French Private Equity

French Private Equity Deals Test M&A Waters 

Two deals involving French companies are testing the waters of the private equity M&A market.  As I wrote earlier, buyout firms are sitting on a huge stash of dry powder and the two companies are seen as a measure of private equity firms’ willingness to complete a purchase rather than letting the firms go to auction.  The two companies are frozen food company, Picard Surgeles, owned by BC Partners (BCPRT.UL), and health clinic operator, Medi-Partenaires, owned in part by LBO France.  

Competition for these companies, worth more than of 1 billion euros each, is likely to be keen because many funds, are sitting on cash while they fall behind on investment and performance targets.

Appetite is so strong that despite their size, the two companies up for sale could be bought by funds before they have debt financing in place.

The risk is that some funds may rush to buy before performing adequate due diligence. Some private equity players warn a mini-bubble in attractive sectors could be forming.

“There is relative imbalance in the market. There is a lot of cash but few opportunities.” said Xavier Marin, President of Paris-based private equity fund Fondations Capital.

“With this pressure to put cash to work some of the larger funds are being very aggressive.”

Picard has a network of stores selling frozen food and competes with general retailers such as France’s Carrefour (CARR.PA). Medi-Partenaires competes with Blackstone (BX.N)-owned Groupe Vitalia and Generale de Sante (GDSF.PA).   (Source)

1. Private Equity Tracker Tool
2. Private Equity Career Guide
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Tags: private equity investments, private equity firms, private equity deals, french management, French companies, France private equity deals

E.U. Hedge Fund Talks

European Union Hedge Fund Talks Break Down

Negotiations between the European Union and national governments over hedge fund regulation has broken down.  Last week, the Spanish presidency of the E.U. conceded that no rules would be made in June and the countries’ leaders left for the G20 summit in Toronto without finishing talks on hedge funds.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy want to champion Europe as a model for ambitious regulation, but an impasse over hedge funds and watchdogs means the European Union is struggling to draft laws, while President Barack Obama is expected to sign off on new rules to regulate finance within weeks.

At the heart of the disagreement is a passport or license for foreign hedge funds to do business throughout Europe. Lawmakers want to block the entry of foreign funds that fail to qualify for a license because they do not meet European Union standards on transparency, bonuses and the use of debt.

But Britain, home to nearly all European hedge funds, wants to give funds that fail the European Union passport test a second chance by letting them apply for a license to operate in individual countries. Criticism also has come from the United States, which has warned that the measures could be discriminatory.  Source

Related to: European Union Hedge Fund Talks

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Tags: European Union Hedge Fund Talks, hedge funds, hedge fund regulation, talks, negotiations, regulation, license

In the translation industry, when it comes to confidentiality every translator and even clients should think of establishing a formal and valid Privacy and Confidentiality Agreement before the project to be translated is determined by both parties.

Translator’s privacy and client’s confidentiality comes first. However if needed, they should make the effort to keep all documents and personal information from being disclosed to a third party. A privacy agreement will demonstrate to the client a complete respect and professionalism in keeping the privacy and discretion of any document available to the public, unless otherwise advised.

A translator could find himself guilty when in order to finish a job he decides to subcontract a colleague to work and disclose confidential information without the client’s permission, awareness or approval.
If you have been already working with a translation partner or intend to find someone to start a partnership, make sure to mention about your associate and also that he’ll be providing his translation services in combined with yours in terms of your services.  It is always safer to have everything transparent and in writing.

When signing up for a translation task, think of how much time you will take to accomplish it and make sure you can deliver it yourself, but if time is still a problem and you think you’re almost close to the deadline and you can’t get it done, contact the client and be honest about the situation. You may be able to present him some options that could facilitate this process for both of you and still meet the deadline necessities. (E.g. consider getting some help from a translator you can trust and let your client know he will also be working on the job with you. It is very important to inform your client before you make any decision.).

Why is it important to submit a Privacy Agreement to a client?

• Your clients will trust you and your personal and professional ethics.
• It ensures the protection of the documents translated and presented by you.
• Make it a serious commitment – providing your clients not only the regular terms of service for a translation job but including a confidentiality agreement that will effectively determine its importance by being signed and dated by both; translator and client.

This will be a much appreciated way to perform your work and an appropriate factor to follow.

By Vanessa Greenway, CTP Associate

Read More Related Resources:

• How to Succeed as a Professional Translator 
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• FREE Translator Guide

Tags: Translation and Confidentiality, Translation Clients, Translator Training, Translation Career Tips, Translation Resources, Translation, Successful Translator.

There has always been a difference between marketing and PR; Online today, however, that difference proves to be harder and harder to define. As such, Internet marketing and public relations are very interrelated and at times overlapping in terms of activities, strategies, and objectives. Both aim to increase readership, increase action taken by readers, and in turn increase sales (or buy-ins, whatever that buy-in may be).

