Private Equity

Although Luxembourg was already on the map with Private Equity, it is really since Brexit plans started to come together that more and more PE houses have developed dedicated offices, grown teams, and outsourcing models together with third parties on the ground.

Historically, these businesses relied on a UK or partly UK-based workforce. Since Brexit, especially for the funds whose main investors are in Europe, the link to Europe via the UK is not strong enough to continue as before. These entrepreneurial businesses seek out the most driven and dynamic candidates in the market, and for those with a strong academic background, can offer opportunities to work with leading investment teams, usually in other locations.

We have been inundated with requests from Private Equity companies since Brexit became more real in 2017, and through a deep understanding of their niche organisational structures, we are able to closely advise our contacts on the types of hires they should place into each role, and open doors to specific candidates that might otherwise not be looking for a move.

Private Equity is about people performance like no other asset class

Whereas other alternative asset classes typically have longer hold periods, more varied ways to generate return, or more factors to take into account when calculating the success of an investment, PE is more binary. As Investors are so focused on the last investment as a sign of value, this filters down into every last decision, and performance at every level is key. This makes hiring for Private Equity, and in fact working in a PE environment, a truly unique experience that really is not suited to every type of candidate.

Luxembourg has been growing rapidly in popularity with investors into private capital funds over the last 10 years.

Where investors turn, funds follow, and this has certainly been the case as we have seen more and more funds, and not just downstream entities setting up shop in Luxembourg.

The popularity of the structures, such as RAIFs, SIFs, and SICARs, and the flexibility of the legal and tax framework have solidified Luxembourg’s name as a jurisdiction of choice for Private Equity.

All eyes are now on ESMA as the Private Equity industry waits to see if they will release new guidelines in the future that will require even more of the front-end work to also be located within an EU jurisdiction.