YouSaid · the spoken record

Virginie Morgon

lines on the record: 66
first: 2021-07-19
most recent: 2021-07-19
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

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“Okay, listen to your heart, not to people, even your best friends, because you're the only one to know yourselves as best and innovate, move on, change path, don't be afraid to fail. What does that mean fail? Get out of your comfort zone. But more importantly, listen to what your heart is telling you. It's usually quite right.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Values, respect. Hard words for sure, but at the same time joy and family moment for sure. So like, do your thing seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“My dad for sure. And one of my economics professor at university second year. He so loved what he was doing. He was a banker at Citibank. He was full of energy, quite good looking, although I thought he was very old. I think he was 32 or something. And I was whatever, 17. I like the guy. I liked his energy. I liked the way he was conveying that love for what he was doing to us. And that's when I decided I would become an investment banker.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I like to go to my fishing hut in Myanmar, Burma, Myanmar, with no connection with the world with my husband and my four teenagers.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, it's an industry per se. So as an industry per se, we need to get organized as an industry. We have to have a motto. We have to behave properly, provide decent environment, values, condition of work, not just to our team, but to the team of our portfolio companies. And the impact is absolutely amazing because you have that lever that you can exercise, which is really exciting of making big impact through your portfolio company to change the way people think and act and manage. So that's another maybe concern or wish or maybe a little bump on the road. But you know that we don't know what will be the bump because we don't know where it's coming from. But it will be coming and you have to be agile and reactive and entrepreneurial. To be weathering whatever comes next.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Large fan of responsibilities that you have to be aware of and really caring. So I think that could be a bump on the road because the bigger we get as an industry. The statistics are not very well known and they're not very well covered but Bopark, companies which are under ownership of a private equity owner account in the US, in the UK, in France for about 6 to 9% of GDP.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If one day will be in the eye of government regulation or because when the shit hits the fan, you have to find someone responsible for it. So during the great financial crisis, the banks. Thanks God during COVID. We've all well behaved. We reinvested where we are to reinvest. We've been supporting our people, our companies taking care of our people, reinvesting in the companies because I was concerned and worried that we would be held responsible if something was going to go wrong, just like at the time of the great financial crisis. And I also like to say that when you have the strength and the power and the size comes with its responsibility, you have to behave. You have to invest in your people. You have to invest in ESG. You're like a public corporation comes with your size very”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Big challenge. So it's not just about the money, but it's also about the money. So if you can't completely compete on the money side, then you have to compete with your own assets. Who are you fundamentally and assuming that you can provide a very decent compensation? But on what you're offering to them, you want to be part of it. So that's a big one, I think. Retention of talent and hiring the right people. I don't know whether one day because we're becoming so big.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A people in a battle for talent and stuff. It's an industry which is attractive, pays well, exciting, you're learning a lot, you're on many fronts, you're meeting only great people, you're lucky, basically. It's hardworking, but you learn every day. So it's attracting and great talent and at the same time because this is growing so fast and I think it's only a start for very obvious reason of long-term low interest rate of volatility of the public markets, of disappearance of the banks in terms of financing like classic banks. So private equity, real estate infrastructure will continue to grow very, very, very fast. So the battle for talent is going to be a”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That I would have very significant presence, a relevant presence in the US to bring our point of view, to bring our way of doing business with entrepreneur and management team. So I'll build in, I'll maybe also convince great GPs in the US that they should join us, join the Eurasio platform. We have a lot to bring not just the balance sheets, but a lot to bring to great partners who are not afraid of sharing the control of their GP for the sake of being better at what they do and being part of a greater story. Back in great US companies that see the world to be their home and they understand that it's not just with USDPs that they can make it happen. They have to have a window on the world. We professional investors like us who understand Europe and China.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Will be certainly more global, that's why us, we understand that market, this is us. I would like to have built chapter two, three, and four because you're saying 10 years of my US book and expansion, we've only written chapter one, started at the end of 16. It's been amazing. You start from scratch. Nobody knows you. They don't even know how you pronounce your name. So you build, you build, you build, you're proud of who you become, who you hire. I love that terms that you find at the Silicon Valley, which is this exponentiality. Exponentiality is all about aligning the planet. So I would hope that in the next 10 years to come, we would have aligned so many planets in terms of who we are, what we bring to the industry as very diverse team, very gender balanced, very ESG committed, great professional, great.