First, let’s define Internet Marketing. Definitions across the web will tend to differ, but in general they all define Internet marketing as an all-inclusive set of activities aimed at marketing a product or service online. Those activities will also differ from one set of definition to the other, but here are some that may be included or deemed an Internet marketing activity:

1. Search Engine Optimization. The optimization of your copy online for search engines. This can include things like keyword optimization, link optimization, and the use of images and interesting titles. These all interact together to create SEO.
2. Search Engine Marketing. This is similar to the above, but rather than hoping for some forced and free SEO, you can pay search engines, like Google, to link to your site when various keywords are searched for.
3. Copywriting. Essentially all the writing you do online, whether it be a press release, website body, or blog post. Copywriting is an important part of PR and marketing and requires excellent writing skills, and the integration of SEO.
4. Content Marketing. This is the use of things like article marketing (which is the process of spreading your content through different article sites like Ezine Articles) and social media (where you can also share your content). This is the marketing of your product or service somewhat inadvertently by offering things of value (through your content) and in turn gaining trust and goodwill by being a source of information and advice.
5. Educational Marketing. This is simply the latter part of content marketing where you share your knowledge for free. This is an effective way to share what you know to let others make the decision of whether or not to use your product or service. For example, you are a PR firm who specializes in social media. Create and update a blog on social media, sharing what you know about the market and the industry. This will show others, prospective customers perhaps, that you know what you’re talking about. You will help them to make their decision, and they may in turn remember you when the time comes to finalize their move.
6. Email Marketing. As the name suggests, this is the tried and often times disregarded (by your customers) method of sharing information through email. The difference between using it for marketing/PR and advertising is that you do not send spam (advertising) but instead share information that is useful and valuable (Educational/Content Marketing).
7. Online Promotions. This could be a contest, a web-wide survey, a sale/free offering, or a promotion to get people to come to your website/store/location. This should often get people involved and be more than simply a promotion of a lowered price.
8. Web Aesthetics/Design. This is vital to the flow and feel of your website/blog. Readers will leave if they are turned off by a design. Conversely, if there is nothing interesting in an excellently designed website, they will also leave. Optimize your website/blog for the best flow of information, encourage readers to choose a link or to download an eBook or white paper, and make the content useful. This is the best way to create a successful and visited website.

A great comprehensive definition of the goal of Internet Marketing from About.com:

Internet marketing is using the Internet to do one or more of the following:

• Communicate a company’s message about itself, its products, or its services.
• Conduct research as to the nature (demographics, preferences, and needs) of existing and potential customers.
• Sell goods, services, or advertising space over the Internet.

Notice anything about the above information, strategies, and tactics? Well, if you missed it, allow me to help: they are all things that are used to define Public Relations Online. One could simply change the title of this post, edit the names of the activities above, and say these are all related to PR.

What’s great about Internet Marketing and PR is that they are so interrelated. You can create a marketing campaign aimed at creating more revenue, but it really won’t have much success unless you use some of the tactics that have been defined as public relations activities, like using social media and communicating with the public.

The definition from About.com is one that could also be used for PR, especially the first line: Communicate a company’s message about itself, its products, or its services. This is the goal of PR. Whether it be conveying that message to diffuse a crisis or to share about a change in policy, public relations is about informing and communicating with the public.

What do you think? Are there more differences that I’ve missed here, or do you think the two are more related than most people know?

Private Equity City

Regulation Changes Private Equity Cities, London and NYC

I am working in New York City this week before I leave the States for three weeks.  New York is the private equity hub in the United States, but with increasing taxes, a new financial reform bill, and tightening regulation of placement agents, it’s uncertain whether New York will continue its dominant position in the industry.  For a list of the top 15 private equity firms see this article.

I’ve heard talk of New York losing its top spot, but I do not think this is realistic because the only city really capable of competing as a private equity hub is London and regulation and taxes look even worse across the pond.  The UK’s recent budget proposal has not hurt UK buyout firms enough to drive them away it seems but it continues to be more and more expensive for private equity firms to operate in London.  The new British government has decided to raise carried interest taxes from 10% to 28%, payable on profit above GBP10,000 a year.  For the U.S. this would be seen as a severe tax hike, but UK firms were expecting an increase to as much as 40%-50%.

But the rise wasn’t as large as feared by many private equity executives who have to pay CGT on the carried interest, or the share of profits that fund managers receive as part of their compensation.

“It is a big increase but it could have been a lot worse–many were expecting a hike to 40% or even 50%,” said Caspar Noble, a partner in the tax group at Ernst & Young.
Noble said that he didn’t think it was sufficiently high to make people relocate as they had threatened.

