TEXAS PRIVATE EQUITY CONFERENCE

2024 Texas Private Equity Conference
Friday, February 9, 2024
 

8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Registration and Breakfast

8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Welcome: Ken Wiles, Executive Director, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Center for Private Equity Finance, McCombs School of Business

Speaker: Lillian Mills, Dean, McCombs School of Business

9:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.

Panel 1:  Managing Private Capital Funds During Economic Uncertainty

Description: Private Equity fundraising, deal, and exit activity declined materially beginning in 2022.  PE exits during the first three quarters of 2021, for example, totaled approximately $700 billion and declined to about $185 billion during the first three quarters of 2023.  Private capital markets continue to confront restrictive Federal Reserve monetary policy objectives, increased capital costs, elevated geopolitical uncertainty, regulatory uncertainty, higher returns from publicly traded assets, and changing investor preferences.  Despite these challenges PE Funds have more than $3.7 trillion of dry powder to deploy.  This panel will address private capital, pricing, fundraising, asset allocation, and other fund strategies in an uncertain economic environment.

Moderator: Matt Lyons, Wilson Sonsini 

Panelists: 
Ashley Baum, Senior Director and Head of Special Opportunities, Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Shawn O'Neill, Managing Partner, Silver Lake
George Seay, Founder and Chairman, Annandale Capital
Carlos Whitaker, Sr. Managing Director, Blackstone Credit

10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Break

10:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Panel 2: Driving Portfolio Company Values and Returns In Challenging Markets

Description: Economic uncertainly affects the companies in which PE firms invest.  The cost of capital has increased, sources of capital are changing, deal terms are more investor friendly, exit opportunities have diminished, valuations have declined, consumer and business spending has begun to soften, and investor risk preferences are changing.  This panel will address the management of companies under uncertain market conditions, value creation, restructuring and turnaround strategies, and emerging investment opportunities.

Moderator: Ken Wiles, Executive Director, HMTF Private Equity Center

Panelists:
George Ackert, Sr. Managing Director, Evercore
Brian Hegi, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Crossplane Capital
Jeffrey Klein, Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal
David Lorch, Managing Director, Cerberus Capital Management

12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Break

12:30p.m. – 1:45 p.m.

Lunch and Fireside Chat: Bill Gurley, General Partner, Benchmark. and Britt Harris, Founding Advisor, On Eagles Wings Advisors

Introduction of HMTF Scholarship Recipients: Jonathan Cohn, Academic Director, HMTF Private Equity Center, McCombs School of Business

1:45 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Networking Reception

AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center
1900 University Avenue
Austin, TX 78705
512-404-1900
Toll Free: 877-744-8822

Website

Please book your room reservation here using our custom link.

If you call to make your reservation, please mention the 2024 Texas Private Equity Conference.  

Room reservations in our block need to be made by the January 12, 2024 cutoff date.

Below is a list of other hotels near The University.  We DO NOT have room blocks at these hotels.

Hampton Inn & Suites Austin at The University/Capitol
1701 Lavaca Street
Austin, TX  78701
(512) 499-8881

Hotel Ella
1900 Rio Grade Street
Austin, TX 78705
(512) 495-1800

DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel
303 W. 15th Street
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 478-7000

2023 PROGRAM

8:30 – 9:00            
Registration and Breakfast 

9:00 – 9:15            
Opening Comments

Welcome: Ken Wiles, HMTF Private Equity Center         

Speaker: Ethan Burris, Senior Associate Dean, McCombs School of Business

9:15 – 10:00          
Keynote Speaker: Pia Orrenius, Vice President and Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

10:00 – 10:15        
Break

10:15 – 11:15        
Panel 1: Private Equity: Creating Value in an Era of Economic Uncertainty

Description:     Private Equity and Debt fundraising, deal, and exit activity remained robust during the first half of 2022 generating more than $3 trillion of dry powder available to invest.  During the second half of the year, as the Federal Reserve began aggressively raising interest rates and withdrawing liquidity from the markets, uncertainty about economic conditions led to a substantial decline in deal and exit activity across all sectors of the private capital markets.  This panel will address private capital, pricing, fundraising, asset allocation, and other strategies in an uncertain economic environment.

Moderator:     
Ken Wiles, Executive Director, HMTF Private Equity Center

Panelists:        
Ashley Baum, Director of Special Opportunities, Teacher Retirement System
Tiffany Kosch, Managing Partner, CenterGate Capital
Robert Morse, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Strattam Capital
David Rosenberg, Co-Portfolio Manager, Oaktree Capital Management

11:15 – 11:30        
Break

11:30 – 12:30        
Panel 2: Venture Capital: Risk, Return, Repeat 

Description: Is this déjà vu all over again? What lessons from past economic cycles can help navigate the current economic environment? Venture Capital seeks investment opportunities that will disrupt existing markets and create new ones. Macroeconomic disruptions increase fundraising and deal uncertainty but also create the market opportunities from which new companies can emerge and prosper. Coming off two years of record fundraising, U.S. Venture Capital firms have more than $300 billion of dry powder to deploy in an increasingly uncertain market. This panel will address sector opportunities, fundraising, portfolio company management, deal pricing and terms, exit opportunities, and other emerging topics in venture capital. 

