DC Placement Advisors

DC Placement Advisors (DCPLA)

Type	Private company
Founded	2008
Number of locations	Munich Zurich London Melbourne
Key people	Nina Dohr-Pawlowitz (CEO & Head of Fund Placement) Hans-Peter Dohr (Managing Director & Head of Advisory) Eva March (Managing Director & Head of Investor Communications)
Website	www.dcpla.com

DC Placement Advisors (DCPLA) is an independent placement agent and a private markets advisory firm focused on fundraising and strategic advisory of alternative investment management firms as well as providing investor communication services. The firm has 11 staffs and is based in Munich with representations in London, Melbourne and Zurich. DC Placement Advisors covers private equity, private debt, infrastructure, real estate, and other real assets (including timberland and farmland).

History

In 2008, DC Placement Advisors was established as a 100% subsidiary of Dohr Capital GmbH, an international corporate finance boutique in Munich.^[1][2] In 2010 DC Placement Advisors became a stand-alone entity.

Business line

• Fund Marketing and Distribution: assisting private market firms in their fundraising activities and advise on all the stages and areas of the fundraising process including strategy, structuring, documentation, investor mapping and marketing, investor due diligence, closing and post-closing support.

• Advisory: Advising investment managers on fund positioning, fund structuring and terms, investor mapping and market testing.

• Investor Communications: Advising managers on strategic communications with existing or potential investor base.

Rankings

The firm was ranked as number 5 in the global placement agent ranking of Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst in 2010.^[3][4]

DC Placement Advisors is among the four finalists of the Global placement agent of the year in the Infrastructure Investor annual awards by PEI Media for two consecutive years in 2013 and 2014.

Events and publications

DCPLA organizes different Investor Forums together with co-organizers each year. These events are members’ only platform for information, discussion and networking in the area of alternative investment, such as private equity, private debt, real estate, legal and regulatory issues, etc.

The conference was founded in 2013 by DC Placement Advisors, a Munich based placement agent for alternative investment, together with its 2013 co-organizer SJ Berwin.^[5] In 2015, the conference extended its geographical presence by holding a similar forum in Frankfurt, Germany, under the title of Frankfurt Investor Forum (FIF).^[6] The MIF and FIF 2015 together, have brought together 100 senior representatives representing over EUR 2.8 trillion in assets and investing funds, 23 speakers and 100 unique delegates.

Munich Investor Forum 2013 (MIF)

On 9 October 2013, DCPLA, together with SJ Berwin conducted the Munich Investor Forum 2013. It was a free-to-attend, by-invitation event, dedicated to the private debt asset class, which was planned as a response to the low interest rate environment of the time. The forum offered interested parties the opportunity to get together with leading private debt fund managers, to share insights and exchange ideas with institutional investors and to discuss the latest legal and regulatory updates. Detailed discussions were held in dedicated panels in which experienced professionals mapped out the opportunities available in the infrastructure debt, real estate debt, and corporate credit/debt markets.^[7][8]

• The discussion topics included: The Growth of Private Debt, The Emerging Market Private Debt Opportunity, Private Debt Investments for Institutional Investors: Regulatory and Tax Issues, Trends that are Defining the Private Debt Asset Class in 2013, How to Benefit from the Dislocation in the Real Estate and Credit Markets, How to Get Exposure to the Right Credit in the Private Corporate Debt Market.

• Speakers and Panelists included: 3i Debt Management, Aalto Invest LLP, AgFe Group, Alpha Associate, AMP Capital, CEPRES, Cordiant Capital Inc., DC Placement Advisors, Deka Immobilien GmbH, Feri Trust GmbH, Five Arrows Credit Solutions, Rothschild, LaSalle Investment Management, LFPE S.A., Rantum Capital, Sequoia Investment Management Company, SJ Berwin.

Munich Investor Forum 2015 (MIF)

The MIF 2015 was organized by DC Placement Advisors and international law firm Dechert LLP which brought together some of the most experienced professionals in the areas of infrastructure, private debt/credit, private equity, and real estate along with the regulatory issues and outlook.^[9]

The MIF 2015 was held on 29 January 2015 in Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski. It was a free-to-attend, by-invitation event dedicated to a broader perspective within the alternative asset class, including real estate, private equity, credit, and infrastructure markets. Regulatory issues and outlooks, as well as investment consultants perspective were discussed in respective panels. ^[10]

• The discussion topics included: Legal overview and investment impacts under the current regulatory environment, 10 things your investment consultant should have let you know, Private Equity Panel: Niche versus Mega Strategies, Infrastructure Panel: What is next for infrastructure investing? Predictions for 2015 and beyond, Real Estate Panel: Key market drivers for the next 12–18 months (regulation/deal flow/pricing/risk), Credit Panel: A private walk along Credit.St - current market state / sourcing credit assets / investor demands / market outlook