The sector will also benefit from a reduction in corporation tax from 28% to 27% next year and a further 1% cut in the three successive years. For small firms, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said corporation tax would be reduced from 21% to 20%.
The cuts are good for private equity-owned companies in the U.K. and will also help the smattering of private equity firms which are managed and employed by a U.K.-based company as opposed to being structured as a partnership, said Noble.  Source

Click here for contact details to over 1,000 private equity firms including firms in New York and the UK.

1. Private Equity Tracker Tool
2. Private Equity Career Guide
3. Private Equity Training

Tags: private equity city, private equity cities, private equity city location, top private equity cities, list of private equity firms, private equity firms in New York, Private Equity firms in the UK, London

Q1 Hedge Fund Outflows

Hedge Fund Outflows Total $11 Billion in Q1 2010

Hedge funds recorded heavy outflows in the first quarter of 2010.  Investors pulled out $11 billion, mainly from smaller hedge funds.  The negative net flows for the first quarter of this year eroded the last quarter of 2009 inflows of $7.5 billion.

According to the report, Q1 2010 marked a polarization of money flows across hedge funds, with larger funds tending to post relatively larger and positive money flows, while smaller funds recorded relatively smaller and negative outflows.

On a four-quarter rolling-period basis, net money outflows from hedge funds amounted to $55.45 billion—an amount accounting for more than 15% of the sum of all negative quarterly money flows to the industry since first quarter 1994.

Despite the Q1 net outflows, global hedge fund assets are estimated to have increased quarter on quarter—from $1.34 trillion at the end of December 2009 to $1.39 trillion at the end of March 2010.

The bulk of net outflows in the first quarter were concentrated in strategies such as equity market-neutral, event-driven, managed futures, and multi-strategies.

Cumulative net inflows for the first quarter accounted for 0.91% of the beginning-of-quarter assets (it was 0.64% for the fourth quarter).  Source

Related to: Q1 Hedge Fund Outflows

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Tags: Q1 Hedge Fund Outflows, Hedge Fund Outflows, Hedge funds inflows, hedge funds, investors, capital

New York State Tax

New York State May Tax Out of State Hedge Fund Managers 

New York state is considering a take hike on out of state hedge fund managers.  Many hedge fund managers work in New York state but live elsewhere, and New York is trying to take advantage of this to raise $50 million taxing carried interest.

A spokesman for Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said by telephone on Monday that it means hedge fund managers would be treated the same way as other commuters.

Congress also has considered taxing carried interest — profits gleaned by managing assets — at ordinary income rates — much to the dismay of hedge fund and private equity titans.
But last week, the federal proposal collapsed with a bill extending unemployment benefits. So for the moment, investment managers still pay only the 15 percent federal capital gains tax on their profits.

Democratic Governor David Paterson and New York lawmakers have balked at broad-based tax hikes after last year, when the top state income tax was raised to 8.97 percent for people whose annual earnings top $500,000.

Making hedge fund managers pay the state income tax is one of several options the Legislature devised after rejecting several of Paterson’s proposed revenue-raisers, from letting grocers sell wine to raising tuition at public universities.  Source

Related to: New York State Tax

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Tags: New York State Tax, New York State Hedge Fund Tax, New York City hedge fund tax, hedge fund taxes, New York government, hedge funds regulation

Our Hedge Fund Websites

During our recent Hedge Fund FAQ webinar the most frequent questions were about how to start a hedge fund, how to complete our CHP Designation Program, and how to raise capital either for a project or hedge fund. 

We also got a few requests for a list of the hedge fund and alternative investment blogs we now run in the industry, here is the list of sites we run that provide 100% free advice and content each week.

• Hedge Fund Startup Guru.com
• Hedge Funds Career.com
• Prime Brokerage Guide.com
• Third Party Marketing.com
• Fund Administration.org
• Commodities and Futures Guide.com
• Family Offices Group.com
• Private Equity Blogger.com
• Hedge Fund Blogger.com

I hope this helps, thanks for visiting our website and stay tuned for two new blogs we are launching next quarter.

Related to: Our hedge fund website

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Tags: investment blogs, alternative investment blogs, hedge fund blogs, largest hedge fund blog, oldest hedge fund blogs, most popular blogs on hedge fund, hedge fund manager blogs

Double Your Hedge Fund Compensation

We get lots of emails from hedge fund professionals (2k/week) who are looking to boost their career, their compensation and their overall progress in reaching their dream hedge fund job.  Below are some quick,  practical ideas which take hard work but are proven to greatly increase your chances of doubling your income in the industry regardless of where you are currently at:

1. Map out where you want to go in the next 1, 3, 5 and 7 years on paper within a career or business plan, dream big and work backwards from there.
2. Switch jobs. If your current employer is not giving you opportunities or avenues to grow get out and move on to a bigger opportunity. If this is not an option create “WOW” projects within your job, if you don’t know what this means read Tom Peters books for motivation and instructions on this detail.
3. Stopping thinking about putting in your time and instead start positioning your own unique value and contribution.
4. Be pro-active in becoming friends with those who are either hubs for industry contacts or are the direct professionals who you want to work for in 3-5 years, friends hire friends.
5. Invest in yourself, complete training or certification programs, seek out a mentor or hire a coach.
6. Create 5 drafts of your resume before showing it to anyone, if possible create a pitch book on yourself and your career as to why someone who hire you.  Provide an estimated ROI, example trades, work samples that you have permission to share, etc.
7. Read at least 30 minutes of training materials or niche books which directly connect with the skills needed to perform very well at your dream position
8. Join toastmasters, get comfortable and good at speaking at events, seminars, and conferences it positions you as an authority and forces you to master some niche topics
9. Work hard. I heard a great quote somewhere, in life there are two groups those who take credit and those who do hard work.  Be in the group which does the hard work, there is far less competition.

I hope these tips help, these are things I have learned from trying to grow my career and coaching members of the Certified Hedge Fund Professional (CHP) Program.  Each participant within the CHP Designation gets access to our career coaching, resume feedback, resume template, and over 70 educational videos.

Tags: hedge fund compensation, double your hedge fund compensation, increase my hedge fund compensation, improve hedge fund compensation,  hedge fund compensation levels

Social media is a regular topic here at PublicRelationsBlogger, and it probably deserves the attention it gets. Some may find it overrated, but its popularity, plethora of uses, and overall simplicity make it a wonderful thing.

It is an ever available tool that anyone can use to convey their thoughts, share information, and find more information. Moreover, it is a way for people to get and stay connected with one another. It is also a place where people can get connected with companies who also use social media.

That brings about a question, though: who owns social media? Furthermore, does it need to be owned? Ownership may not be necessary, but there needs to be some sort of responsibility for it and what is said through it. It is a vehicle for communication, and while past methods of communication between company and consumer were constrained to one way communication, social media breaks those boundaries; when everyone has access to social media, things change.

The idea for this post came from reading a post from Frank’s Sword and The Script blog titled Who Owns Social Media? It got me thinking. His post went over the question of ownership of social media within the company, more specifically, within the marketing and PR departments. Company departments were asked to define the ownership of social media, attributing ownership to “PR, Marketing, Both Marketing & PR, Customer Service/Support, Sales, Product Management, Other, No One, or Not Applicable.” The results were very interesting. The overall consensus was that it was either owned by Marketing, PR, or Both Marketing & PR.

While I very much enjoyed his take on it and the point of view from which he wrote, I wondered if ownership could also be debated outside of the company. Do customers/buyers think that social media is something that companies should not/do not own? It’s probably safe to assume that some consumers find social media to be something that companies should not own, let alone use. Do companies think they own social media? Should it be owned by someone at all?

As mentioned above, social media is open and available for anyone to use. There are, no doubt, companies that abuse that privilege. This can create animosity toward any company looking to use social media due to the large number of companies using social media as another advertising platform. (It is not another advertising platform.) What about the companies that use social media “correctly”, or as the public relations world would see it be used? What if they are indeed offering things of value to their connections online?

What do you think? Do companies get to own social media like they do advertising? They are already interrupting our daily lives through commercials on the radio and television, billboards, and Internet ads. Who gets to say what goes in the social media world?

Naked Short Club

London’s Hedge Fund Radio Show, the Naked Short Club

Hedge fund managers in the UK have made appearances on the Naked Short Club, a hedge fund radio show in London.  The show is hosted by “Dr. Stu,” who says he works in the hedge fund industry.  Dr. Stu interviews managers, talks about the latest hedge fund gossip and makes jokes between playing psychadelic rock songs from bands like the Stooges.

The show is mostly comedy with the host recently taking aim at German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her ban of short selling and convicted fraudster Bernie Madoff.  But the Naked Short Club also provides listeners with interesting interviews with hedge fund traders.  For example, three managers discussed the May 6th stock market crash and immediate recovery.  The show can be heard Monday evenings at 9 BST at 104.4 FM in central London or worldwide via http://www.resonancefm.com.

Related to: Naked Short Club

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Tags: Naked Short Club, Naked Short Club hedge funds, hedge fund radio show, Dr. Stu, Dr. Stu Naked Short Club

UK Buyouts

UK Buyouts Up 67% On Total UK Buyouts Last Year

UK buyout activity has recovered pretty well in the first six months of 2010 but analysts are unsure whether the momentum will continue through the end of the year.  The total value of UK buyouts this year has already surpassed the total for all of 2009.  The value this year is GBP7.9 billion (approximately $11.9 billion) a 67% increase on last year. 

The activity has been led primarily by secondary deals between private equity firms.  These private equity secondary buyouts accounted for 60% of total UK buyout activity in the first half of the year.  With looming regulation and continued market volatility, it’s hard to tell if this amount of buyouts can continue.