Moderator:     
Jim Nolen, Associate Director, HMTF Private Equity Center

Panelists:        
Roger Chen, Partner, Silverton Partners
Drew Oetting, Founding Partner, 8VC
Krishna Srinivasan, Founding Partner, Live Oak Venture Partners
Gavin Turner, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Mainsail Partners  

12:30 – 1:45          
Lunch

Fireside Chat: Jose Feliciano, Managing Partner and Co-founder, Clearlake Capital Group and Neil Randall, Managing Director and Head of Private Equity, Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Scholarship Recipient Recognition: Jonathan Cohn, Academic Director, HMTF
Private Equity Center

1:45 – 1:55            
Break

1:55 – 2:55            
Panel 3: Special Topic in Private Capital: Agricultural Technology, Energy, and Real Estate

Description: Private Capital markets are being disrupted by rapidly evolving technology developments, macroeconomic uncertainty, investor preference, and government regulations, among others.  Three industries that are confronting these pressures more than many are food and agricultural technology, energy, and real estate, and this panel will address the unique challenges and opportunities in these industries including how to identify opportunities, portfolio strategies, capital allocation, and exit opportunities.

Moderator:     
Sheridan Titman, Director, Energy Management and Innovation Center, McCombs School of Business

Panelists:        
Jason Downie, Managing Partner, Tailwater Capital, LLC
Eric Lang, Senior Managing Director of External Private Markets, Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Vince Reyna, Senior Principal and CIO, Pennybacker Capital
Spencer Swayze, Managing Director, Paine Schwartz Partners

2:55 – 3:00            
Closing Comments

Speaker: Ken Wiles, Executive Director, HMTF Private Equity Center

2022 PROGRAM

9:00 – 9:15            
Opening Comments

Welcome: Ken Wiles, HMTF Private Equity Center         

Speaker: Lillian Mills, Dean, McCombs School of Business

9:15 – 10:00          
Keynote Speaker: Torsten Slok, Chief Economist, Apollo Global Management

10:00 – 10:15        
Break

10:15 – 11:15        
Panel 1: How private equity and debt are reshaping the ownership, valuation, and governance of privately-owned companies.

Description:    The growth of private equity investments has been well documented with more than $2 trillion in dry powder at the end of 2021.  Private debt markets, however, are also growing rapidly and have more than $1 trillion in dry powder.  The growth and availability of both private equity and private debt have driven alternative assets under management to nearly $12 trillion.  This panel will examine the interplay between private equity and debt, pricing pressures, competition for assets, and deal terms and other considerations for private equity and debt investors in an increasing interest rate environment.

Moderator:     
Xavier Sztejnberg, Associate Director, HMTF Private Equity Center

Panelists:        
Phil Canfield, Ariet Capital, Formerly of GTCR
Jeffrey Kramer, Partner, Ares Capital Management
Vanessa Roberts, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley
Carlos Whitaker, Sr. Managing Director, Blackstone Credit

11:15 – 11:30        
Break

11:30 – 12:30        
Panel 2: The impact of blockchain technologies and crypto currencies on the global financial infrastructure.

Description: Blockchain and crypto currencies have emerged as revolutionary innovations that are disrupting the financial industry.  In the first half of 2021, nearly $100 billion was invested by private equity, venture capital, and corporations in fintech companies with funds directed to companies blockchain and crypto more than doubling the total for all of 2020.  Crypto currencies provide benefits including confidentiality of ownership, and secure immutable transaction histories.  Crypto currency platforms are verifiable and transparent but also outside of the control of central governments.  This panel will examine the development of blockchain and crypto, examine how it is, and will, transform financial markets, and the emergence and implementation of government regulation and reporting. 

Moderator:     
Cesare Fracassi, Associate Professor, Finance Department, McCombs School of Business

Panelists:        
Matt Halstead, Director, Teacher Retirement System of Texas
David Hendricks, CEO, Vertalo 
Erich Schwartz, Adjunct Professor, UT Law
Brian Smith, CFO and COO, Multicoin Capital  

12:30 – 1:45          
Lunch

Fireside Chat: Fireside chat with Kewsong Lee, CEO, Carlyle, and Rich Hall, CIO, UTIMCO

Scholarship Recipient Recognition: Jonathan Cohn, Academic Director, HMTF
Private Equity Center

1:45 – 1:55            
Break

1:55 – 2:55            
Panel 3: Space: The Final Investing Frontier

Description: We are entering a period of remarkable transformation as investments in space-based technologies become not only possible but cost effective.  Morgan Stanley’s Space Team, for example, estimates that the roughly $350 billion global space industry could surge to over $1 trillion annually by the next decade.  Key themes that are driving this growth are satellite launch technology, satellite communication, Earth observation, asteroid mining, tourism, space research, and manufacturing.  We are entering a period in which we will regularly leave Earth and an entire Space economy will develop.  The sky is no longer the limit.

Moderator:     
Ken Wiles, Executive Director, HMTF Private Equity Center

Panelists:        
Brant Arseneau, Partner, 9Point8 Capital
David Anderman, Partner, Proxima Centauri & former GC Space X
Gabe Dominocielo, Co-founder, Umbra
Matt Kuta, President, Voyager Space

2:55 – 3:00            
Closing Comments

Speaker: Ken Wiles, Executive Director, HMTF Private Equity Center