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We're still at the cutting edge of EAG. So I don't know what that takes over the next 10 years, but a lot of expertise and efforts and investment. Because this is here to stay. That's what our clients want. That's what our companies want. And that's where I think we should be heading as people, as investors, as nations.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But over a long term period, there should be no disconnect between the share price appreciation, value creation, and what we do for our clients as LPs in our fund.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No conflict of interest, I don't think, between a client coming into our fund and my public investors. I have to generate value for all my stakeholders, for my LPs, it's IRR, cash and cash, ESG, full value transformation play through a funds. And for my public investors, it's about, that's more of a challenge. It's about transforming this successful returns into the share price. And sometimes the share price has that volatility, which is a little bit disconnected from where we effectively realize in terms of performance in our funds, because I'm publicly quoted. I'm part of an index. Sometimes I'm compared to a bank or a financial institution. So some investors sometimes want exposure to the financial market and sometimes not.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because you show to your clients a performance, but if you don't have DPI, if you don't have exits, like the real moment of truth, not just a re-evaluation through your full time exercise, you need to show them exits. So in a way, sometimes clients should probably think, okay, I've been with this team for a number of years, decades. I don't have to push them to exit to trust that their next funds will be great. So they do their job well. They can continue to hold on to some assets, no pressure to sell, and that's okay for the next fundraising that the DPI is not like, you know, 1.5 times. We just have to find that balance between us as clients and GPs so that as a GP, you don't feel pressure to be showing exits. And results, guess what? When you have to show exit, you sell your best asset first.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it's not the outside capital which has this consequence. Because our clients are just like us as Eurazo, as an investor, they want their capital to be invested. That's what they're here for. So those equity bridge line and all of this, you know, they understand why it's there, increase your return, but they want to be called. And if they like the company in which they're invested through your fund, they would rather continue the journey with that company that has been performing very well. However, the pressure comes from the fundraising cycle.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So that freedom has an enormous value. But overall to your question and being honest, we don't hold our assets much more longer than my peers. It's probably a year longer on average. But you would see me selling also investment after two years and a half if I have a good reason to do so.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not very differently than my competition, I would say. It's just that I have more freedom if I want to think differently. So that makes a hell of a change because if you're free to think that you can decide if you have good reason to do so, that you can hold on longer, then you have an advantage to your competition. Like you don't have to sell Montclair just because you're thinking on five years or three years and a half, even worse, because you have to raise your next fund. You can hold on to it much better. And if you have a strong conviction, then you hold to your conviction and you show to your client that this is the right thing to do.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Wouldn't trust me if I was saying everything goes always as plan. And then we have to become more of a cost-cutting. We do work on cash law. We do work on working capital. We do work on optimizing the cash, of course, even if we're investing in high growth. But when you write on your judgments and your decision making on either a sector or a company with that profile of growth, you make your return on that.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, they're LPs across the board with hundreds of GPs, but here I'm talking a bilateral relationship, a strategic relationship. And they chose us, Eurazio for continental Europe. And that partnership is about helping companies that they co-invest through a fund alongside us, European companies, to accelerate their growth in China. They're opening doors. They are helping us to get regulatory approval, to get clearance with some trade to find people, hire the right person, like real operational boots on the ground, help from CIC. I mean, what can you dream of a better help in China? So yes, to your question earlier, we're more into growing our portfolio companies. Sometimes it doesn't unroll as we wish.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Our investment strategies, we push them and we help them to build their presence in China. In many sectors, and just to name a few, like hospitality, healthcare, luxury, and I stop that because it's probably 70% of any GDP, China is the big engine of growth. So if you don't make it there, you're losing in terms of a massive opportunity of growth. So China, we try to be smart because I'm not big enough to have that coverage that maybe some other of my competition have because they're running 400 billion dollars AUM funds. So we did it Street Smart. We made a partnership with CIC. CIC has selected a few GPs in the world.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Okay, you nailed it. We are a gross private equity investor. It's true. However, you have to be paying attention to the costs of the companies in which you invest. But that's not where we think we make return for our clients. We make return in choosing the right sectors than in those sectors, finding what we think would be the best player in that segment and then accelerate their growth. That's where we want to bring. Could be M&A, could be digitalization, could be commercial partnership, could be a new country. China has played a great deal in what we've bring to our company. The team that I have in Shanghai is not an investment team. I do not invest in Chinese companies directly, but a lot of the companies in which we invest through our funds.