Private Equity Unchained (PDF)

Thomas Meyer is partner and co-founder of LDS Partners, specialising in the development of private equity risk measurement models and investment strategies. He has held a distinguished career in and out of the financial services, from intelligence officer in the German Air Force to CFO of Allianz Asia Pacific. He was responsible for the creation of the European Investment Fund's risk management function with focus on the development of valuation and risk management models and investment strategies for venture capital funds-of-funds. As Director of the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association he authored the EVCA Venture Capital White Paper 2010. Thomas co-directed the limited partner course delivered by the Private Equity Institute at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford that led to the EVCA awarded certificate. He is member of EVCA's Private Equity Risk Measurement Group, a Shimomura Fellow of the Development Bank of Japan and was a visiting researcher at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo.

Thomas is the co-author of Beyond the J Curve, J Curve Exposure, Mastering Illiquidity and two CAIA Level II books, which are required reading for level II of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst® Program.

He studied computer science at the Bundeswehr Universität in Munich and holds a Dr.rer.nat. from the University of Trier. He graduated with an MBA from the London Business School and with an MA in JapaneseLanguage and Society from the University of Sheffield's School of East Asian Studies.

'Based on his wealth of knowledge and experience, Thomas Meyer provides important insights into the private equity business and valuable advice to anyone involved in it. He describes how private equity is an engine of innovation and how the partnership model evolved as a central component of it. He cautions against some of the regulatory and valuation practices that are currently employed in the sector.'

Colin Mayer, Peter Moores Professor of Management Studies, Said Business School, University of Oxford, author of "Firm Commitment: Why the Corporation is Failing Us and How to Restore Trust in It"

'There is not much work on a subject as arcane as private equity asset management that can be read by both specialists and amateurs with the same pleasure of discovery or re-discovery. Private Equity Unchained succeeds in this feat by dissecting the subject in depth, but in my view, also by re-introducing the 'human factor' in its perspective of the Private Equity investment landscape. This fresh approach illustrates the dimensions of perpetual change, the biological foundations of human behavior and the uncertainty that goes with them.'

Georges Sudarskis, Founder and Chairman, Sudarskis & Partners (UAE) and former Chief Investment Officer, Private Equities, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority