Michael Bruun

📣 We’ve got a big ESG_VC event planned for Tuesday next week – featuring the latest updates to our measurement framework, news of our 2025 benchmarking with the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA), and an introduction to our new platform partners… 📣 On the afternoon of Tuesday 26 November, we’ll be gathering 200+ VCs for the latest update on the ESG_VC Measurement Framework – from what it covers to how it informs industry-leading research, and how you can now work with our accredited data collection partners. This will be our first event delivered in partnership with our cohort of platform partners: Apiday, Novata, and PortF. I’m excited to share with our members how these partners can support a big step up in your ESG initiatives. Join us for a jam-packed event that will feature: 🟢 An update from Suzi Gillespie of the BVCA on how you can take part in our 2025 research – we analysed ESG performance in c.600 VC-backed companies in 2024 and we’re looking to deliver an even more ambitious piece of research next year… 🟢 Insights from Emily Havers of Fidelity International Strategic Ventures on the updates that have been made to the framework and what it means for our members, their portfolio companies, and the broader ecosystem. 🟢 Perspectives from Emily Matthews of Oxford Science Enterprises and Nina Foote of Volution on how the ESG_VC Measurement Framework has supported their work on ESG. 🟢 Presentations from our platform partners: Edouard Audi of Apiday, Conor O'Laoire’Laoire of Novata, and Alex Lu of PortF. It’s going to be a good one so do register. Link to sign up in the comments! #ESG_VC #sustainability #venturecapital

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#orion #Sweetwater_Royalties Orion Resource Partners, a global investment firm specialising in metals and materials, has sold an 8% minority interest in Sweetwater Royalties, a private industrial minerals royalty company, to a Canadian pension fund for $100m. The transaction implies an approximately $1.9bn enterprise value for 100% of Sweetwater Royalties, with Orion retaining a 67% majority ownership share in the asset, having sold a 25% stake to Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in March 2023 for approximately $220m. https://lnkd.in/gkKMP3Tr

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Interesting thoughts from Houlihan on Direct PE (and the maturation of the market around independent sponsors) - "global volume (will) rise from $6 billion in 2019 to an estimated $50 billion this year, with annual deal numbers tripling over that period. We’ll see over 780 transactions this year... Directs have the promise to account for half of all annual capital raised for private equity in 10–15 years." #privateequity #independentsponsors

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Great conversation yesterday at Preqin with Preqin's Cameron Joyce, CFA, CAIA, Blue Owl Capital's Cara Griffiths, Bain Capital's Tom Sargeant on the future of fundraising for private markets. Where will AUM come from going forward? What are the challenges that funds will face in fundraising? What strategies will be most popular going forward? It was fascinating to hear the perspectives of some of the industry's biggest platforms in Blue Owl Capital and Bain Capital from Cara and Tom, respectively, as to where fundraising is headed given their purview on the market and from Cameron on his data-driven insights from market research and plenty of numbers crunching on what it will take for private markets to grow to $30T AUM by 2030.

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Recent M&A market performance is showing significant signs of recovery from the lows of H2 2023, with the growth in PE and PE-backed deals leading the charge.

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The dynamics within private equity are shifting, with investment and operating teams increasingly working together to maximise portfolio value. At Fortius Partners, Simon and I anticipated this evolution when we merged Citius and Altius in early 2023. We built a core team of independent operating partners to support investment teams and operating leaders in delivering tangible results. In our first year, we led 14 transformation engagements; this year, that number has more than doubled, with 31 successfully completed. With expertise across sales transformation, pricing strategy, and post-merger integration, Fortius Partners is well-positioned to help investment teams and operating partners drive growth and operational excellence within their portfolios. #PrivateEquity, #DealFlow, #SalesTransformation, #PricingStrategy, #PostMergerIntegration, #GrowthStrategy, #TransformationExcellence, #PortfolioPerformance, #InvestmentStrategies, Fortius Partners Simon Andreas Hofmann #OperatingPartner

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Here is the Martheart F.S Operating Partners Offer. Let's connect to unlock value. #PrivateEquity #OperatingPartners #ValueCreation #OperationalEfficiency #Investors #MartheartFS

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Scale-up business guide to getting investor-ready: THE FINANCIALS (2/7) Before approaching investors, you need to get your management accounts and everything associated with how you make money and spend money in order. This article explains the essentials of your business’ financials. #Business #investorready #financials

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Very much looking forward to joining the discussion and sharing the importance of embedded finance within our products. Embedded finance has the potential to revolutionise customer experience across a number of verticals, offering unparalleled convenience to keep up with evolving consumer expectations. #FTTEmFin #FintechTalents #embeddedfinance

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What’s the future of private equity? And how might this impact you? The FT / Brooke Masters mention employee share schemes, and points to changing business models and deal structures. Frankly, stunning PE firms have been able to get away with taking the upside and sharing very little (read: nothing) with employees and stakeholders. With the industry forced to evolve, we’ll realise just how bad legacy PE firms were at long-term value creation. (Already research on this, Bain & Co’s latest global PE report estimated zero value add when you remove leverage.) It’s a good thing - for sustainable business building and society - when more have ownership and share in the upside. #privateequity #openequity