 Meanwhile the average size of buyouts has more than doubled to GBP91.2 million, from GBP39.5 million last year which is the highest average buyout size ever recorded with the exception of 2007 which saw the height of the buyout boom typified by the GBP11.1 billion buyout of U.K. pharmacy chain Alliance Boots by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

But experts say that sales remain challenging in particular to the public markets and trade buyers.

“The exit market has remained quiet in 2010 in line with 2009 activity levels,” said Christiian Marriott, Director at Barclays Private Equity which sponsors the research.

“A number of large flotations were anticipated this year but renewed stock market turbulence has held back the IPO market, with only two private equity-backed IPOs taking place in the U.K. so far,” he added. These are Jupiter Fund Management and Cambria Automobiles with market capitalizations at commencement of trading of GBP755 million and GBP50 million respectively.  Source

1. Private Equity Tracker Tool
2. Private Equity Career Guide
3. Private Equity Training

Tags: private equity buyouts, buyouts, secondary buyouts, secondary private equity buyouts, buyout firms, UK buyouts, UK private equity firms, UK buyouts, buyouts in the UK

Swiss Hedge Fund Manager

Swiss Hedge Fund Firm Fires Manager After Big Losses

SwissDirekt, a Swiss hedge fund firm, has decided to fire its chief trader and fund manager after a very dismal performance.  Willen Van der Vorm has struggled with his High Risk Fund over the last couple years losing an incredible 82% in 2008 and losing 9% in the first four months of 2010. 

SwissDirekt has parted ways with Willen Van der Vorm, its chief trader and manager of its High Risk Fund. The vehicle has certainly lived up to its name in recent years, losing an eye-popping 82% in 2008 and shedding 9% this year through April, when Van der Vorm was relieved.

The firm told Reuters that it wasn’t only the losses posted by Van der Vorm, but how they were made.

Van der Vorm “had a trading approach that was against the company’s ideas of how the fund has to be traded,” CEO Thomas Kuhn said. “We had strict guidelines and he overruled them three times. It was lack of discipline.”

Van der Vorm has been replaced at the €400,000 fund—which once managed €1.8 million—by algorithmic trader Francis Everington and former LIFFE trader Jerry Slager.  Source

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Tags: Swiss Hedge Fund Manager, Swiss Hedge Funds, Switzerland Hedge Funds, hedge funds in switzerland, SwissDirekt, Willen Van der Vorm

Private Equity Directory

Directory List of Private Equity Firms

Part of our team runs the largest private equity networking association in the industry and they just finished updating Version 2.1 of our Private Equity Directory.  This resource was created after our team received dozens of emails from industry professionals looking for lists of private equity firms, digital family office databases, and excel-based family office directories.

This Private Equity Directory is Excel-based and provides full contact details of private equity firms including the following information:

•  Contact names
• Job titles
• Phone numbers
• Email addresses
• Physical addresses
• Website URLs. 

If you are interested in learning more about this resource, getting a sample of our private equity directory or contacting the creators please see Private Equity Directory.com. You may also navigate this same site by following one of the links below:

• Buy Private Equity Directory
• Benefits of Owning the Private Equity Directory
• Private Equity Directory FAQ

This directory is updated twice a year and when you purchase a copy of it you will get free updates to it for a period of 12 months after your purchase.

Related to this blog post: Private Equity Directory

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Tags: Private Equity Directory, Private Equity Firms List, Private Equity List, Directory of Private Equity Firms, Private Equity Database, Database of Private Equity Firms, Private Equity Funds List, List of Private Equity Firms, Private Equity Companies List

The consumption of media, and really the consumption of all information, has changed dramatically over the past 10 years. In a talk at the Newhouse School’s M.O.B. (“Monetizing Online Business”) Conference, Pew’s director Lee Rainie gave a presentation on the latest data and trends in regards to that change.

Here are some of the highlights:

1. There is one main change agent: the Internet. Some of the attributing factors include:
   - 79% of adults use the Internet (opposed to 46% in 2000).
   - 59% connect wirelessly (0% in 2000)
   - The Internet was slow, stationary, and relied on the connections built around the computer. Now, the Internet is faster, mobile, with connections built around outside servers and storage.
   - 62% (vs. 25% in 2000) use the Internet on an “average day”.
   - 82% own a cell phone (50% owned one in 2000).

2. 61% of adults (18 years of age and older) use the Internet as a new platform on a typical day. This is more than radio and local and national newspapers.
3. On a typical day, 59% of adults get their news online and from at least one offline source.
4. 37% of Internet users are contributors/disseminators of news, most often commenting on stories.
5. 30% of Internet users get news on a typical day through their social networking site use, and 13% follow news organizations and journalists on social networking sites.

There is much more to read on the presentation that Pew made available here, but these points share something important for PR teams and professionals: more and more people are willing to participate in the news that they are more actively seeking. You should be taking advantage of that change!

