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Investment - a transparent case?

The European private equity industry is much less mature than that of the US. But as returns from the more traditional asset classes become less stable, it looks as though increasing numbers of investors will seek to diversify their investment portfolios with an allocation to private equity. However, recent news shows that private equity has its own set of risks and is a notoriously untransparent sector. In an overview of the industry, with comparisons to the US market, George Anson of HarbourVest Partners looks at the issues involved and gives advice to investors looking to move into the sector.

Anson covers the recent past, current trends, and also gives his predictions for the future, as fund managers look to gain more positive returns for their investors than of late.

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HarbourVest is a global private equity investment firm and registered investment advisor, providing turnkey products for institutional investors wishing to invest in the U.S. and international venture capital and buyout markets through primary partnerships, secondary purchases, and direct investments. HarbourVest has 107 employees, including 46 investment professionals, deployed in Boston, London, and Hong Kong. With a 20-year history of investing limited partners' capital, the team has committed $7.4 billion to 180 managers of private equity funds on a primary basis, completed $1.2 billion in 205 purchases of secondary partnership interests, and invested $1.8 billion directly in operating companies The firm's clients include more than 200 pension funds, endowments, foundations, and financial institutions from Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Japan.  To learn more about HarbourVest Partners visit http://www.harbourvest.com/.

George R Anson is managing director of HarbourVest Partners and joined the firm's London-based subsidiary, HarbourVest Partners (UK) Limited, in 1990. He previously spent seven years managing investments in European private equity funds and private companies for Pantheon Ventures. Anson is a British citizen, was born in Canada, and was educated in the United States. He received a bachelor's degree (Finance) from the University of Iowa in 1982. He serves on the advisory committees of a number of international private equity funds including Atlas Venture Funds, BC Partners, Cinven Funds, Doughty Hanson & Co. Funds, Ethos Private Equity Funds (South Africa), Global Capital Investors' Funds (Greece), Italian Private Equity Funds, Industri Kapital Funds, and the MTI4 Fund.