Women in Private Equity Firms, by Firm Size
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8 WOMEN I N 1 0 PRIVATE EQUITY Published May 2018 2 Report produced by the BVCA and Level 20 WITH THANKS Level 20 Level 20 Volunteers BVCA Craft.co Jeryl Andrew Melissa Bennington Franziska Kayser Tim Hames CEO, Level 20 BC Partners KKR Director General Victoria Peck Letizia Bellucci Whitney Lutgen Noelle Buckley Project Associate, Level 20 Cinven MJ Hudson Director of Research Sophie Bower-Straziota Natalie Miller Vitruvian KKCG Cécile Belaman Sarah Brereton Barbara Rauber Sophie Clemence craft.co Bain Capital Keyhaven Capital Exponent Senior Marketing and Design Executive Dana Haimoff Danielle Candfield Abigail Rayner JPMorgan Asset Hg Octopus Gurpreet Manku Management Deputy Director General Cleo Cheung Goodman Ria Shah and Director of Policy Kathryn Mayne OTPP Pantheon Horsley Bridge Pavel Timashkov Anastasia Ezhova Susie Stanford International Research Consultant TDR Livingbridge Travis Winstanley Lucy Hosmer Fabienne Trevere Diversity VC Hollyport USS Caroline Woodworth Nimisha Kanani Kaja Wilmanska General Atlantic Bain Capital Bridgepoint We would like to thank all 179 firms that participated in the survey. “We now have reliable data on “This study confirms that private “It is great to see that the private “The results of this first the number of women working equity and venture capital has a equity industry is now engaged comprehensive study in the in the private equity industry lot to do in terms of increasing in the diversity conversation. This UK demonstrate how much and can track progress. Whilst the number and seniority of report highlights that gender work needs to be done in order currently only 6% of senior women in the industry. There diversity is critically lacking in to attract, retain, support and investment roles are held by is irrefutable evidence that senior investment roles. We now promote women in the private women – a long way from our addressing this would also be have a baseline against which to equity industry. Research from goal of 20% - it is encouraging good for investment decision measure progress going forward. other asset classes shows that to see the numbers in middle- making and performance. This is an incredibly important more diverse teams make ranking and junior investment That has certainly been my step that should galvanise further better investment decisions, so roles. Level 20 will continue experience.” positive action to recruit, retain I do not see why private equity to work on ensuring that the and promote talented women in should be any different. In order industry is one where talented Calum Paterson our amazing industry. It has been to maintain our edge as a top women wish to stay to build Chair, BVCA proven in many instances that performing asset class, we must successful careers.” Managing Partner, Scottish greater diversity in leadership work harder to increase the Equity Partners styles and decision-making participation of the 50% of the Jennifer Dunstan drives better performance and talent pool which is not being Chair, Level 20 investment returns. Now is the tapped.” Partner, Head of Fund Investor time for the industry to drive Relations, 3i change and show how it will Helen Steers achieve, and indeed surpass, the Past Chair, BVCA 20% objective set by Level 20.” Partner, Pantheon Cheryl Potter Vice-Chair, BVCA Partner, Permira CONTENTS FOREWORD 6 “Private equity firms today are much more cognizant of diversity, not just because it is the SUMMARY 9 ‘right thing to do’, but also we realise it is an enabler of value creation. Research points to statistically significant correlations between OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY 10 a diversified workforce and strong corporate financial performance. In addition to the PARTICIPATING PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS 12 financial benefits, diversity has also been proven to prevent ‘groupthink’, attract the best talent and contribute to a better organisational health.” OUR FINDINGS 14 Cécile Belaman FOCUS GROUPS 23 Managing Director, Bain Capital RECOMMENDATIONS 30 METHODOLOGY 36 APPENDICIES 38 5 FOREWORD The BVCA and Level 20 are delighted to launch the Jeryl Andrew first report on the number of women working in CEO, Level 20 the private equity industry. Tim Hames Increasing the participation of women in the industry in Director General, BVCA general and representation in senior roles in particular is a strategic priority for the BVCA and Level 20, a non-profit organisation which was created to drive this change. We believe that greater diversity can improve decision-making and we welcome the growing body of evidence to support the case for diversity enhancing performance in business more generally. This research provides a robust and valuable data set that highlights the lack of gender diversity in senior investment roles. The pipeline, however, is promising and we will continue to work with the industry to improve on these results over the coming years. We would like to thank the research team at the BVCA and the Level 20 volunteers for their commitment and enthusiasm throughout this project. 