Partners Group's Urs Wietlisbach says private equity firms must concentrate on value creation and the most effective way is to grow revenue
Partners Group's Urs Wietlisbach says private equity firms must concentrate on value creation and the most effective way is to grow revenue. Wietlisbach, whose firm has more than €30 billion invested in PE funds all over the world, says acquisition multiples are high, debt is worryingly cheap for blockbuster deals and parts of the industry are facing boom-time conditions last seen in 2006/7. It's hard to get multiple expansion, he said. And while leverage can go up in certain markets, revenue growth will be constrained because GDP isn't really growing quickly. Wietlisbach presented a Partners Group study of 250 PE firms to the Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association conference on Wednesday. He said 49% of PE firms were creating value through top-line growth, while 27% by cutting costs and 24% in managing financing and risk structures. (VIEW LINK)