Hosted by Pedersen & Partners, in partnership with the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, this event offers a unique opportunity to gain inspiration and broaden your horizons.

Our distinguished executive Board Room Lunch speaker will address the topic of "The return of Geopolitics in Europe: Reshaping Baltic and European Markets in the shadow of the war in Ukraine"

• How Baltic and European business are navigating the uncertainty caused by the war in Ukraine?
• Has the new geopolitical situation affected attractiveness of the Baltic status for foreign direct investment?
• How are companies circumventing trade relations with Russia and complying with sanctions?
• How corruption in Ukraine causes additional risks and uncertainties?

Presenter

Dominik Gerber is Associate Professor at SSE Riga and a Research Associate at the Baltic International Centre of Economic Policy Studies (BICEPS). Previously he held doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Geneva, as well as a research fellowship at the University of Rochester, NY. His research and teaching intersect public policy, economics, international relations, and political theory, with a special focus on corruption, welfare, and democracy. Besides his undergraduate- and EMBA-level courses at SSE Riga, Dominik is regularly taking on teaching responsibilities abroad, recently at the University of Geneva.

Join us for an intellectually stimulating two-hour session where you can temporarily step away from your daily operations and engage with charismatic speaker, gaining in-depth insights and meaningful connections with global business leaders.

Participation: This event is by invitation only.

Investment: There is no participation fee, but attendees are responsible for covering lunch costs, which amount to 50 EUR. Upon registration, you agree to settle these expenses at the conclusion of the event. A comprehensive menu, including options for dietary requirements, will be provided to registered participants prior to the event.

Event host: Evita Lune - Partner and Global Head of the FinTech Practice Group at Pedersen & Partners.

We value your time and expertise and hope to have the honour of hosting you at the event. Let's share knowledge, foster connections, and further our collective professional journeys.

Debt funds are seeking fresh talent to tackle the next wave of distress.

The second half of 2023 was dominated by whispers of distressed debt funds gearing up for the next wave of trouble. As the real estate world begins to accept that the era of cheap debt is well and truly over, attention has turned to building out previously neglected distressed teams. Recruitment has been taking place up and down the corporate hierarchy, according to recruitment consultants. However, over a decade of cheap money and high valuations has meant that, at the junior to mid-level, there’s a real lack of talent. True, more than a few senior players remember the last crisis and the workouts that ensued. However, headhunters point out that in many cases, these senior players rarely get down in the weeds. Plus, all that experience comes at a price.

Discussions are still at an early stage, though they have picked up in the last six months, according to Ulrik Rasmussen, head of Pedersen & Partners’ global real estate practice. Given the speculation about rising distress, people are trying to be prepared, says Rasmussen: '2008 happened so fast, no one was prepared for it. This time, many of the key players are well-prepared for the market change.'

Hollowed out

The larger real estate players are understood to be looking to make specialist hires with corporate and banking skills. Given the workout of most legacy distressed debt, many teams have been hollowed out. Some of the teams at the top distressed investors have shrunk by up to 90%. This means that some firms will be looking to rebuild these teams.

However, very few people at the junior to mid-level have had to work out soured loans, which is posing problems for debt funds trying to build out their teams. One recruiter said: 'There’s a real lack of experience in servicing and workouts at the moment after so many years of cheaper debt. Therefore, funds are having to get more creative about where they hire from and are more open to people coming from different backgrounds, for example the big servicers.'

While some mid-level people did cut their teeth in the Southern European non-performing loan wave of the mid-2010s, debt funds are reportedly looking for people with German and Scandinavian language skills, rather than the Italian, Spanish, and Greek of the previous wave. Given that these markets were spared the biggest bloodbaths of the past 15 years, this has made workout experts with language skills a hot commodity. The German residential construction sector, as well as offices, will be one to watch given some developers are running on squeezed margins.

However, hiring is difficult in a time of layoffs and hiring freezes. This means that recruiters are getting increasingly creative about reallocating people within firms. In many cases, recruiters have told React News that a lot of firms are looking to hire people who are more versatile and can be reallocated when markets change again.

High-profile moves in 2023

React News has been keeping an eye on some of the high-profile moves to distressed debt funds. For example, Alvarez and Marsal hired Florian Nowotny and William Clark ahead of the expected uptick in distressed activity. In the US, former Blackstone grandee Chad Pike launched Mankora, a vehicle that aims to target capital dislocation through credit deals, special situations, and private equity real estate outlays. Back in the UK, Homes England is advertising a role for a senior manager to handle its distressed investments.

