News & Analysis

LISTEN: Mark Florman on secondaries, Brexit and the need for transparency

Former BVCA head and founder of Time Private Capital Mark Florman talks due diligence on emerging managers, problematic performance metrics and why all managers should publish an annual report.

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Private equity firms should be more transparent about the impact they have on society. This is one of the takeaways from a wide-ranging discussion between sister publication Private Equity International and Mark Florman.

Florman has worn many hats in the private equity industry: banker, general partner, firm founder, cheerleader-in-chief at the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association and now investor through his advisory firm Time Private Capital.

Florman talks to PEI about his approach to due diligence, private equity’s enduring image problem and the latest developments in the industry, from GP-led secondaries process to the challenges of Brexit.

Time Private Capital is a unit of Florman’s advisory business Time Partners. It advises families and endowments on accessing private markets through funds or direct investing. Florman is unsurprisingly bullish on his assessment of the asset class’s prospects, but cognisant that the existing structures – blind pool, 10-year funds and traditional funds of funds – are often not right for families and smaller institutions.