Eaton Partners Increases Professional Staff with Two Senior Hires to Enhance Team’s Origination and Distribution Capabilities

Rowayton, CT – Eaton Partners, a leading independent global placement agent, is pleased to announce the addition of two senior team members to their London and La Jolla, California offices. Messrs. Olav Konig, based in London, and Christopher Maduri, based in La Jolla will further enhance the firm’s origination and distribution capabilities. Despite difficult market conditions over recent years, Eaton Partners has successfully raised capital from institutional investors globally for high quality funds across the broad spectrum of alternatives. Increased demand for global fundraising expertise and advice has driven the continued expansion of the Eaton Partners team, which has grown by 43% over the last two years making Eaton Partners one of the largest independent placement agents in the world.

London

Mr. Konig joins Eaton Partners as a Partner and will co-head the firm’s European fundraising efforts along with Franklyn Chang. Mr. Konig was most recently a Managing Director at Capital Dynamics, a global alternatives asset manager where, during his tenure as Head of Business Development, he was responsible for building out a global distribution and client coverage team. Most recently he was responsible for key clients and consultants coverage. Previously, Mr. Konig worked at a London-based venture capital firm, Sitka Partners, involved in fundraising and investments. Prior to Sitka Partners, he was a member of the structured and principal finance team at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson in London, where he was responsible for origination and structuring of European ABF and principal finance transactions.

Mr. Konig, a German national and qualified solicitor, earned his Master’s degree having read Law at Bonn University and Freiberg University in Germany. 

La Jolla, California

Mr. Christopher Maduri joins Eaton Partners as a Vice President in its La Jolla office, where his focus will be on the distribution of the firm’s illiquid products. He brings over 12 years of professional management experience and five years of direct private equity and real estate experience. Prior to joining Eaton Partners, Mr. Maduri was a Vice President at Triton Pacific Capital, where he provided strategic advisory and private equity placement services to top-tier private equity real estate and infrastructure managers. Previously, he worked for Heitman, where he was responsible for identifying potential investments for joint ventures, separate account clients and in-house investment funds. Mr. Maduri received both a B.S. in economics and an MBA from the University of Missouri.

Mr. Charlie Eaton, founder of Eaton Partners, said, “In enlisting the talents of Olav and Chris, Eaton Partners continues to strengthen its professional staff with the best and the brightest individuals. Olav is a respected leader in Europe who possesses a breadth of global experience and strong relationships, significantly augmenting the firm’s distribution and origination efforts. The addition of Olav also cements the leadership of our London office with a local professional, and further builds-out the firm’s presence in Europe. Chris is an experienced salesman with a robust background in private equity and alternative assets, who will be a great complement to our established distribution team. We are pleased to welcome these esteemed professionals.”

About Eaton Partners

Eaton Partners is a leading independent global alternative asset placement agent, having raised over $33 billion of institutional capital across 70 funds. Since its founding in 1983, Eaton Partners has been dedicated to raising capital for investment managers throughout private equity, real estate, real assets and hedge fund/liquid strategies. Eaton Partners’ global platform consists of 50 employees located in six offices: Rowayton, Connecticut; Houston, Texas; La Jolla, California; London; Shanghai; and Hong Kong.  To learn more, please visit www.eatonpartnersllc.com.

For more information, please contact:

Jeffrey S. Davis

Eaton Partners, LLC

Rowayton, CT

(203)831-2970

jsd@eatonpartnersllc.com

AVCJ – The Merits of Differentiation

 

PDF version

Asian Venture Capital Journal

Charles Eaton & David Love

Over the last 28 years, independent placement agent Eaton Partners has helped 70 funds raise around $35 billion. Founder Charles Eaton and David love, head of Asia and head of global distribution, reflect on a changing market.