The buyside isn’t the only place hiring; advisory firms are also keen to bolster their teams so they can better serve their clients, say recruiters. However, the dearth of real estate restructuring on offer over the past few years, particularly outside of the Southern European and retail markets, has made it difficult to hire at the junior to mid-level. As on the buyside, senior hires with experience working out tricky situations are hard to come by and command a premium. Over in Germany, brokerage firm NAI Apollo hired NPL veteran Klaus Schumacher as an adviser for its corporate services. He was hired to set up a 'special situation platform for NPL and distressed real estate services.'

In the past, people often confused strong management with strong leadership. Leadership is leading from the front and setting an example, says the global Chief Executive Officer of Pedersen & Partners in this interaction with BW Businessworld’s Noor Fathima Warsia

You are a global CEO based in Asia. What are some of the challenges you face due to this?

When I moved to Asia two decades ago, it laid a good foundation for me to be much more culturally, professionally and personally available. The lessons I’ve learned over the past 20 years have prepared me to embrace this global role. As we know, once you get into this emerging market, every country has its own culture and way of doing business.

It’s not only in Asia, but it’s the same in eastern Europe, where we are in other emerging markets. Being a global CEO from Asia based in Bangkok has challenges and opportunities as well. It gives us a chance to bring people together internationally and not just from a headquarters standpoint. In a way, it compels everyone to work internationally and more closely together. Time zones have proven to be the most difficult challenge though. There are long days but also rewarding days at different times throughout the world.

In your role, you are required to observe leaders and leadership trends. What qualities define leadership today?

In the past, people often confused strong management with strong leadership. Before the pandemic, typically everyone worked in the offices or on-site, and management was overseeing the work. You had people controlling and directing staff. 

When the crisis struck, a different approach, one of leadership rather than management, was required. Leadership is leading from the front and setting an example. Leadership is letting go and giving people their freedom, empowering them and also holding them accountable. With freedom comes accountability but leadership transformed external management and the top-down approach to directing and a more frontal leadership, guiding individuals.

Everything has a hybrid version now but will the pandemic-related trends come to pass as we return to normalcy?

Normalcy means different things to different people. Everyone has an opinion about working in an office versus working remotely. I think there is no single right answer but I do not think that we will go back to working full time from offices. There will be a hybrid approach.

Particularly in emerging markets, some companies are saying productivity increases because people are not commuting two hours each way to work every day. The way people lead teams will also continue evolving and when you look at the working environment, people have tasted freedom, empowerment and flexibility. Leaders are going to need to try all that. It’s no longer black and white. It needs to be a system that works best for each organisation, depending on the businesses, corporate culture, and diversity of the teams.

Any comments regarding recent changes in hiring and how you see it evolving?

Everyone has met face-to-face in the last few years, and the level of engagement and trust increased immediately. Then it became virtual and people adapted to it. The pre-pandemic resolutions revolved around who was the best candidate, the best manager for the business. Now, it’s about who is the right candidate given our business and external marketplace, and that companies need leaders who can really are doing the job rather than just managing.

Leadership profile has changed, and that is why we are not discussing the best but the right candidate. It’s everything from values to behaviours to emotional quotient and intelligence quotient. When our clients look for leaders, they are not looking for the yesteryear metrics like industry experience anymore. The pandemic accelerated transformations and as a result, they are looking for something new.

But does this apply to everyone? Sometimes we find people reverting to the pre-pandemic ways…

Not everyone has changed and that is the reality. Traditional managers or leaders are still leaders on an  operational level, which is going to continue. But, even in that, companies need leaders who can take complete charge, with the entire organisation, function or department following them. This will lead to change because, in my opinion, the traditional manager will not be effective going ahead. Leadership will need to be agile, should have adaptability, speed, and should be dynamic.

What does Pedersen & Partners bring to the table given the company is more global and not market rooted?

We have a unique value proposition. Our global competitors work office by office but we work as one global team. Historically, and even now, others tend to operate like individual sports teams but we are more aligned as a team sport. Our resources and our offices are focused on emerging markets. We know how they operate because we have the teams on the ground. Our approach is to bring the best team that has geographic expertise, industry expertise, and domain expertise. This is the best way because when we partner with our clients, it’s because of the value and quality that we can bring to them, and as a team, we feel we do it better than anyone else in the market.

What will be some of the areas of importance for Pedersen and Partners?

