Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders

The private equity industry has a reputation for being, well, pretty private. That’s been changing over the course of the last decade and where PE firms used to keep their cards close to their chest, they are increasingly championing transparency. That shift allows investors to form more informed assessments, and businesses looking to sell are able to have a better understanding of who they’re working with and how their interests align.

Relationships are an important factor to evaluate in investment decisions. Dave Tayeh, Head of Private Equity North America at Investcorp knows that well, having had experience as both an operator and an investor. At Investcorp, a global manager of alternative investments, Dave and his team leverage their global platform and resources to drive growth and value in the companies and relationships they invest in.

In this episode, Dave explains how he evaluates opportunity when deciding which companies to partner with, his perspective on how the private equity game has changed over time, and the investment strategies his team employed to support their portfolio throughout the pandemic.

Show Notes

Summary:

The private equity industry has a reputation for being, well, pretty private. That’s been changing over the course of the last decade and where PE firms used to keep their cards close to their chest, they are increasingly championing transparency. That shift allows investors to form more informed assessments, and businesses looking to sell are able to have a better understanding of who they’re working with and how their interests align.

Relationships are an important factor to evaluate in investment decisions. Dave Tayeh, Head of Private Equity North America at Investcorp knows that well, having had experience as both an operator and an investor. At Investcorp, a global manager of alternative investments, Dave and his team leverage their global platform and resources to drive growth and value in the companies and relationships they invest in.

In this episode, Dave explains how he evaluates opportunity when deciding which companies to partner with, his perspective on how the private equity game has changed over time, and the investment strategies his team employed to support their portfolio throughout the pandemic.

Highlights:
  • Introduction to Dave’s career at Investcorp (03:16)
  • Dave describes Investcorp and their mission (05:44)
  • Why private equity wants to partner with founders (06:48)
  • What differentiates Dave and his team at Investcorp (08:19)
  • Dave describes the six verticals they invest in (09:58)
  • The case study of Wrench (11:00)
  • Dave’s philosophy on leverage (12:26)
  • How Investcorp weathered the storm of Covid-19 (14:15)
  • Dave explains why managing people and relationships is key to PE strategy (18:53)
  • Dave provides his opinion on how private equity has changed over the last 20 years (21:00)
  • Wrap Up (23:30)
Links:
ICR Twitter
ICR LinkedIn
ICR Website
Dave Tayeh LinkedIn
Dave Tayeh Bio
Investcorp Website
Investcorp LinkedIn

Feedback:
If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, elizabeth@lowerstreet.co.

What is Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders?

In the increasingly crowded and competitive corporate and financial ecosystem, it’s harder than ever for companies to break through the clutter and be heard. The media, investors, agenda-driven influencers, even customers and competitors, are defining your business story on their terms. Therefore, it is imperative that companies take control and proactively drive the conversation with stakeholders in an effort to build & maintain equity value.

In Welcome to the Arena from ICR, Co-Founder & CEO of ICR, Tom Ryan, interviews key business and financial players who influence the fate of public or aspiring public companies in the capital markets. As a former Wall Street Journal ranked sell-side equity analyst and the founder of one of the largest strategic communications firms in the world, Tom understands what it takes to navigate this complex environment.

This is a forum for CEOs, CFOs, institutional investors, sell-side analysts, financial journalists, private equity professionals and other financial community participants to share their stories and give advice in an open and candid conversation.

For more information, visit http://www.icrinc.com