Q: What Is your view on the fundraising environment?
CE: A year ago we saw a pickup in investor interest. We represent managers across the gamut of alternative investment – private equity, real estate, hedge funds and real assets like infrastructure, farmland and timber – and there is strong interest in our current offerings. We have about 15 funds in the marketplace and we should successfully market 4-5 of them from Asia in the next 12 months.
DL: In our last origination meeting, fully half the funds put under consideration were Asian. China is the driver but what we’d like is a portfolio of strategies that David Love represent pan Asia, Indigenous China, and other specific countries and strategies.

Q: What do you look for In a fund?
DL: There are four key factors that we look for. Is there a significant defined market opportunity? Is the strategy differentiated and differentiable? Is there a specific edge for that strategy (and usually it’s the people)? And is there a track record that reflects those other three factors?

Q: Many Asia PE firms have little In the way of a track record…
DL: We have done more first time funds than any other placement agent so we’ve been through track records in a lot of different ways and forms. On one occasion, we worked with a fund that came out of a big institution and we weren’t given access to the track record We used public data and reconstructed 70% of their deals and results – it took us a year but we ended up with a successful raise. Most of the Asian funds we look at now have compelling track records. These may be based on running several renminbi funds or working at a different institution where the record is transportable. It gives us enough substance.

Q: Many Asian GPs, particularly those in China, have been able to raise large funds. At what point does size become a concern?
CE: We look at the deal flow and analyze the size and number of transactions. Most firms try and do 2-4 transactions a year, which means 10-14 over the course of a four-year investment period. If they are at the small end of the market and they are targeting 10 deals at $30 million each, that’s a $300 million fund. You don’t want to see them raise $1 billion. If they are looking at buyouts or infrastructure projects the 10 deals at $150 million would be a $1.5 billion fund. Realistically, they aren’t going to get more than four done a year and do them well if a firm has too much money and they try to push 6-8 deals a year they might struggle.

Q: How have LP attitudes changed in recent years?
DL: LPs are more selective – it’s not the salad days of the pre-GFC. You have to be very careful you have a fund that meets their criteria. The popular areas right now are real assets and Asia. We have a very significant pipeline of various types of Asian funds that will be coming into the market in the next 12 months, including a pan Asia fund, a single strategy functional fund and an Asian fund-of-funds. If you don’t have a fund that is differentiated, you won’t have much success.

Q: With interest in Asia growing, are more LPs looking to go direct rather than through fund-of-funds?
DL: Yes, but you would still be amazed at the calls our distribution people make into major funds in the US and Europe that say they have no Asia representation or interest. That is changing. The allocations into Asia are growing gradually and the knowledge base is expanding and that is what we use as our resource base – the expansion of interest in Asia. You have to be in the weeds on the ground to make intelligent decisions. We have already done the work as their most difficult LP so we add value when the Investor may not have Indigenous presence in the market.
CE: A lot of the public funds don’t have the resources to open an office overseas so they will send investment staff on trips overseas and rely on consultants that do have presence on the ground. Most public funds need to have an endorsement from a consultant to supplement the work that their sometimes limited staff can do on their own.

Q: You have been in this business for a long time. What keeps you going?
CE: If we were stuck in the same job day-after-day for 30 years we might get quite bored. But we come over here, meet with 10 managers in three days and each one has a different story to tell, a different strategy, a different opportunity set and it’s pretty darn exciting.

Eaton Partners LLC and a Premier Financial Services Firm to Form Exclusive Distribution Partnership in Singapore

 

Singapore – Eaton Partners LLC (“Eaton Partners”) and a premier Singaporean financial services firm (“the Firm”) are pleased to announce that they have entered into a mutually exclusive distribution partnership.

Under the partnership agreement, the Firm will be the exclusive distribution partner in Singapore for alternative investment products offered by Eaton Partners. The Firm will be offering the alternative investment products to institutional and accredited investors in Singapore.