6 “This report is an important and timely contribution to the ongoing gender diversity debate within private equity. It seems clear that we still have quite a way to go! In our experience an organisational culture that welcomes and supports diversity is fundamental to moving the dial on this issue.” Wol Kolade Managing Partner, Livingbridge 7 PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY The purpose of this study is to look at the UK private equity industry from a perspective that has never been seen before. For the first time, a baseline data set has been created revealing: • the number of men and women working in private equity; • how the ratio compares to the benchmarks of other industries; • whether the size of the firm has an impact on the number and seniority of men and women; and • most importantly, the decision makers who are helping create the companies, jobs, cultures and products of the future. This study includes 179 private equity firms with a presence in the UK who shared with us the composition of their pan-European team representing circa 5,000 employees. 8 SUMMARY In December 2017 the BVCA and Level 20 reached out to 179 private equity firms with a presence in the UK to share with us the composition of their pan-European teams. The purpose of this study was to create a dataset that would % not only allow us to measure gender diversity in the industry, but 29 Overall private also examine the type of roles women have and their seniority. equity workforce The study collected and amalgamated data on circa 5,000 employees working in private equity as at January 2018, thus providing one of the most comprehensive views of the industry. Breaking down the figures by position and seniority we see that 6% of senior investment team roles are held by women. 14% To gain a deeper understanding of the drivers behind this Private equity figure, and gender diversity within private equity as a whole, investment a number of focus groups were held to foster discussion and teams % of recommendations to increase female representation at all levels. women This active participation by firms, the greater representation working in private equity of women at junior levels, and the work of Level 20 and the 6% firm roles BVCA has created optimism within the private equity industry. Senior private equity investment The BVCA and Level 20 would like to thank all the firms and professionals individuals who participated in the study and the focus groups. 9 OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY A growing asset class Institutional investors in the asset class, including pension funds, insurance companies and endowments, benefit from Private equity in the UK and Europe is a growing asset class strong returns that flow to their ultimate beneficiaries. BVCA with record numbers of deals in recent years. It is also an asset research has shown that although a long-term asset class, class that makes a significant contribution to the economy private equity has had strong performance generating three with circa 450,000 people employed in the UK and c.8 million and five year annual returns of 12.7% and 13.7%, respectively, across Europe. Private equity funds managed in the UK compared to the FTSE All-Share, which returned 6.1% and currently invest in circa 3,800 companies, most of them SMEs. 10.1% to investors over the same respective time periods. Source: BVCA and Invest Europe research UK private equity deals European private equity deals 40 120 100 30 80 20 60 40 10 Volume of deals (€bn) Volume of deals (€bn) 20 0 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Year Year 10 Source: Dealogic as of May 2018. Excludes exits and add-ons There is no typical private equity firm This in turn affects the number of people required in different roles. Firms also have different business models based on their One of the early findings in this report is that there is a significant strategies and again, this will shape how many people they range in the size of firms by number of people that have have in their investment teams. participated in this study. So can we establish what a typical private equity firm looks like? The short answer to this question To illustrate this diversity in firm sizes, one large buyout house is 'no' and this reflects the sheer diversity of firms operating in shared information on the composition of its team. the UK and European private equity market. Of the 113 people working at the firm, 51% worked in the This research report covers firms with a presence in the UK investment team, split between the deal team (37%) and the that shared data on their pan-European teams.