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“What we have ahead of us in that very unpredictable environment of ours. And COVID-19 was just another example if we needed one, never came, you know, nobody would have planned anything of the like. It's just that you always have to be on your two feet very agile, very fast, always prepared to react and don't lose the day with your portfolio company. So that's the playbook, really.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So we've been holding that investment, exiting progressively, of course, IPO and some exit, but nine years. And we made over five times our money. So I'm not saying time is my enemy in terms of duration of my investments. I can hold on long, but time is your enemy in accelerating the change. And those times where you were making your money just on deleveraging the company are a long time gone, as you know. It never happens this way now. So you have to bring significant value adds to the portfolio company. You're paying those companies pretty high multiple. It's not changing. So if you don't have that vision of where you want to take the company, what buildups, what new countries, what deals in China, what commercial partnership with Korea, what other businesses as a second engine of growth you want to build? So what M&A, all of this has to be done so fast because we have no idea.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Social protection. So that's how I would say we work day one, very disciplined. Don't waste the day. Just don't waste a day. And that's where sometimes I get crossed and lose my temper because time is not our friends. We know that. Not that we have to exit fast and certainly not your Azure because we have time or we can be very long term and Montclair, we kept Montclair and the last exit we made 10 times our money. We kept it nine years. Montclair is the age of my fourth child. So Montclair is the age of Alice, nine years. I closed down the day after I gave birth. And then we saw the last stake that we had in Montclair. She turned nine.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You said it's playbooks. We're very disciplined, so we're very much following our playbook 100 days, 200 days, milestones with our team and also senior advisor that we tap into our pool of competence depending on which sector, what issues. Our ESG team is part of those 100 days and 300 days milestones playbook. same thing Sophie is heading my ESG team. We have a sort of big and small team at the same time. It's big for a private equity of our size. I've got five full-time professionals only doing ESG at Eurazo. I would need much more. So what I do is that I work with very large ecosystem of professional imaging could be climate, could be diversity, could be governance, could be”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We came in consum Because of some of the big success that we had in consumer and brands in Europe. And actually, I have now also a dedicated team of investors called brands headed by an American professional, Jiz Granoff, who had spent 15 years at SD Lauder, 15 years in fashion. And she's heading the brand team. So it's a team of 10 professionals now investing in uprising brands, fashion, beauty, home, wellness, sports across the US and now in Europe. So we've made about 10 investments, not about, 10 investments in the US and Europe that worked quite well for us and now you see us spending a lot of time in tech and software as a service, the latest deal, Elemita is one tech, so our new platform like Trader, which we Partly sold through car cells in Australian strategic buyers. And also we're building our competence and team in healthcare.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Even if they only have like 10%. So that's a difference, but it's as long as it goes. At the end, the team laughs when I say that. But you invest in Italy, in Germany, in France, in the US, in Denver, in Houston, in Minneapolis. It only gets two serious bidders at the end. And it's usually the case that you end up where it doesn't matter where you started with 100 books out there or just 10 always end up with two serious beaters. And that's where you have to make your difference.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think the US is an enormous market of innovation in our industry. I'm very curious as a person. I think you have to look at your competition with great admiration and respect because they're very strong. And that market, that's where the innovation emerges, new products, new asset classes, new needs. I learn a lot from what I see in the US. And the way we do deals, it's funny because the management team have less of a say in the US than they have in Europe. That's a big difference. They're less incentivized. And I was a surprise. They're less incentivized in terms of management package. They less have a say. They're less important in the equation, which I find peculiar. In France, they have very heavy weight. Like they could literally block a transition.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So it's a complicated market to cover because it's so large. So the way we've approached it was to come with a very disciplined approach and choose our battle, the sectors we wanted to cover. So we have to be way more specific in sectors or area because otherwise you get overwhelmed and you lose track of yourself in France or in Germany there are smaller markets it's my home. I know the market inside out. It's like swimming in a pound compared to swimming in the Atlantic. So if you swim in a pound, you know your home. So you know exactly the deal that you want. So you put all your energy into that deal. It's probably 18 months down the road or 24 months or three months, but that's yours. In the US, very different. I quite like it.