This partnership represents an important step in the efforts that Eaton Partners has taken to satisfy diversified Asian regulatory requirements, strengthen its regional distribution capabilities and to accelerate the growth of its fund raising business in Asia.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. David Love, Managing Partner of Eaton Partners said, “All of us at Eaton Partners are very pleased to establish this key relationship with the Firm. It gives us access to the growing Singapore market for alternative investment products by partnering with one of the most respected names in the region. The alignment with the Firm significantly extends the reach of Eaton Partners’ growing platform in Asia.”

Contact Person
Eaton Partners Advisor (HK) Limited
Jingjing Bai, Director
Tel: +852-39752-2633
JJ@eatonpartnersllc.com

Eaton Expands Professional Staff to Support the Firm’s Operations, and Strengthen its Origination, Execution and Distribution Capabilities

 

ROWAYTON, Conn., July 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ –Eaton Partners, a leading global placement agent, is pleased to announce the addition of several key professionals to their Rowayton, London and Shanghai offices. Joseph Scanlon and Ajay Ahuja based in Rowayton, Silvia Calvo-Alcala and Charles Vernudachi based in London, and Chris Lerner, based in Shanghai, have all recently joined Eaton Partners to support the firm’s operations, and strengthen its global origination, execution and distribution capabilities.

Sub Agency Agreement with Eaton Partners LLC

 

Eaton has entered into an mutually exclusive sub-agency agreement with a locally registered Japanese financial instrument firm. This firm is highly specialized in alternative fund products, with five Japanese professionals who have deep product expertise in global and domestic alternative products, and in marketing such products to sophisticated Japanese institutions and local pensions.

With this partnership, Eaton believes it is well positioned to introduce offshore fund products into Japanese pension client base where international GPs have very low penetration rate.

WSJ – Private-Equity Slowdown? Not for Yuan Funds – Eaton’s David Love and Eric Gu

 

HONG KONG— Private-equity fund raising in China is  defying a global slowdown, making an already tough market for deals even  more competitive.

Elsewhere in the world, fund raising for  private-equity funds is down considerably from three years ago. But  funds in China denominated in the country’s own currency, known as both  the yuan and the renminbi, are seeing a fund-raising bonanza. So far  this year, such funds have raised US$9.13 billion, making up 77% of all  China-focused private-equity funds raised this year, according to Asia  Private Equity Review. Yuan funds, which raise capital only from Chinese  investors, saw similar success last year, raising US$6.18 billion, or  63% of the amount raised for China private-equity funds. Offshore China  funds target investors outside the country.

Yuan funds aren’t just raising more money than  dollar funds, they’re doing more deals. According to Dealogic,  yuan-denominated private-equity funds have done deals worth at least  US$3.6 billion since the beginning of 2009, while non-yuan funds have  done US$2.8 billion in deals.

Some of the largest funds raised in Asia this year  have been yuan-denominated. Beijing-based Citic Private Equity Funds  Management, part of Citic Securities Co. Ltd., raised a nine-billion  yuan ($1.32 billion) private-equity fund called Mianyang Scientific City  Investment Fund, the largest such fund raised in China so far.

Western firms are doing it as well. U.S. private  equity firm Carlyle Group raised the equivalent of US$350 million for  the first closing of its yuan-denominated private equity fund last month  and is targeting five billion yuan. Another U.S. private-equity firm,  TPG, this month announced not one, but two yuan-denominated funds of  five billion yuan (US$735.5 million) each. Blackstone Group LP also  announced plans to raise a five-billion yuan fund.

Demand for yuan funds is coming from a rising class  of prosperous Chinese investors, as well as Chinese regulations that are  spurring the development of a homegrown private-equity industry.  China’s government sees private equity as a means to channel money into  small and medium-sized enterprises that don’t always have ready access  to bank lending or public markets, says Kathleen Ng, managing director  at the Centre for Private Equity Research in Hong Kong.

