Hello Friends,
Thank you for visiting this space. I'm excited to finally share a personal memoir of everything I've learned from my stints, short and long (pun intended), in private and public equity.
So what can you expect from this newsletter? Well, it's not (just) about my views on the macro environment or specific public/private investments. Instead, I'll also be covering the sausage-making - the internal processes of a fund manager from the eyes of a budding associate.
To start, I'll be sharing my foundational 101 series for two specific domains: (1) Private Equity Fund Investing and (2) Fundamental Equity Investing, drawing from my work experience at Hermes GPE and Citadel (Surveyor Capital), respectively. From there, I'll dive into case studies, focusing on specific investment opportunities I reviewed/executed in the past.
If it's a private equity investment, for confidentiality reasons, I will anonymize the company's name and private equity sponsor. But I'll still cover other key attributes, the main investment thesis, the merits, the risk-reward profile, and more.
It's important to note that the opinions expressed in these blogs are my own and may differ from other professionals’ based on their experiences.
So why am I doing this? Because I love analyzing and valuing companies. In my 8+ years of working in the investment world, I've dug deep into analyzing fund portfolios with # of portfolio companies ranging from 5 to over 50 (think of TPG/Carlyle). Each company has a unique story, a core investment thesis, a value creation opportunity, and eventually, a great ending (spectacular exit or a dramatic downfall ending in bankruptcy).
I get excited when I see a familiar name in a fund portfolio or come across an interesting investment opportunity. For example, I reviewed an investment in Capsugel, a carve-out from Pfizer, which held >50% global share in gelatin manufacturing. Now, I can't help but think of Capsugel whenever I take any oral capsule-based medication.
But this isn't just about the halo effect. Some investments have a clear thesis, a clear path to value creation, such as fat-trimming or buy-and-build, or new market entry, while others are more complex, and you have no clue why the private equity sponsor acquired it, let alone paying a massive premium.
I plan to share some of these stories with readers who share similar interests and might want to extrapolate learnings (if any) to other instances of their investment journey.
So who am I? I work in Enterprise Data, a fast-growing segment within the broader tech sector. But before that, I had a brief stint as a Senior Consultant at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and as an Investment Associate at Citadel covering Enterprise Tech stocks. Most of my professional career was spent at Hermes GPE across their London, Singapore, and New York offices. Hermes GPE is a private markets investment manager specializing in funds and co-investments.
I did my MBA from Chicago Booth and my undergraduate from BITS Pilani in Computer Science Engineering.
Thanks for joining me on this journey, and I look forward to sharing my insights with you.