State of the Private Equity Industry

Wed, 9 Apr

Zunfthaus zur Meisen

INSEAD Alumni Association Switzerland

State of the Private Equity IndustryWednesday, 9 April 2025 Private Equity gained traction in 2024, with investments and exit activity returning to growth after two years of declines. Momentum is building in early-2025, and baring material policy or geo-political shocks, promises to continue. Fundraising lagged last year, as a result of slower distributions and prolonged holding periods; the year is expected to remain challenging, despite LP’s long-run intent to maintain or increase allocations to the industry. The cost of generating alpha is going up, as competition to win deals and create value post-close raises the bar on expertise, data and analytics capabilities, and technological/AI proficiency. The winning firms over the next decade will be the ones that confidently know their true sources of differentiation, clearly articulate their ambition, and develop a practical strategy for how they plan to compete in the years ahead. For the fifth time since 2016, INSEAD alumni and guests have the opportunity to gain insight and an outlook on the Private Equity industry from INSEAD alumnus Rolf-Magnus Weddigen and Moritz Vielhauer from Bain & Co.’s private equity practice. Their presentation is followed by a panel discussion of leading PE practitioners, networking and an apéro riche.   Speakers   Rolf-Magnus Weddigen, MBA 92D, Senior Partner Bain & Co., MunichRolf-Magnus is Chairman of Bain & Co.’s Private Equity practice in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. He has 30 years of experience advising investors and their portfolio companies on M&A, strategy, and transformational programs for value creation and organizational effectiveness. He has an Industrial Engineering degree from Technical University of Karlsruhe (KIT) and an INSEAD MBA.   Moritz Vielhauer, Partner, Bain & Co., ZurichMoritz advises clients in the industrial and consumer goods, retail, and private equity industries. He has deep experience with full-potential transformations, strategy development, performance improvement, and operational due diligence. Moritz holds an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York, where he graduated with honors and a BA in business administration from the University of St. Gallen (HSG) in Switzerland.   Giovanna Maag, Partner and Head of DACH at Altor Equity Partners, ZurichGiovanna focuses on mid-market investments in the Business Services and Industrial sectors. Giovanna has more than 15 years of experience in partnering with the German Mittelstand, first with private equity investor 3i out of Frankfurt and since 2018 with Altor. She started her career in M&A at Morgan Stanley and strategy consulting at McKinsey & Company in Frankfurt and London. Giovanna is a Member of the Mid Market Council of Invest Europe and a co-founder of Level20 DACH.   Kasper Sørensen, Director at BUPrior to joining BU, he worked for almost 10 years at FSN Capital Partners in Copenhagen and Munich, most recently as a Principal and Head of FSN’s Green Transition investment team. Earlier in his career, Kasper worked at Credit Suisse in Investment Banking in London. Kasper studied at the Copenhagen Business School and at the Johnson Graduate School at Cornell University as a visiting MBA student. He completed the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program in 2022. He holds a Master of Science in Finance and Accounting.  Programme18:00 Welcome18:30 Start presentation of Bain19:00 Panel, Q&A20:00 Dinner & Networking Key FactsWhen: Wednesday 9 April 2025, 18:00Where: Zunfthaus zur Meisen, Münsterhof 20, 8001 ZürichTickets:CHF 55 NAA members (paid-up) // CHF 85 non-member alumni and guests  INSEAD Private Equity Club and INSEAD Alumni Association SwitzerlandMartin Spirig, MBA 06J, IPEC PresidentReto Gygax, Zürich Chapter PresidentRichard Bissonnet, MBA’81, IPEC Switzerland Committeeevents@insead.ch