Get in touch with media online if you have a relevant, newsworthy story, share your news through your social networking site use, and more importantly, give Internet users the opportunity to get involved, to contribute to news, and to disseminate it for you. To that end, ensure, too, that it is easy for them to disseminate that news.

What do you think? Are these numbers smaller than you had expected? Higher? What does it mean for you in your profession?

When you work in the translation industry it is best if you can find clients that will always have translation assignments for you and better yet, to have the ones that will keep coming back to you for the outstanding quality of your translation. To help you find and keep your most valuable customers, we suggest these simple to follow strategies:

• Prioritize the deadline – Always have in mind that your clients also have a deadline too. Besides producing an exceptional translation, you should also precisely meet these deadlines.
• Be available to your clients – make your contact information accessible to a client, if they can easily reach you, they’ll keep coming back to you for more projects. (E.g. remember to set up your e-mail signature with your fast response phone number, correct e-mail address and even a fax number. Thus, any time a client needs your help with any project, they will know how and where to find you).
• Following instructions – No matter how challenging keeping up with a client’s instructions can be, you must be capable to follow them. Do things exactly the way they have asked you to do, even if you consider them unnecessary. Paying attention to little details such as adding your initials in the file name can save your client’s time and avoid needless misunderstandings.
• Providing referrals – You should not worry about providing referrals to your clients of other translators who work with the same language combination as you do. Instead, provide any information necessary to make your client trust in you. In case you cannot accomplish the work in time, let your client be aware of that ahead of time, and help them find another translator to have the job completed. After all a client’s work needs to be done even if you’re not available to accomplish it.
• Ask for Feedback – Asking for a constructive criticism is all part of the process of a well done translation. If a client asks you to make changes or corrections in your translation, do it respectfully and instantly. Remember to always ask a client what is really important for them and what best meet their needs.
• Show appreciation to your clients – They are the ones that keep you making your flexible and self-sustained life style. Remember to demonstrate your gratitude to them by sending holiday cards for example. They will certainly think of that as a respectful way of being thankful for their partnership with you.
• Earn what you’re worth – Don’t bargain your rates with clients, instead prove to them that they will get a high level of service for the money they have paid for.

By following these tips the CTP team believes that you can find and maintain respectable clients and develop a long-term and honest partnership with them.

By Vanessa Greenway, CTP Associate

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Tags: Ways to find and keep well-Paying Clients, Translation Clients, Translator Training, Translation Career Tips, Translation Resources, Translation, Successful Translator.

2.25 Hour Hedge Fund Webinar

Yesterday our webinar went great, we filled up the 1,000 participant slots and we had so many questions coming in that the 1 hour webinar got stretched out to 2.25 hours.

We will be uploading this video to Hedge Fund Premium within the next few weeks. The Hedge Fund Premium video platform is free for all CHP Designation Participants.

It was obvious while completing this webinar that there is a need for some more specific Hedge Fund FAQ webinars in the future on Hedge Fund Startup Questions, Hedge Fund Marketing Questions, Hedge Fund Career Questions, and Hedge Fund Certification Questions.  

We will put out another announcement soon as to when these will be scheduled. Thank you for everyone who attended and enjoy your weekend.

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Barney Frank Hedge Funds

Barney Frank: Hedge Funds, Banks to Pay $19 Billion

Hedge funds are facing increasing regulation around the world and increasing costs to comply with new laws and demands. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank has estimated that hedge funds and banks may have to pay as much as $19 billion spread over several years. Many politicians are facing pressure to lower the deficit and the charges to hedge funds and banks are intended to offset any increase to the deficit by the financial reform.

U.S. lawmakers plan to collect roughly $19 billion from the nation’s largest financial institutions to pay for the cost of financial overhaul legislation, a top House Democrat said Thursday evening.

Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.) told reporters during a break in negotiations that the cost would likely be spread out over several years. The fee would offset any increase in the deficit caused by the legislation, which would create a broad new regulatory regime to address shortfalls laid bare by the recent financial crisis.  Source

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Tags: Barney Frank Hedge Funds, Barney Frank Hedge Funds regulation, legislation, Massachusetts senator Barney Frank, costs

Private Equity Career Path

Video: Different Private Equity Career Paths & Backgrounds

Private equity professionals come from many different backgrounds–academically and professionally.  I’ve spoken with many people who work in private equity and have degrees or work experience that contradicts the mainstream consensus of what private equity professionals do before joining the industry.

There are a  number of individuals who come from non-finance backgrounds and have no training in private equity but still these professionals usually have a graduate degree if not an MBA and specialize in an area that is particularly attractive to the private equity firm.  The following video is a profile of five top-tier private equity firms and shows how executives at each firm climbed to the top from different backgrounds.  If you would like to watch the video and you are reading this through RSS feed or e-mail newsletter, click this link.

