Key Takeaways from the Swiss Private Equity Breakfast
Pedersen & Partners and CMS Switzerland co-hosted the Swiss Private Equity Breakfast on April 10th, 2025 in Zurich.
The event brought together close to 200 representatives from local and international private equity and venture capital firms for discussions and networking around the latest market trends and strategic insights.
The panel discussion was jointly moderated by Poul Pedersen, Executive Chairman, Pedersen & Partners, and Daniel Jenny, Partner, CMS von Erlach Partners.
Panelists included:
- Roy Awad – Managing Partner, White Peaks Capital
- Ueli Eckhardt – Managing Partner, eevolve
- Olivier Franscella - Investment Director and Head of GENUI Switzerland
- Inna Gehrt – Investment Director & Head of DACH, Ackermans & van Haaren
- Christian Hemmrich – Partner, INVISION Private Equity
- Ulrich Mogwitz – Managing Director, Co-Head of Private Equity, Patrimonium
- Kasper Sørensen – Director, Bregal Unternehmerkapital
Thomas Markwirth, Client Partner and Country Manager Switzerland at Pedersen & Partners, shared: "Private markets continue to adapt to a more complex and cautious environment—liquidity, fundraising, and strategic priorities are all being reshaped as investors and managers respond to prolonged exit timelines and evolving market dynamics."
Key takeaways from the event:
- The recent changes in US tariffs increase the level of uncertainty for both PE funds and portfolio firms.
- The deal actively and pipeline has been strong in Q1 2025, but the outlook for the remaining 3 quarters is cautious.
- Investments/exits related to high quality portfolio firms get done fast and at good valuation. For average or lower quality assets there are long and often interrupted M&A processes.
- Fundraising is easier for large-cap, well established private equity funds but challenging for smaller ones. Some LPs cannot invest due to liquidity issues as a result of fewer exits and lower DPIs (Distribution to Paid-In-Capital).
- Family offices/long term capital are effective competitors to private equity due to lower return expectations and flexibility on exit timing, but the panel members did also give several examples of good co-investments done by private equity and family offices.
- Strong value creation is important in the current times and having the right, motivated, leadership team is a critical component of the value creation plan.
Pedersen & Partners and CMS von Erlach Partners thanks the speakers and attendees for contributing to a timely and relevant exchange.