of value creation, employment and innovation.
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November 3, 2010
The Global Economic Impact of Private Equity Report 2008: Globalization of Alternative Investments
The World Economic Forum’s research project on the “Global Economic Impact of Private Equity” sought to analyse private equity transactions, meaning equity investments by professionally managed partnerships that involve leveraged buyouts or other equity investments with a substantial amount of associated indebtedness (as opposed, for instance, to venture capital investments in start-ups). The goal was to complete a rigorous study of the impact of these investments around the world, prepared by a tightly organized consortium of leading international scholars.This volume of Working Papers...
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November 2, 2010
Mobile Financial Services Development
Click below to browse and read the report and download the data files. Download Report PDF Launch PDF Reader Download Data FilesDownload Report PDF Launch PDF Reader Download Data Files Click on the image to interact with the report data. Create and share tables, maps and charts with the data analyzer. The Mobile Financial Services Development Report 2011 provides a comprehensive analysis of more than 100 variables across 20 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Developed in conjunction with the Boston Consulting Group, the report measures the critical factors necessary to...
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October 20, 2010
Sustainable credit
In the aftermath of the global recovery attention is focusing on how to ensure greater stability amid concern about the susceptibility of some banks to ongoing turmoil and after-shocks in the financial markets.As banks repair their balance sheets and deal with huge writedowns concerns remain that with markets still reluctant to support leverage the severely diminished flow of credit may undermine a global recovery. It is accepted that the credit recovery will be slow and that policy moves by lawmakers may be required to address credit constraints. The International Monetary Fund has...
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October 20, 2010
New Financial Architecture
The Forum has looked at the driving forces shaping the global financial system and how these forces might affect governance and industry structure. Two reports on this subject have been published.The first report The Future of the Global Financial System: A Near-Term Outlook and Long-Term Scenarios1, published in January 2009 explored: How the financial crisis, and the changes it has precipitated in financial regulation and supervision, might affect the near-term structure of wholesale financial markets and how these changes would likely impact players in the banking, insurance...
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October 20, 2010
Financial Governance
The global financial crisis revealed major shortcomings in the system of institutional and regulatory governance. To move beyond the crisis, it will be necessary to improve current structures and develop a more fair and efficient structure of global governance that reflects changes in the global political and economic landscape.The principle of equal participation and inclusive cooperation should be followed in improving global governance. It is imperative to raise the voice and representation of developing countries.It has become a consensus of all parties to improve current structures...
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October 20, 2010
Alternative Investments
Through recent years, alternative investment asset classes such as private equity have become increasingly important pools of capital in the global financial system.Private equity activity in particular (defined as equity investments by professionally managed partnerships that involve leveraged buyouts or other equity investments with a substantial indebtedness) has accelerated noticeably. The total value of firms (both equity and debt) acquired in leveraged buyouts is estimated to be $3.6 trillion from 1970 to 2007, of which $2.7 trillion worth of transactions occurred between 2001 and 2007....
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October 20, 2010