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A few reflections on last week's Budget, from me, and a bunch of our fabulous FieldHouse Associates' clients. https://lnkd.in/exrefrpt #tech #innovation #investment #venturecapital #startups #scaleups #regulation #government #PR #publicaffairs #consultancy

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The latest monthly report from Phenix Capital Group shows growth of more than 10% in both the number of infrastructure impact funds on its database and the amount of capital raised by them over the last year, writes Ian Lewis. #impactinvesting #infrastructure #realassets https://lnkd.in/ewzizs_U

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The British Business Bank produced a great report last week on the performance of UK VC funds (link in comments) over the last 20+ years. As with all reports like this, it's really important to dig into the detail and not just rely on the headlines. In particular, I was keen to compare the performance of the best UK funds to those in the US. While accepting the limitations of the data (all performance data on VC is based on a very low sample size), it's still interesting to see how the UK funds in the BBB report compare to the Cambridge Associates US VC benchmarks. As you can see from the chart below, the top quartile benchmark for UK funds exceeded the US funds for the period 2002-2007. But the sample size for UK funds in this period is particularly low (eg just five funds for the 2004/05 period). Since 2008, the top quartile UK funds have underperformed the US benchmark, and since 2010 are much closer to the US median return than the upper quartile. There are some outstanding founders and companies in the UK and some strong-performing VC funds. But the reality of VC is that performance is driven by a small number of outlier investments. Without these, it's almost impossible to deliver 3x net returns to LPs. For the UK to really become competitive with the US, we need to see more UK-based companies able to scale and exit at valuations in excess of $5bn. Unfortunately, there are no easy solutions to achieving this. We consistently hear from our VC managers that there is no shortage of capital for the best UK companies. Where there is a shortage is in the number of world-class founders looking to build in the UK. Get this right and the capital (and returns) will follow.

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📝 Zero Carbon Capital's Alex has written up some of our thoughts about #advisors for early stage start-ups - where do you find them, how to get the most out of them and how you should compensate them. We do see start-ups giving shiny-sounding advisors big chunks of equity and then not getting much out of it, so this is definitely something to navigate with care. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eXf2QR3z

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Another wild day. 🙃😉🙃😉 4 new opportunities brought to our Operator Network cohort of PE, VC and Family Office clients. One is particularly interesting on a number of levels but largely because it’s a carve out of a £1bn+ Family Office portfolio…. £1.5m revenue D2C with 60% GMargin. Exceptional client list of MRR subscribers. Another opportunity involved an eco/retrofit business who have just done £1.8m revenue yr1 and growing to £8m yr2 with some cashflow finance required. There’s a £20m rev, £3m EBITDA specialist travel company raising £3m… Our vast community of Chairs and Non-Executives are plugged in to the SME deal-flow eco system. And guess what - these are largely completely “off-market”. Find out more at https://lnkd.in/eha-9Zxq #DealDirect #Virtualnonexecs

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Hargreaves Lansdown receives second bid from PE consortium for £5.4bn. Hargreaves Lansdown has received a second bid by a private equity consortium led by CVC Capital Partners to acquire the platform for around £5.4bn. Check out Cristian Angeloni’s latest article 👇 https://incm.pub/3KN1w5q #investing #assetmanagement #wealthmanagement #finance

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Sharing the link to my favorite podcast on impact investing. This episode was a great interview between Kusi H. and Dimple Sahni that helps shed some light on Anthos Fund & Asset Management and more broadly the potential role(s) family offices can play in the space. https://lnkd.in/gizWWqat #impactinvesting #scalingimpactcapital

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CPP Investments | Investissements RPC, with CAD 646.8 billion in AUM as of fiscal Q1 2025, has deepened its portfolio across digital infrastructure, renewable energy, and essential services. Key partnerships include the UK single-family rental venture with Kennedy Wilson, and the acquisition of Nord Anglia Education alongside Neuberger Berman and EQT Group, illustrating CPP’s targeted approach to stable, income-generating assets. Infrastructure investments include France’s Fécamp offshore wind project and the expansion of the Reventus Power platform. CPP's emerging markets presence includes commitments to Brazil’s Iguá Saneamento and India's National Highways Infra Trust. In North America, CPP’s acquired Tallgrass Energy and California Resources Corporation. #CPP Investments #CPP #KennedyWilson #NordAnglia #NeubergerBerman #EQT #ReventusPower #IguaSaneamento #NationalHighwaysInfraTrust https://lnkd.in/d2MUtxKE

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"Diverse PE & VC firms invest in a different universe of deals" My own experience in investment management shows that the different views on deals is one fo the key success factors! 🏆 Working together in gender diverse teams or with people of different backgrounds is so inspiring and value generating and, in addition, provides better performance! It is so important for investors and the teams themselves to have more equal opportunities on all levels of an investment firm from junior to senior positions. 🚀 More information in our emma Ventures' post below:

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