Private Equity Talks Real Deals & The Drawdown

The Drawdown trio tickles your eardrums once more, with our monthly podcast accompanying our latest cover feature. This time, we talk about gen AI trends. But with some substance - trust us.The cover story, entitled Strength Tr -AI- ning, examines how technological innovation is linked with operational resilience. It focuses on the emerging use of gen AI in operations with Microsoft Copilot, legal tech and in valuations processes. We attempt to satiate our avid listeners with what the cover feature did not have scope for: addressing AI risk management techniques and adopting the appropriate guardrails. For this, we were guided by our conversation with CTO at Sure Valley Ventures, John Frizelle.Click on the link to listen to what John has to say.

The Drawdown team is back again, this month discussing talent attraction and retention in private equity.Following on from a recent cover story on PE’s relative attractiveness as a career destination, we speak to Kerry Heaton, chief people officer at Hg, about how her firm is adapting its offer to younger generations.We assess how central the promise of carried interest is to PE’s appeal and how GPs are working hard to create the right culture for their employees.

The latest from your favourite PE operations editorial team!

In this episode, we’re talking fund finance and credit rating agencies off the back of The Drawdown’s latest cover feature. The issue gave shape and form to the ominous third party which has recently sneaked up on the fund finance marketplace.

In conversation with Gopal Narsimhamurthy, managing director and global head of fund ratings at KBRA, we discuss his view on the increase of rating providers in this space, what it means for industry dynamics and the role agencies play in private equity.

Whether or not this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, we’re too early in the story to say. But one thing is certain: Credit rating agencies are here to stay.

In this podcast, Real Deals is joined by British Patient Capital’s Christine Hockley to discuss the importance of patient capital, what VCs must do to appeal to LPs and how GPs can build a value proposition that aligns with their investors’ interests.

In this exclusive podcast, Real Deals reporter Xhulio Ismalaj is joined by Richard Burrett, chief sustainability officer at early-stage cleantech investor Earth Capital, where he also holds a board director position.During the discussion, he covers the breadth of competing reporting requirements, the volume of activity it creates for GPs, the importance of materiality and the inherent issue with ESG reports as they currently are.To find out more about the topic, check out Real Deals’ recent article on ESG reporting below, in which we speak to representatives from ICG, Livingbridge and Suma Capital.

Your favourite PE operations editorial team is back!



This time, the trio tackles evergreen fund structures, off the back of The Drawdown’s latest cover feature on the challenges of setting up semi-liquid fund structures for traditionally closed-ended fund managers.



The Drawdown speaks to Luc Maruenda of Eurazeo, who explains how to set up an evergreen structure. We discuss the complexities of managing liquidity expectations, potential investors to target, navigation fluctuations in the economy, and much more.



The hows and whys of the strategy are uncovered, but the decision to launch an evergreen fund remains up to you.