Insight
Morgon: Fundraising pressure forces PE firms to sell their best assets first
“When you have to show exits, you sell your best assets first.”
Assertion Supported
Eurazeo operates one of only two billion-euro EU growth equity funds
“There's only two growth funds in the European Union. I'm leaving the UK aside and there's bigger player there north of a billion, and we are one of the two.”
Insight
US management teams hold less leverage in PE deals than European counterparts
“The management team have less of a say in the U.S. Than they have in Europe. That's a big difference. They're less incentivized, and that was a surprise. They're less incentivized in terms of management package, so they less have a say. They're less important …”
Assertion Supported
Morgon: Pre-merger Lazard operated as three competing, mutually hostile houses
“There were three different banks just with the, you know, Lazar Frere, Lazar Brothers, Lazar Frere, and they hated each other. They were competing with each other, and I mean, the Brits were, they were the Brits, and the French were looking down on the Brits, …”
Insight
Morgon: The main diversity hurdle in finance is retention, not hiring
“Of course, I could see clearly that there wasn't that many women staying there. It's not that they were not hiring women as analysts or associates, but it's such a hard work, and I don't know, for some reason, we were losing a lot of women along the way, and t…”
Insight
Morgon: Maternity leave shouldn't block promotions if output matches annual standards
“It's not because you disappear for two months and a half that you can't get The same promotion, the same pay rise, because if you deliver in nine months while others deliver in 12, then good for you.”
Insight
Morgon: LPs Don't Credit Newly Assembled Unproven PE Teams
“Either you grow organic, takes time. You have to hire probably a team of three or four, but if they've not been working together, LPs would not give you credit immediately. A little bit of a first time team, first time fund type of reaction.”
Insight
Morgon: Private equity auctions always narrow down to just two serious bidders
“It doesn't matter where you started with a hundred books out there or just 10, always end up with two serious bidders, and that's where you have to make your difference.”
Assertion Partly supported
Morgon: Eurazeo achieved a 5x return on Moncler over nine years
“Montclair is the age of my fourth child. So Montclair is the age of Alice, nine years. I closed down the day after I gave birth, and then we sold the last stake that we had in Montclair. She turned nine. So we've been holding that investment, exiting progressi…”
Opinion
Morgon: 2004–2007 PE Boom Made Investment Banking More Transactional
“Because remember, 2004, five, six, seven, like a craziness of private equity, and it was less about client relationships as bankers, and more about securing a mandate with, you know, whoever was trying to buy whatever asset.”
Assertion Supported
Morgon: Eurazeo balance sheet grew to 8B and manages $30B total
“The balance sheet was probably, you know, about three billion. It's now about eight. And there wasn't any outside capital, maybe five hundred million, maybe six hundred million And now we're managing, including the balance sheet, because I keep saying Eurasio …”
Disclosure
Morgon: Eurazeo scaled asset management by acquiring existing GPs
“We did that through organic hiring team in dedicated sectors, pool of talents, but also buying existing GPs to accelerate that transformation. Because when you have a balance sheet, Or actually publicly quoted shares as well. I'm a public company. You can buil…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Morgon: Eurazeo Grew Small-Cap Strategy 10x with 100% Retention
“Now, you know, we're raising a billion euro funds, AUM probably three. We bought a company which was probably managing two hundred and fifty million. It's 10 times bigger. The team is still there. Retention a hundred percent.”
Disclosure
Eurazeo check sizes range from $10M–$15M in VC to $400M–$500M in buyouts
“The VC team would do checks of 10 to fifteen million. The mid-lounge would do checks of 400 to five hundred million.”
Disclosure
Morgon: Eurazeo's Shanghai team assists Western companies, avoiding direct Chinese investments
“The team that I have in Shanghai is not an investment team. I do not invest in Chinese companies directly, but a lot of the companies in which we invest through our funds, our investment strategies, we push them and we help them to build their presence in Chin…”
Disclosure
Morgon: Eurazeo Holds Assets Roughly One Year Longer Than Peers
“Overall, to your question and being honest, we don't hold our assets much more longer than my peers. It's probably a year longer on average, but you would see selling also investment after two years and a half if I have a good reason to do so.”
Assertion Supported
PE-owned companies account for 6% to 9% of US and European GDP
“Ballpark companies which are under ownership of a private equity owner accounts in the US, in the UK, in France for about six to nine percent of GDP.”
Virginie Morgon