Investment Officer Luxembourg

After a two-year hiatus, the IPO market is showing signs of life, with private equity firms seizing the opportunity to take their portfolio companies public.

For years, it was taboo for funds to put money into arms manufacturers. Now, with the focus shifting to the protection weapons provide rather than the damage they cause, they are coming back into the picture as an investment. Asset managers fear being left behind in the market otherwise.

The Norwegian parliament is poised to debate the merits and drawbacks of incorporating private equity investments into the country’s mammoth 1,490 billion euro sovereign wealth fund, the largest globally. The government is hesitant about unlisted funds, despite previous recommendations from Norges Bank, the country’s central bank which manages the national oil fund.

I devour every speech and interview given by ECB board members, relishing each word. Yet, despite my enthusiasm, Christine Lagarde’s turns at the podium often leave me cold. Her discussions frequently veer away from monetary policy, straying into territories like climate change and other non-financial realms, seldom touching on the critical issue of money growth—a topic history deems crucial.

Steffen Pauls led KKR in Germany for over eleven years before becoming CEO of Moonfare. In 2015, he left the American investment company with a new goal: making private markets accessible to individuals. He understands all too well this target group sometimes has ethical concerns regarding this sector.

Despite constant new regulations and sophisticated technology, one of the main reasons why money-launderers and terrorism financiers continue to succeed is a simple lack of qualified personnel able to make effective use of such tools, according to a recent survey carried out in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region by global accounting firm PwC.

One hundred years following the establishment of the inaugural open-ended equity fund, modern actively managed mutual funds appear to grapple with an ambiguous future.