Evoco AG: Solving liquidity and incentive issues in private equity

OCTOBER 20 15, ZURICH (SWITZERLAND). Michel Galeazzi and Felix Ackermann, the two co-founders of the private equity firm Evoco AG, were pondering their next move for Kyotec, one of their portfolio companies which just underwent a drastic restructuring. Evoco itself was at an interesting junction: Was it time to plan an exit from the investment? A strategic sale would surely strengthen Evoco's credibility and validate its original business model. As a new private equity manager focused on fixing Abstract: two related, well-known industry issues (the lack of l iquidity and serious conflicts of interests when a fund was not perform ing) through active ownership, it definitely could use some good, early performance numbers. But the turnaround was still in its early phases, and maybe it made more sense to keep Kyotec and actively drive the value-enhancing initiatives. The underlying question was how much more va lue Felix and Michel could still bring to the table. Finally, was their precious time and limited resources better spent trying to generate value in the other companies in Evoco's portfolio?