• Speakers and Panelists included: 17Capital, Activa Capital, Altius Associates, AMP Capital, Arbour Partners, Babson Capital, BC Partners, Beechbrook Capital, DC Placement Advisors, Dechert LLP, Equistone, FAROS Consulting, Feri Trust GmbH, Helaba Invest, ICG, LaSalle Investment Management, Neuberger Berman, Optimum Asset Management, Peakside Capital

Frankfurt Investor Forum 2015 (FIF)

The Frankfurt Investor Forum (FIF) is the extension of the Munich Investor Forum, a similar conference which takes place in Munich since 2013 by DC Placement Advisors together with its co-organizers. The FIF 2015 had almost the same structure as the MIF 2015, and was co-hosted by the international law firm Dechert LLP in Frankfurt. Topics and panels included discussions about private debt/credit, private equity, infrastructure and real estate as well as the regulatory issues and outlook.^[6]

Frankfurt Investor Forum 2015 was a free-to-attend, by-invitation event, dedicated to the private debt asset class, which was planned as a response to the low interest rate environment of the time. The forum offered interested parties the opportunity to get together with leading private debt fund managers, to share insights and exchange ideas with institutional investors and to discuss the latest legal and regulatory updates.

• The discussion topics included: Legal overview and investment impacts under the current regulatory environment, 10 things your investment consultant should have let you know, Private Equity Panel: Niche versus Mega Strategies, Credit Panel: A private walk along Credit.St - current market state / sourcing credit assets / investor demands / market outlook, Real Estate Panel: Key market drivers for the next 12–18 months (regulation/deal flow/pricing/risk), Infrastructure Panel: What is next for infrastructure investing? Predictions for 2015 and beyond,

• Speakers and Panelists included: 17Capital, AMP Capital, Arbour Partners, Activa Capital, Altius Associates, Babson Capital, Beechbrook Capital, Brockhaus Private Equity, DC Placement Advisors, Dechert LLP, FAROS Consulting, Feri Trust GmbH, Harbert Management Corporation (HMC), Helaba Invest, ICG, Neuberger Berman, Optimum Asset Management, Peakside Capital, Towers Watson, Yielco Investments

Publications

Global Infrastructure Debt Report

In Q4 2012 DCPLA was asked by one of the most active German pension funds infrastructure investor to provide an overview of the infrastructure debt space. It has continued to publish a quarterly report on the global infrastructure debt industry since then, which is written in a casual, easy to understand format, with the cooperation of the infrastructure funds in the market.

The report includes the latest details and updates about the funds, as well as market intelligence, and statistical analysis such as supply and demand in the market.

Industry conferences

DCPLA has been speaker at various high-rank infrastructure and investor events:

Conference	Conference Host	Date & Location	Topic/Role
Infrastructure Investor Debt and Project Finance Forum 2015	PEI Media	Mar 2015 Berlin, Germany	Panel moderation “Going it alone: overcoming the challenges of investing directly into infrastructure projects”
Munich & Frankfurt Investor Forums 2015	DC Placement Advisors Dechert LLP	Jan 2015 Munich & Frankfurt, Germany	Host of 2 conferences which included a dedicated Credit Panel: “A private walk along Credit St.”
Private Debt Investor – Investors’ Council	PEI Media Private Debt Investors	Dec 2014 Versailles, France	Panel moderation “Comparing and contrasting debt strategies”
Munich Private Equity Training	P+P Pöllath + Partners	May 2014 Munich, Germany	Presentation on “Private Debt Funds – fundraising environment and current experience”
Munich Investor Forum 2013: Private Debt	DC Placement Advisors SJ Berwin	Oct 2013 Munich, Germany	Host of the conference which included a dedicated Infrastructure Debt Panel “How does infrastructure debt compare to infrastructure equity”
Berwin Leighton Paisner Roundtable	Berwin Leighton Paisner	Sep 2013 London, UK	Infrastructure Roundtable
Infrastructure Investor Forum	IIR Conferences (IIR & IBC Financial Events)	Jul 2013 London, UK	Presentation on “Attracting LPs to the Infrastructure Debt Space”

Memberships

Association of the German Alternative Investment Industry

DC Placement Advisors is a supporting member of BAI Bundesverband Alternative Investments e.V.),the association of the German alternative investment industry.^[11]

EVCA

DC Placement Advisors is an associate member of EVCA (European Private equity & Venture capital Association).

References