Access: What the Godfather of Secondaries did with his second chance
"As I have been warning investors for some time now, cows are the new coal" - Jeremy Coller
To all those in our network who have been with us over the last few years - thank you. And to new readers, we extend a very warm welcome - it’s lovely to have you here.
As Hertalis has grown up, I’ve missed having a direct line to you. Our business would be nothing without the people we meet - over the past five years, I have learned so much from you all - this newsletter is our way of reconnecting.
With help from Melissa, and our wonderful team, we have assembled a handful of the best interviews from this past week, along with a more detailed feature about an interesting person from the private markets industry.
Hope you enjoy what we’ve put together. If you would like to share your feedback, we’d love to hear it - please write to us via access@hertalis.com
Until next week - Liz
FEATURING:
This week’s best interviews
Vogue’s first solo male cover star, Timothée Chalamet
British rapper and actor Little Simz
Kevin Bacon answers questions from Guardian readers
In-depth: What happened when the ‘Godfather of Private Equity Secondaries’ read his own obituary.
IN BRIEF
“What I’m realising is that one’s personal life, one’s adult life, can be quite boring and the artist’s life can still be extraordinary”
Timothée makes history as British Vogue’s first solo male cover star. He talks fate, fashion and being an old soul.
***
“Next year, someone else is going to headline Glastonbury… As much as it’s wicked now, and I’m very grateful, it doesn’t last forever. It makes me more hungry… I know I’ve got to keep my foot on the gas”
Meet the British rapper and actor with two Mercury-Prize nominations, a starring turn in Netflix hit Top Boy and a headline gig at Glastonbury already under her belt - and this motivated, multi-hyphenate is just getting started.
[Little Simz is having a moment]
***
“I turned down dancing to Footloose dressed as an M&M. My wife doesn’t like it when food talks”
Kevin Bacon answers questions about filming in zero gravity, what happens if they play Footloose at a wedding he’s attending, and that scene in A Few Good Men.
Featured job of the week
Private equity backed FinTech, looking to hire a senior project manager to lead European client implementations. (London, hybrid)
Knowledge of private equity software solutions
End-to-end software development lifecycle; skilled in using structured project methodologies
Exceptional communications & stakeholder engagement skills
IN-DEPTH
“I decided to switch from being a bystander to an upstander”
As the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Coller Capital, Jeremy Coller is often described as a pioneer of the global private equity secondaries market.
If you think the name sounds familiar, Coller hit the headlines earlier this year, when after rumours of a planned sale, it was reported that Coller Capital’s founder would cede one quarter of his equity to the firm’s 29 partners. Announced a few days before Coller’s 64th birthday, the change in ownership is thought to be part of a long-term succession plan.
About Coller Capital
Founded in 1990, Coller Capital has offices in London, New York, Hong Kong and Seoul. They closed the world’s largest private credit secondary fund in February 2022; their eighth (equity) secondaries fund closed in 2021 at $9 billion.
When he founded his eponymous firm in 1990, did Coller anticipate spending thirty years (and counting) at the helm?
“It was called Coller Capital so that it would be harder to terminate me,” Coller admits.
Born in London, Coller studied Management Sciences at Manchester University and holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Sussex. Before starting the first European private equity secondaries fund, he spent a number of years at Fidelity International, then joined ICI Pension Plan.
By his mid-50’s, Coller had been ranked one of the most influential people in private equity. Around the same time, an unusual gesture from a friend sparked a lightbulb moment.
Inspired by the story of Alfred Nobel, the friend wrote two versions of Coller’s obituary. “In the first, I died on April 15, 2013, at 54. Having built Coller Capital to be a pioneer and leader, I was described as the Godfather of Private Equity Secondaries and a ”bore.” My friend also wrote a second obituary as if I was an amazing 98-year old. This has changed my life.”
The full story, in his own words, lists what Coller believes are the ingredients to a meaningful, happy life;
purpose (a reason to get up in the morning)
love (contentment)
health (medical and fitness), and
gratitude (puts a smile on the face)
Coller goes on to explain that he launched Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (FAIRR). “The 54-year-old version of myself had the means and expertise to apply my chief investment officer skills to develop a distinct approach to ESG.“
“[Agriculture] emits more greenhouse gases than all cars, trains and planes put together. When it comes to the climate challenge, agriculture is a clear part of the problem, so why isn’t it a clear part of the solution?”
On ESG
“The fact that key ESG issues – climate, sustainability and health – are at the top of investor agendas should surprise no one, but the fact that half of all private equity investors think ESG investing will in itself boost their portfolio returns should be a wake-up call to anyone who still thinks ESG is a ‘nice to have’ or a PR tool.”
The dark side of factory farming
“If factory farms had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian.”
“Around 60% of dishes at COP26 contained meat or dairy, with one campaigner arguing it was like ‘serving cigarettes at a lung cancer conference’.”
Cows and climate change
“Cows are the new coal. Agriculture accounts for about 40% of human-generated methane emissions, the bulk coming from cows, through both digestion and manure.”
On untreated animal waste
“I don’t think we fully know how toxic we are... Just one Smithfield facility in Utah with half a million pigs generates more fecal matter than all the inhabitants of Manhattan.”
Pioneering private equity secondaries
“Lots of institutions said: ‘Why would we want to buy other people’s rubbish?’ We were seen as a leech on a leech’s back.”
On retaining 100% ownership (until very recently)
“There are many founders who have been terminated. I am pretty sure that I would have been terminated from near the beginning onwards. Because when you’ve got 15 people sitting around the table making decisions about the business they don’t necessarily agree.”
Private equity’s unique opportunity for impact
“The managers of private equity funds hold the levers of change for the companies they invest in, in a way that the managers of public equity funds do not.”
Jeremy Coller - Sustainable Finance
Footage taken from Jeremy Coller’s #OurPlanetTooBigToFail interview in February 2020.
Sources
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