Seeing growth in the new market, C.P. Eaton Partners  earlier this year became the first foreign fund-raising agency to  launch a yuan fund-raising platform in China. The firm hired Eric Gu,  who previously worked at the China National Social Security Fund, to  lead the effort from the Eaton’s representative office in Shanghai. “The  [renminbi] market will grow rapidly. . . we want to be involved in this  market,” said David Love, a partner at Eaton.

Mr. Love added that while both Chinese and western  firms have been busy raising funds, Chinese firms seem to be having more  success. “For Western [firms] it’s been very slow,” he said.

Foreign firms see yuan funds as a way to buy  political capital in an important market. Yuan funds also are a means to  avoid arduous regulatory hurdles that can complicate investments from  an offshore private-equity fund. But it’s not clear that  yuan-denominated funds truly get better treatment.

Private-equity firms typically inject some capital  into funds and investments so they have some skin in the game. That  means yuan-denominated funds raised by foreign firms ultimately have  some foreign ownership involved.

“Even such small amounts could bring into question  the funds’ status as a Chinese investor for investment approvals. We  hope that’s not the case but there’s no official pronouncement on this,”  said Ying Zhang, funds formation lawyer at Ropes & Gray LLP.

Dealing with local inexperienced Chinese investors  may also prove tricky, say industry insiders. Not all foreign funds are  jumping onto the yuan fund bandwagon. Some have expressed concerns about  how Chinese investors, who are less familiar with private equity, will  deal with capital calls and years-long commitment. China has a lot of  capital, but not a large group of experienced investors.

In addition, many funds are raising funds with  government bodies, which then want funds invested in a particular  province or industry, these insiders say. Even when there aren’t any  officials restrictions on where or what funds should invest in,  private-equity fund managers have expressed concern about pressure from  powerful government investors. Limited partners in China tend to be more  active than those elsewhere.

Eaton Expands London Office With Key Hire

 

Georgina Wyatt to Strengthen Fund Placement Capacity in European Markets

London/Rowayton, CT, May 12, 2010 – Eaton Partners, LLC, d/b/a Eaton Partners, announced today that Georgina Wyatt has joined the firm as Senior Vice President in the firm’s London office to assist in European private equity, real estate, real asset and hybrid fundraising strategies.

With over 10 years of financial services experience, Ms. Wyatt previously served as vice president of Helix Associates, identifying and placing coverage for U.S. and European investors. She was involved in seven fundraisings totaling nearly $3 billion. Ms. Wyatt spent seven years at Helix and also worked at Altius Associates for five years.

Frank Chang, Partner and head of Eaton Partners European operations, said, “Georgina’s experience and well developed relationships in Europe will strengthen our distribution capabilities in a key market area for the firm.”

The Eaton Partners London team is led by Chang, who also covers the firm’s fundraising efforts in the Middle East. Vice President Janet Lee focuses on distribution in Scandinavia, while Vice President Stephanie Brendel handles France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The company is currently looking to hire a vice president to further develop the company’s European hedge fund distribution efforts.

CNN Money.com – Hedge funds are making a comeback

 

David Ellis, Staff Writer

After two incredibly turbulent years defined by high-profile blow-ups and staggering losses, the hedge fund industry appears to be expanding once again.

At the end of last year, there were about 6,800 hedge funds in existence, according to industry tracker Hedge Fund Research. That’s down from a little more than 7,600 at the industry’s  peak in 2007.

But new launches outpaced liquidations during the  second half of 2009, according to HFR. Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that trend will continue.

“We are seeing a significant amount of fund  formation,” said Philippe Teilhard de Chardin, global head of prime brokerage at Newedge, a Paris-based brokerage firm.

In fact, hardly a week goes by these days without  mention of an existing fund company trotting out a new hedge fund  offering or news of some ambitious financier hanging out their own  shingle.

Last month, reports surfaced that activist investor and founder of Pirate Capital Tom Hudson was looking to launch a new hedge fund called Doubloon Capital, which would focus on distressed companies.

Wall Street also sat up and took notice late last  year following news that hedge fund titan John Paulson, who made  billions of dollars betting against the U.S. housing market and big  banks, was launching a fund focused on gold-related investments.

The return of hedge funds shouldn’t come as a major  surprise, analysts said. In many ways, the current environment is ripe  for starting a new hedge fund. With the global economy appearing to be  on the mend, investors have become enamored with riskier assets again,  such as emerging markets and corporate bonds.

Many ambitious financiers are also feeling a little  more entrepreneurial these days after receiving their year-end bonuses,  said Ron Suber, senior partner and head of global sales at the New  York-based prime brokerage firm Merlin Securities.

“They are now somewhat flush with cash from getting  paid from a good 2009 and have decided to strike now while they see  opportunity and liquidity,” said Suber.

Much of the new hedge fund activity however, is simply a function of investor demand.

With financial markets on the upswing again,  high-net worth clients and sovereign wealth funds are slowly starting to  regain their appetite for alternative investments like hedge funds  again.

“For managers who had been sitting on the sidelines  with new offerings in 2009, that means that now may be the right time to  try launching,” said Udi Grofman, a partner in the investment  management practice at law firm Schulte Roth & Zabel.

Still, the barrier to entering the hedge fund world  is perhaps as high as it has ever been, according to experts. Launching a  new hedge fund often requires months of accounting, legal and technical  legwork, not to mention plenty of start-up cash.

“All that takes much longer than it used to than it  did 3, 4, or 5 years ago,” said Grofman. “The world has become a much  more complicated place.”

And then comes the hard part: fundraising.

While some institutional investors have warmed up to  the idea of investing in hedge funds again, they aren’t extending as  much capital as they might have during the pre-crisis days of 2007.

An ambitious hedge fund manager might have been able  to raise $500 million or more back then. Now, even $100 million is a  major achievement, experts said.

“Although new launch activity has picked up  recently, many funds are starting out much smaller than they might have  in 2008,” said Grace Kim, senior vice-president at Connecticut-based  C.P. Eaton Partners, which helps hedge funds raise capital.

“The challenge for them will be to achieve critical mass.”

AVCJ – Merrill’s Boston joins CP Eaton to lead private equity

 

Paul Mackintosh

Asian Venture Capital Journal

Gto AVCJ following the news that he has joined  leading placement agent CP Eaton Partners as an MD and member of the  management committee.

According to CP Eaton, Boston will have “responsibility for leading the firm’s global private equity fundraising business.”

“I joined CP Eaton for the opportunity to be a  partner at a high-quality and global institutional fund raising firm,”  Boston told AVCJ. “Having worked at larger investment banks, I have long  sought to be a part of a focused fundraising business without the  distractions of being within a huge diversified bank.”

Prior to joining Merrill Lynch in 2004, Boston was  MD and Global Head of Citigroup Global Markets’ Private Equity Fund  Group. A frequent visitor to Asia Pacific, he has been associated with  fundraisings for firms such as CVC International, Emerging Capital  Partners, ePlanet Ventures, and Terra Firma Capital Partners.

“All of the senior professionals of CP Eaton have an  ownership stake in the firm, which means that every employee is more  focused on meeting the needs of clients rather than the needs of a  bank’s senior management,” Boston continued. “The timing for joining CP  Eaton seems ideal to me – I expect the fundraising market to strengthen  during the last quarter of 2010, and for 2011 to be a rebounding year.”

CP Eaton claims to have raised over $33 billion to  date for 57 alternative investment funds, and is currently targeting $8  billion for 14 vehicles. Previous reports indicated that Bank of  America, Merrill Lynch’s new owner, was winding down its placement  business, leading to the departures of MDs Michael Ricciardi, Enrique  Cuan and Alan Pardee to form their own placement firm, Mercury Capital  Advisors.

Boston pointed out some of the likely advantages of  Asia Pacific fundraising to AVCJ. “From a short-run perspective, I  expect that Asia Pacific will face the same cyclical issues as the US  and European fundraising markets. However, over the next five to ten  years, the center of gravity in fundraising will increasingly shift  toward Asia – where demographic growth and the flexibility of private  capital will make for more attractive investment opportunities than in  more mature markets. Having lived in Hong Kong and traveled throughout  Asia, I am a believer that the time has come for a greater role for  private equity throughout the region.”

However, he did caution against expecting too early a  rebound. “Limited partners are today being very cautious – as you know,  private equity fundraising tends to lag the public markets by about six  to nine months. If the public markets rebound later this year, as  expected, then in 2011 allocations will improve and distributions to LPs  will increase, providing fresh capital to be recycled into new fund  commitments.”

Additionally, Dave Love, the head of CP Eaton’s Asian strategy, offered this thought:

“LPs globally, including investors in the region,  increasingly recognize that Asia, particularly China, is the key driver  in the global economy. GPs, both offshore and in Asia, clearly are  responding to this in numbers, size and sophistication. We at CP Eaton  see our presence in Asia with an office in Shanghai as a significant  advantage.”

Loren Boston Joins C.P. Eaton Partners

 

Former Senior Fundraiser at Merrill Lynch and Citigroup to Lead Private Equity Fundraising

Rowayton, CT, March 4, 2010 – C.P. Eaton Partners announced today that Loren A. Boston has joined the firm as Managing Director and a member of the Management Committee with responsibility for leading the firm’s global private equity fundraising business.

With over 26 years of Wall Street experience, Mr. Boston was previously Managing Director and Global Head of Origination for Merrill Lynch’s Private Equity Funds Group. From 1999 through early 2004 he was Managing Director and Global Head of the Private Equity Fund Group at Citigroup Global Markets.

Mr. Boston brings to C.P. Eaton a large network of relationships in the private equity community. While at Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, he was responsible for many leading fund raising mandates for private equity strategies in the U.S., Europe and Asia-notable clients have included: Avista Capital Partners, Clessidra Capital Partners, Emerging Capital Partners, AIG Highstar Capital, ePlanet Ventures, EdgeStone Capital, Greenhill Capital Partners, Snow Phipps, Avenue Capital, Charterhouse Capital Partners (based in the UK), Citicorp Venture Capital, Nordic Capital, and Terra Firma Capital Partners.

Charles P. Eaton, founder of C.P Eaton, said, “We are delighted that Loren is joining us as we continue to broaden our business geographically and within specific product silos including Private Equity, Real Estate, Real Assets, and Hedge Funds/Liquid Products. We have raised more than $33 billion across 57 funds representing the full spectrum of alternative investment strategies. We are always looking for the most talented investment managers and the best internal team to serve those clients, and Loren is an exceptional strategic addition to the existing team.”

Mr. Boston said, “It is an exciting time to be joining C.P. Eaton. With the fundraising market starting to show signs of rebound, the firm is well positioned and strategically staffed to serve the needs of leading private equity firms around the globe. C.P. Eaton offers a business model that is unique among top agents in that all seasoned professionals have a significant ownership share in the business. With many firms in the placement community undergoing significant change, C.P. Eaton is well positioned to become a pre-eminent leader.”

The Firm is among the largest independent placement agents with over 35 employees located in four offices: Rowayton, Connecticut; La Jolla, California; London; and Shanghai; along with an increasing on-the-ground Real Asset sector presence in Texas led by Jeff Eaton. C.P. Eaton is currently distributing 14 alternative investment funds (including a co-investment), targeting over $8 billion of capital. In addition to Private Equity and Real Assets, C.P Eaton’s other primary product lines include Hedge Funds/Liquid Products, led by Thomas S. Kreitler, and Real Estate, led by W. Michael Crawford. The firm’s other senior members include David M. Love, who runs the firm’s expanding Asian strategies, which include private equity, real estate and real asset products, and Franklyn D. Chang, who leads the firm’s London-based activities.