AmCham Malta organises seminar on private equity
The American Chamber of Commerce in Malta has held its first of a series of four seminars it will be organising over the coming months on Alternative Sources of Finance: A US Perspective.Anton Tabone, president of AmCham Malta introduced the seminar...
The American Chamber of Commerce in Malta has held its first of a series of four seminars it will be organising over the coming months on Alternative Sources of Finance: A US Perspective.
Anton Tabone, president of AmCham Malta introduced the seminar and gave a general overview of AmCham and its contribution in seeing an ever-stronger commercial relationship between both countries.
Jason Davies, Chargé' D'Affairs at the US Embassy in Malta, spoke about the role of his embassy in facilitating business for those Maltese interested in doing business in the US.
Ron Hopkinson, partner at Latham & Waktins, one of America's largest law firms with 24 regional and international offices, was the guest speaker on private equity.
He gave a detailed insight into the powerful world of private equity firms, their huge financial clout and their contribution to the US economy over the last five years. The size of private equity deals in the US has been growing rapidly and it is now typical that $20 billion and over deals get concluded.
Mr Hopkinson explained that the private equity phenomena was not really anticipated until five years ago but it now makes up a quarter of the US economy and will continue growing as an alternative to public companies. Deals are becoming ever more complicated and competition between firms has become tighter despite a recent tendency of seeing groups of top private equity firms merging together on a particular bid.
He spoke about the situation that enfolded over the last few weeks that has seen a slight correction in the positive upward trend as a result of the US housing market crises. The Carlyle Group, KKR and Blackstone are considered largest private equity firms in the States. Mr Hopkinson envisaged that, should one US private equity decide to move to Malta in order to seek business opportunities on the islands and in the rest of the Mediterranean, it may well be that other private equity would then follow suit.
During his stay in Malta, Mr Hopkinson held meetings with Joe Bannister, chairman of the Malta Financial Services Authority, Joe Zammit Tabona, chairman of the Malta Stock Exchange and Alan Caruana from the Ministry of Finance.
Anton Tabone, president of AmCham Malta introduced the seminar and gave a general overview of AmCham and its contribution in seeing an ever-stronger commercial relationship between both countries.
Jason Davies, Chargé' D'Affairs at the US Embassy in Malta, spoke about the role of his embassy in facilitating business for those Maltese interested in doing business in the US.
Ron Hopkinson, partner at Latham & Waktins, one of America's largest law firms with 24 regional and international offices, was the guest speaker on private equity.
He gave a detailed insight into the powerful world of private equity firms, their huge financial clout and their contribution to the US economy over the last five years. The size of private equity deals in the US has been growing rapidly and it is now typical that $20 billion and over deals get concluded.
Mr Hopkinson explained that the private equity phenomena was not really anticipated until five years ago but it now makes up a quarter of the US economy and will continue growing as an alternative to public companies. Deals are becoming ever more complicated and competition between firms has become tighter despite a recent tendency of seeing groups of top private equity firms merging together on a particular bid.
He spoke about the situation that enfolded over the last few weeks that has seen a slight correction in the positive upward trend as a result of the US housing market crises. The Carlyle Group, KKR and Blackstone are considered largest private equity firms in the States. Mr Hopkinson envisaged that, should one US private equity decide to move to Malta in order to seek business opportunities on the islands and in the rest of the Mediterranean, it may well be that other private equity would then follow suit.
During his stay in Malta, Mr Hopkinson held meetings with Joe Bannister, chairman of the Malta Financial Services Authority, Joe Zammit Tabona, chairman of the Malta Stock Exchange and Alan Caruana from the Ministry of Finance.