BERLIN - For private equity managers in search of investors, networking at the Super Return conference in Berlin is an exhausting process.
To pitch to potential investors throughout the three-day main event, firms set up shop in private rooms, at tables set apart from the main conference and even at the bar in the conference hotel
The numbers are not in their favor. More than half of the 1,400 attendees are from private equity firms, while only a quarter are institutional investors and the like. The remainder comes from companies that offer services to the industry.
Hunched over tablets and ring-bound presentations, managers from the European industry giants like Apax to smaller boutique firms try to convince wary investors to part with their money. The meetings are jammed pack, with investors shuffling from one presentation to another in the hunt for the right firm.
The financial crisis has made fundraising increasingly difficult.
While private equity raised a combined $312 illion last year, a small increase over 2011, the number of funds that successfully raised capital fell by almost a quarter, to 687, over the same period, according to the data provider Preqin. Still, almost 2,000 firms also are seeking to raise a combined $797 billion.
“Investors are concentrating on fewer managers,†said Bob Brown, head of LP services at Advent International, during one of the many networking breaks at the industry conference in Berlin. “Less capital is going to fewer managers.â€
The Boston-based firm has been one of the success stories. In November, it completed an 8.5 billion euros ($11.1 billion) fundraising campaign, or roughly 20 percent higher than its initial target.
The hunt for capital can often blind managers to what’s around them.
At the main conference bar - named after the German-born actress Marlene Dietrich - bar staff complained that some conference participants were overly focused on networking. As such, they had failed to realize t! he drinks were not included in the $7,500 entry fee and thus were not paying their bar tabs on the first day of the event.
By the second day, however, the waiters had quickly solved the problem. As they delivered the 4 euro, or $5, coffees to the waiting private equity managers, the bar staff made sure to include the check.