Emerging markets will continue to be an area we will invest in. To truly bring that expertise to the table, we need to keep expanding the local teams with on-ground experience. From the perspective of our service offerings, we also need to keep developing leadership consulting practices and board service practices that will complement our search practice.

There are tremendous opportunities in India. We as a firm are committed to India and we see growth both in terms of capabilities and market. The sky is the limit. Resilience is something that we all need to keep at the top of our minds in emerging or mature markets. Because, as we have seen, it has been one crisis after another, and you know how important resilience, agility, perseverance and commitment are.

For our team in India, we always tell them we are in it to win it. We value each client relationship and all the candidate relationships we have as well. Everything is built on trust and respect, which are our top priorities. Let us, therefore, provide the market with the quality and behaviours that customers expect.

Any advice you would like to offer leaders or aspirants who are considering recruitment consulting?

Executive search is a great career. I have spent most of my career in consulting, whether management consulting or executive search. I will say to younger folks who decide to get into executive search that you can make the most of it. You can learn about different types of industries, and businesses and you will be able to enhance people skills. You will be involved in an industry that is evolving as well. For younger people, this career offers flexibility, learning and international experiences as well.

Pedersen & Partners is a leading global Executive Search, Leadership Consulting and Board Services firm, focused on finding key talent for our clients across Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas. By listening more closely to our clients, we seek to bring a differential perspective to each engagement, and this is underpinned by our values of Trust, Relationship and Professionalism. We go “beyond the obvious” and aim consistently to deliver value-creating outcomes.

Our Global Board Services Practice Group has a strong presence in local markets, an in-depth understanding of governance issues and trends, and an international network of experienced Consultants. We understand the need to create a meaningful balance between best practices, company cultures, and local governance requirements, as we serve clients across the private, public, not-for-profit, and NGO sectors in making key Board appointments and delivering against critical Board advisory mandates.

Pedersen & Partners advises organisations in the following areas:

Board Advisory:

• Board & CEO Succession Planning 
• Advisory Board Consulting & Planning

Board Appointments:

• Chair, Chair of Committee & Non-Executive Director Appointments
• CEO and Executive Director Appointment Process Definition & Execution
• CEO and Executive Director Succession Planning
• Advisory Board Chair and Member/Advisor Appointments

This partnership recognises our commitment to best practices and ethics in the Advisory Board sector. In addition to our highly effective and trusted Board Services, as we continue to build out our Advisory Board service across our extensive global footprint, stakeholders can be assured of our market-leading commitment to raising the standard of the Advisory Board sector globally. 

About the Advisory Board Centre

As the leading professional body for the advisory sector, the Advisory Board Centre works collectively with their members to raise the standard of the global advisory sector – driving value for professionals and the organisations they serve.

Authenticity is the anchor in the work the Advisory Board Centre does. From supporting the global advisory sector with a principles-led best practices foundation and certification, to the joy that comes from sharing knowledge with others – their actions and words are congruent with their beliefs and values.

“With over 22 years of ‘on-the-ground’ presence in emerging and developed markets, Pedersen & Partners has grown together with our clients, and we aim to deliver value and impact for our partners. We are delighted to launch this partnership with the Advisory Board Centre to address our clients’ increasing need to strengthen and complement their corporate governance structures with agile and ‘fit-for-purpose’ Advisory Boards, allowing them to advance their strategic objectives.” Mark Paviour, Global Head of the Board Services Practice at Pedersen & Partners.

“In the increasingly complex governance environment being faced by corporates, high-growth companies and disruptive challengers, Advisory Boards can help to manage risk and/or maximise opportunity. The Advisory Board Centre promotes best practices in their set-up and application and therefore, is an ideal partner for our firm”, adds Andrew Thomson, a Certified Advisory Board Chair and member of Pedersen & Partners’ Global Board Services Practice.

As the corporate agenda develops and volatility becomes a constant feature of the business landscape, advisory boards present a practical and effective way for organisations to confidently make decisions and chart a course forward.

“Pedersen & Partners is a future-focused partner with which the Advisory Board Centre are thrilled to be aligned. Their demonstrated commitment to best practices and ethical engagement in the advisory board sector is a meaningful point of difference, representing an enduring benefit for their clients and stakeholders. With an active footprint in over 50 markets worldwide, we are excited to work with Pedersen & Partners in supporting their rapidly growing Advisory Board Practice,” remarked Udo Doring, Chair and Director of the Advisory Board Centre.

Board Services