News
Just Another Manic Fund Day
October 14, 2010
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| A packed room joined Holliday Fenoglio Fowler’s Dan Cashdan, Liberty Mutual Group’s Peter Lewis, The Davis Cos’ Cappy Daume, and Hawkeye Partners’ Bret Wilkerson for hot tips on fundraising, especially as more product comes to market. Davis Cos. was able to raise a $230M fund in nine months, made of 200 high net-worth individuals and institutional investors, notes Cappy. Dan likened the past 18 months to a National Geographic video of a starving polar bear, but we’ve finally caught a whale and have been feasting on it. There are tremendous buying opportunities, but extremely competitive. Investors are looking for a solid track record, proof of discipline over cycles, conservative structuring with multiple exit opportunities, transparency, minimal loss of equity, and the fund’s ability to get to the finish line, notes Peter—and you certainly don’t want 30 different investors with 30 different viewpoints. You spend part of your time as a psychologist to your investors, says Dan. |
