HHL Public Lectures | Finance: Private Equity and Venture Capital as an Asset Class

2022 was in general a difficult year for private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC): the decline of M&A activity made entry and exit transactions more difficult. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the related impact thereafter to the energy markets has deteriorated the economic operating conditions for many portfolio companies. The increasing investment uncertainty due to inflationary pressures, coupled by a significant increase in interest rates made it harder for PE/VC funds to finance the acquisitions of portfolio companies. On the other hand the funds were sitting on 3,4 trillion USD committed, but unspent money (“dry powder”) end of 2021, giving them the opportunity to invest anti-cyclical at depressed market prices.

This session is part of a broader lecture series surrounding the topic of private equity (PE). Together with his guest Julien Zornig (Astorius Consult GmbH) Prof. Dr. Bernhard Schwetzler (HHL, Chair of Financial Management) gives an overview over private equity and venture capital as an asset class.

Julien Zornig is managing partner at Astorius, a fund of fund and a regular and experienced investor into private equity funds. Astorius pioneers in the German PE field, and one of the first PE providers in Germany to be registered by BaFin (the regulatory authority for German financial institutions), manages eight fund of funds programs, focused on middle markets, and look after approx. EUR 1 billion in customer assets. Customers include wealthy private investors, foundations, family offices as well as institutional and church investors. Mr. Zornig will give a thorough and competent overview over the current status of the PE/VC industry and highlight the most important opportunities and threats for their investors.

The following topics will be highlighted and exploratively analyzed in the session:

• a brief introduction into the PE/VC business model
• a critical review of the success factors in private equity
• a discussion of the challenges for the PE industry caused by the current economic environment.
• a careful outlook into the future of PE/VC

The talk will be held in English.