To learn more about private equity and better position yourself for a career in private equity consider our Private Equity Training Program

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Tags: private equity career path, private equity jobs, private equity career paths, private equity careers, private equity career, private equity jobs, private equity employment, private equity job search

Private Equity Career Path

Video: Different Private Equity Career Paths & Backgrounds

Private equity professionals come from many different backgrounds–academically and professionally.  I’ve spoken with many people who work in private equity and have degrees or work experience that contradicts the mainstream consensus of what private equity professionals do before joining the industry.

There are a  number of individuals who come from non-finance backgrounds and have no training in private equity but still these professionals usually have a graduate degree if not an MBA and specialize in an area that is particularly attractive to the private equity firm.  The following video is a profile of five top-tier private equity firms and shows how executives at each firm climbed to the top from different backgrounds.  If you would like to watch the video and you are reading this through RSS feed or e-mail newsletter, click this link.

To learn more about private equity and better position yourself for a career in private equity consider our Private Equity Training Program

1. Private Equity Tracker Tool
2. Private Equity Career Guide
3. Private Equity Training

Tags: private equity career path, private equity jobs, private equity career paths, private equity careers, private equity career, private equity jobs, private equity employment, private equity job search

Hedge Fund Friends

The best way through which professionals hear about HedgeFundBlogger.com is through their friends, over lunch, via email, or at an event of some type.  Right now we have 68,000 email and RSS subscribers and we are trying to make a push to get over 70,000 in July.

If you have benefited from the free capital raising advice, career advice, startup advice, videos, webinars or industry analysis put out by HedgeFundBlogger.com it would be a huge help for us if you could email 4 of your friends and tell them about our website. Here are links to some of our most popular resources:

• http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2008/03/hedge-fund-marketing.html
• http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2008/09/hedge-fund-startup-tools-1-page-guide.html
• http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2008/05/hedge-fund-employment.html

We have grown this website by giving away advice others typically keep close vested or charge $200/hour for, we will continue to do so and appreciate everyone’s support while we continue to expand this resource.

Thanks in advance for your help. 

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Macro Funds

Macro Funds Lead Others in April 2010 Inflows

Earlier this month we covered macro funds and how they are faring in Europe’s economic turmoil.  Macro funds are leading all hedge funds in fundraising lately helping the industry return to its 2008 asset level of $1.65 trillion.  Of the $23.7 billion in inflows during April the largest share went to macro funds, with $2.5 billion last month.

The hedge fund industry has recouped most of the assets it lost during the financial crisis, according to a new report.

Net inflows into hedge funds totaled $23.7 billion in April, according to research firm BarclayHedge. That puts the industry at $1.65 trillion, their best figure in 18 months, or since before the crippling outflows at the end of 2008.

Macro hedge funds enjoyed the biggest vote of confidence from both investors and the markets, with inflows of $2.5 billion in April. The strategy, which took in a total of just $4 billion last year, now boasts $94.9 billion in assets.  Source

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Tags: global macro, global macro funds, macro hedge funds, hedge funds macro, global macro fund, macro fund, hedge fund strategies, inflows

Buyout Dry Powder

How Will Buyout Firms Invest $280 Billion in Dry Powder?

Private equity managers are under a lot of pressure from investors to invest the capital they have amassed over the last few years. Over the last 18 months I’ve seen estimates of buyout firms’ dry powder ranging from $280 billion to as much as $500 billion (probably closer to the former estimate now). But it is clear that buyout firms have huge cash reserves on hand that have not been invested and investors are growing tired of watching their cash on the sidelines.

This really wouldn’t be a problem for managers if it weren’t for the agreements many made with their investors that they would put that capital to use within 5-6 years or turn it back over to the limited partners.  If investors didn’t mind the stall, managers would be able to sit on that capital and invest it when the time is right.  My feeling is that investors were willing to let managers hold onto their cash through the recession (maybe even encouraging managers to stop investing in new companies for fear it would be wiped out).  But now that rival funds (namely hedge funds) have succeeded in producing impressive gains since the beginning of 2009, private equity investors are likely growing restless.  This is natural, you give your money to a buyout firm and it doesn’t invest in anything, while other funds are making great returns for their investors.  If it were possible, you’d probably want to take your uninvested capital back and put it with a fund that is not going to wait on the sidelines.

Now, buyout funds are facing this anxiety and are expected to put $51 billion to work before 2011 and $213 billion has to be invested by 2015.  The concern here is that buyout firms are always looking to raise more capital and if they’re buried in investors’ cash already without investing it  they’re going to have a tough sell trying to convince investors that they should give more money to a new fund.  One possible reaction from buyout firms is that they will invest in companies that they would not otherwise invest in if they weren’t under pressure to get rid of the capital.  If buyout firms are scrambling to offload this capital into companies they could minimize due diligence efforts and get stuck with some failing companies (especially considering many firms are still struggling with an unstable economy). This could just lead to low returns or even losses on these investments which, I think, will be an even bigger barrier to raising new funds than having not invested in the first place.  (This is all assuming that there is the credit available to finance a high volume of leveraged buyouts this year.) 

