LLR’s David Reuter on software investin g; what PE wants out of EdTech investing

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The Wire

Feb. 9, 2022

LLR’s David Reuter on software investing; what PE wants out of EdTech investing

Happy Wednesday!

This is Chris, on the Wire this morning.

MK has another Q&A as part of a series on PE Hub. Today’s interview features David Reuter, partner with LLR Partners, which is investing out of its sixth fund that closed on $1.8 billion in 2020. Reuter said something that keeps him up at night is finding talent, something to which many businesses (including media!) can relate. Read the full interview here on PE Hub. Here’s a teaser:

What are the software trends driving deals?

We focus on B2B applications, and it is all about labor and process efficiency – what can be automated to enable companies to do things better, faster, cheaper? It started with back office and paper-based processes, but has expanded to everything about the business.

Premium: CalPERS may be the biggest gorilla in private equity LP land, commanding a massive amount of capital to commit to managers and coinvestments. Yet even an institution that wields as much power as the nation’s largest public pension system still has to take premium economic terms on in-demand funds.

A summary of CalPERS commitments from last year shows the system agreed to several funds that included premium terms like carry rates that ratchet up based on performance, and above-market management fees. Read it here on Buyouts.

That’s it for me! Hit me up with tips n’ gossip, feedback or just your thoughts at [email protected] or find me on LinkedIn.

Clock ticking: There are only a few more days to send in nominations for Buyouts’ Deal of the Year Awards. We’ll pick winners in seven categories: Deal of the Year, Large-Market Deal of the Year, Middle-Market Deal of the Year, Small-Market Deal of the Year, Turnaround of the Year, International Deal of the Year, and Secondaries Deal of the Year. The deadline is Friday, Feb. 11. Send in your candidates ASAP to me at [email protected]. And visit here for more info about the awards.

Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

Education was transformed dramatically over the last two years as schools struggled to meet the demands of distance learning. Now that the worst of the pandemic may be over, PE Hub asked Dani Forman, Axial’s director of research, why PE firms are still interested in the sector. (PE Hub)

KKR is unfazed by SEC initiatives aimed at making private equity more transparent, believing changes may instead be beneficial to industry giants like itself. “I think the level of regulatory scrutiny of our space is probably a positive for larger players that are more institutional,” co-CEO Scott Nuttall said in the firm’s fourth-quarter 2021 earnings call. (Buyouts)

The nation’s largest public pension, CalPERS, is moving in a big way to grow its private equity portfolio, targeting billions more for the asset class over the next few years. (Buyouts)