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Which I quite like to be honest because you're not awaited, of course, in the US because it's competitive, it's mature, it's been the private equity was born here. But the doors are sort of open. If you have something to bring to the table, it's open and you're not known for who you are. You're known for what you've done. When we came in, Yorazo wasn't known as a brand, but the investment we had done in Utelsa in that sector in the satellite industry, oh my god, were you the one to do Utel Sad back then? Monclair, luxury and fashion, of course. You know, Monclair, everybody knows that deal. And then, you know, you connect the dots, Montclair is your Azio, so you get respect for what you've done, what you've built. I like the US market because it's very deep.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Which I'm just putting UK aside. I mean, UK is the largest market, then come France from a private equity side standpoint, then come Germany and then Italy is probably number four, but a long way behind. So Germany, you know, the German penetration extremely difficult, very local, very federal, a little bit like in the US, but even more complicated. So being a European player, you have to have very diversified team, very European team to cover better the market, especially if you're doing smaller deals. It's a market which I feel, although it's my home, I feel a little bit more difficult to penetrate, which cause have you been going? Who have you been raised with? Who are your friends? What are your network? How do you exercise your influence in order to secure a deal? That's sort of different in the”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's probably not that different meaning in terms of how the team operates and the type of talent that you find in private equity teams in Europe or in the US, a lot of talented people, a lot of expertise, commitment, engagement. The market is different because there's not such thing as the European market, as you know. I wish, but it's way more complicated. So being a good investor in Europe takes many decades of operating in France, in Germany, in Italy.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“From this long roots in Europe there is this sort of Europe from the inside out with this globalization, and I'm curious what's different about private equity investing in Europe than it might be from, say, the US?”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Entrepreneurial. I mean, we are very entrepreneurial. We're not just investors. We are, hopefully great investors. We're brand builders. We are business builders. We like to build not only our own company, but also the company in which we invest with that very entrepreneurial mindset. Hence why I wanted to be way more international than in a way what you expect a mid-market private equity firm to be from a global perspective. That's our mindset.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“More, but we also think as being an impact company, everything we invest in has to have some form of impact and be as positive impact, planet, diversity people. So that would be more this, I would say, that we have in common. When you think of us in terms of private equity investors, we go from VC to mid to large. Not that usual when you think of the structure of the US market or even in Europe, you have strong VC players, strong growth player, of course, the big guys operating in need to large and extra large LBOs, I think it's very competitive advantage that we have under the same roof. That competence across the maturity of the companies and a lot of my tech investments are working, like commercial relationships with my largest investors. More mature, more classic companies. So we're making all the bridges.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Leadership level and then shared with the team values ESD commitment expertise that we bring to every of our portfolio companies so when we invest there's no situation where part of the due diligence is not an ESG diligence then we come in and there is an ESG grant plan with every of the company in which we invest could be diversity could be supply chain could be carbon emissions could be women could be just governance but there's a before and an after Eurazo in terms of ESG very clear so if you're part of Eurazo you see ESG and carbon neutrality as very core to what you do so you don't think in terms of okay yeah we have an impact fund right there on the side we actually have impact funds and we will”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Is probably not a common strategy, but it's certainly a shared vision of where we think the world is going. So you could be the team investing in venture or you could be part of the team investing in mid-large buyout. You have healthcare in common, you have software as a service in common, you have tech and high growth business model in common. The VC team would do checks of 10 to 15 million. The mid-large would do checks of 400 million, but the shared vision of the emerging leaders and winners, not just post-COVID, but over the last four or five years, healthcare has been prime on our top of the pile investment strategy across all the teams. The theme would be common because it's being thought at the”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I want to talk a little bit over onto the investing side. Maybe a nice transition is you have your legacy team and strategy. You have a couple of acquisitions. Is there a common strategy that constitutes kind of a Eurazio type deal across these different sectors of private equity?”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“European Union. I'm leading the UK, and there's a bigger player there north of a billion, and we are one of the two. And I could never have done this on my own. They probably could have never done this on their own. It's a combination of IDINVS and UAZO, which gave birth to that amazing track record, amazing team, and leadership position in growth capital.