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, whether buyout firms will stay strong resisting pressure to invest that dry powder or whether we will see a flurry of new investments from buyout funds.

Use it or lose it. That is the choice faced by some buyout firms sitting on piles of capital they have raised but not invested. The firms are unlikely to give it up without a fight.

A fund-raising arms race last decade was followed by a sharp slowdown in investments, leading levels of dry powder to surge. Such undeployed capital stood at a record $280 billion among U.S.-focused buyout firms at the end of 2009, according to research firm Preqin.

The catch is that firms generally agree to invest capital within five years or return it to investors. For some, the deadline is fast approaching. U.S.-focused buyout funds have $51 billion that must be used before the end of 2011, Preqin says. Another $213 billion needs to be invested by 2015.

Raising new money isn’t that easy anymore. So, the worry is that firms will lower the bar on the quality of investments to ensure existing funds are put to work. One risk is that firms begin to chase after deals and overpay. Source

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Tags: dry powder, investments, cash reserves, cash on hand, buyout firms cash reserves, buyouts cash, buyout firms investments, capital, capital reserves, capital committments, funds, limited partners

Quite a bit, in fact. Customer service (or customer relations) is something that an entire company should partake in. As part of the PR team, you should, on a daily basis, be communicating with your customers, the “public”, as it is a vital component of crisis management, the fostering of relationships with customers, and the encouragement of positive WOM (word of mouth).

Here are a few ways that you can improve your customer service through PR:

1. Listen. Instead of talking endlessly about your offerings, take a second to listen. They may give you some helpful information. This information may let you in on their actual needs, not the ones the company executives think they have.
2. Respond. Even if you can’t offer them a solution right away, knowing that they were heard is better than not having been replied to at all. Respond and acknowledge that their message was received. Tell them you’re working on it and that a solution, answer, etc., is on its way.
3. React. Not defensively, but in a manner that addresses their needs and their current situation. They’ve started the communication with you for some reason, so pay attention. This could be a change in production, a solution tailored to them and them only, or a large scale action like a recall.

Seeing what your actions and responses should be should help you to address where you can improve in the future and what can be done immediately to remedy the situation and diffuse the potential crisis.

What’s amazing about customer service is that the amount of feedback you can get from simply doing your best to listen and offer a solution. This feedback can be paramount to your success in the future and in your success at offering a product that people actually want.

So, the first step? Open up those lines of communication. PR offers you many great ways to communicate with buyers and the public in a method of two-way communication. Take advantage of that! The next step is to ask them for their opinion, of which you should listen to. And finally, your responsibility as the PR professional is to take that information and turn it into an actionable item that will offer the customers more value.

What do you think? Is PR responsible for customer service?

Double Your Hedge Fund Compensation

We get lots of emails from hedge fund professionals (2k/week) who are looking to boost their career, their compensation and their overall progress in reaching their dream hedge fund job.  Below are some quick,  practical ideas which take hard work but are proven to greatly increase your chances of doubling your income in the industry regardless of where you are currently at:

1. Map out where you want to go in the next 1, 3, 5 and 7 years on paper within a career or business plan, dream big and work backwards from there.
2. Switch jobs. If your current employer is not giving you opportunities or avenues to grow get out and move on to a bigger opportunity. If this is not an option create “WOW” projects within your job, if you don’t know what this means read Tom Peters books for motivation and instructions on this detail.
3. Stopping thinking about putting in your time and instead start positioning your own unique value and contribution.
4. Be pro-active in becoming friends with those who are either hubs for industry contacts or are the direct professionals who you want to work for in 3-5 years, friends hire friends.
5. Invest in yourself, complete training or certification programs, seek out a mentor or hire a coach.
6. Create 5 drafts of your resume before showing it to anyone, if possible create a pitch book on yourself and your career as to why someone who hire you.  Provide an estimated ROI, example trades, work samples that you have permission to share, etc.
7. Read at least 30 minutes of training materials or niche books which directly connect with the skills needed to perform very well at your dream position
8. Join toastmasters, get comfortable and good at speaking at events, seminars, and conferences it positions you as an authority and forces you to master some niche topics
9. Work hard. I heard a great quote somewhere, in life there are two groups those who take credit and those who do hard work.  Be in the group which does the hard work, there is far less competition.

I hope these tips help, these are things I have learned from trying to grow my career and coaching members of the Certified Hedge Fund Professional (CHP) Program.  Each participant within the CHP Designation gets access to our career coaching, resume feedback, resume template, and over 70 educational videos.

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