Private Equity Unchained

Thomas Meyer is partner and co-founder of LDS Partners, specialising in the development of private equity risk measurement models and investment strategies. He has held a distinguished career in and out of the financial services, from intelligence officer in the German Air Force to CFO of Allianz Asia Pacific. He was responsible for the creation of the European Investment Fund's risk management function with focus on the development of valuation and risk management models and investment strategies for venture capital funds-of-funds. As Director of the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association he authored the EVCA Venture Capital White Paper 2010. Thomas co-directed the limited partner course delivered by the Private Equity Institute at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford that led to the EVCA awarded certificate. He is member of EVCA's Private Equity Risk Measurement Group, a Shimomura Fellow of the Development Bank of Japan and was a visiting researcher at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. Thomas is the co-author of Beyond the J Curve, J Curve Exposure, Mastering Illiquidity and two CAIA Level II books, which are required reading for level II of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst® Program. He studied computer science at the Bundeswehr Universität in Munich and holds a Dr.rer.nat. from the University of Trier. He graduated with an MBA from the London Business School and with an MA in JapaneseLanguage and Society from the University of Sheffield's School of East Asian Studies.

1. Introduction 2. A Neo-Classical Asset Class 3. The 'Repair-Shop of Capitalism' 4. Strategy Challenges 5. Strategic Asset Allocation 6. The Sky is Not the Limit 7. The Limited Partnership as Part of Humanity's DNA 8. Intermediation 9. Economics of Private Equity Firms 10. Objectives 11. Performance Persistence 12. Nobody knows Anything 13. Spreading Risks - Thickly and Thinly 14. Private Equity Risk 15. Performance Measurement 16. The Galapagos Islands of Finance 17. The Locust and the Deep Blue Sea 18. Intelligence 19. Spreading Risks - Part II 20. Open-Ended Relationships 21. Hard and Soft Power 22. Real Options 23. No Plan Survives… 24. The Heavy Hand of Regulation 25. Private Equity Unchained