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Wine, but also in Europe was going to emerge and accelerate JFAS. So what do you do? Either you go organic, takes time, you have to hire probably a team of three or four, but if they've not been working together, LPs would not give you credit immediately, a little bit of a first-time team, first-time fun type of reaction. And I'd invest they had a majority shareholder and he wanted to sell. So we immediately position ourselves Eurazo to be partner. We negotiated the acquisition of 51%. We had synergies, which I never thought I would say that by acquiring a GPU, you would effectively derive synergies, like some of your portfolio, you know, do when they buy. But we did because we gave birth to the largest growth fund in Europe. I mean, there's only two growth funds in the”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Name and UASU as a client start investing balance sheets in the funds. Now, we're raising a billion euro fund, AUM probably three. We bought a company which was probably imagining 250 million. It's 10 times bigger. The team is still there, retention 100%. We've grown the team, of course. So that's one situation where you get to get together because you have something in common. You have common values. Then we did subsequently some other acquisition. IDVS, which we did two years ago, three was very strong inventure and tech. I could see that I needed expertise in tech. I didn't have it in-house, but it was coming. It was very clear that that market, especially, I mean, where”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Remember the first acquisition, which was in 2011, which is now our small cap investment strategy. What brought us together with Olivier's team and Eurozone was ESG. We were very much into ESD already at time. I, Virginie, was very much incarnating the diversity and the gender. One of my partner at URAZO has left since then was very much about climate and environment. And that's quite early on. I mean, we're in 2005, 2006, 2007. And Olivier and his team, the company was called Offsi Private Equity. They were very much on the same line on ESG. So we started talking because it's years ago and not many GPs were spending time on ESG back then. Long story short, fast forward, we have great values in common. We see the world the same way. Their shareholder can't continue to support them. It's a public company. We take it private. We buy it and we fully integrate it into Eurazio. We change the”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think we have been playing this role very much of a stabilizing force for our portfolio company, for our clients, for my team. And the private equity, I think, has that role to play in the future. So that's where I've been deploying in a way a strategy because of those learnings of 08 and 09 that you just couldn't rely on too few local investments.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“10 continents with 300 people, we were like 30. But it's not, again, not the science, it's the culture, it's the reach, it's the client coverage. Now, you know, we've got many clients in Asia, many in Europe. And that was my learning because we were at the time quite French, limited number of investment. So I didn't have that capacity to really face what I call vucca, volatile and certain complex ambiguous. These days as a CEO, as a management team, you have to operate into that vital environment. Everything is volatile. Every day is a new something. The new normal, we don't know. The uncertainty is everywhere. Market correction, the complexity is enormous. Things are ambiguous. political”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Appetite for such a two French company, and I thought if I do well, I can probably internationalize Eurazio and we can become a bigger player, but more importantly, it's not just about the size, but a more international player to be serving better my portfolio companies, my CEOs, my partners, and of course my clients. And that's what we did. And that has been amazing. The second office I've opened after Paris is Shanghai. convincing my team that Shanghai was the place and was not about London. It wasn't about New York yet. It wasn't about Frankfurt or Berlin and it was certainly not going to be Hong Kong or Singapore. It had to be Shanghai with a Shanghai raised, born, educated team. Yes, he would be a bit of a challenge, but yes, we had to do it and we started now. We have 11 of”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You've been building over the last four or five years. So, of course, you're stressed because you know this is the moment. But then you're so proud to see that it worked 100%. Of course, the share price dipped for like a month and a half. Who didn't in a way, besides some of the tech companies, but we dipped not long. And now we're back to Alta and I on share price, on results, on assets under management, on net asset value. So diversification was one answer. Internationalization, we were way too French. And to my earlier story about who I am and what I like and where I've been working, when I joined Eurazo, I thought it was a great platform, a great name, great professional, but it was way too French. And it was not about strategic thinking, it was just about my own.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I've got VCs, I've got growth, I've got private debt, which is growing faster. That has been about diversifying our risk. And as a consequence, protecting the value, the share price for my public shareholders. And that has worked great. And to be honest, last year, COVID-19 coming, I was stressed, I was worried. I'm the CEO. But when you test live,”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Tell you one story, Ted. I joined, so I resigned in September 2007 from Lazarus and I joined Ezo in January 2008. Okay. So I discovered like everything at the same time, what it was to be a private equity investor, those LBO structure, covenant cash constraints, liquidity issues, and then comes in the midst of the great financial crisis. And I learned fast. You don't have time to learn when you're straight into 2008, 2009. What I learned and what I then applied to the development of Eurazio to your question as capital allocation, I had too many eggs in just one basket at the time. So I've been working on diversifying my risk. As a GP for my public shareholder, but also for my client. And I've really done successfully. So I'm way more diversified. I've got large buyouts. I've got small buyout.”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“How did you think about as a public company the capital allocation process? Because you have this balance sheet that you can invest in deals, but you also can do acquisitions of managers and create new strategies. What was your thought process in how to deploy the capital?”
2021-07-19 · Capital Allocators · Private Equity Masters 5: Virginie Morgon – Eurazeo (Capital Allocators, EP. 204) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source