The 2015 Private Equity Competition was organised by participants from RSM’s full-time MBA Class of 2016, and took place in November. Each participating team received a real life private equity case prior to the event. Their proposals were then reviewed by the jury. RSM's team consisted of International Full-time MBA participants Madona Mikadze from Georgia, Evgeny Khomutov from Russia, Sanzhar Idrissov from Kazakhstan, Luis Amezquita from Mexico, and Alexandre Kuzmenko Furlan from Brazil.
“I got deeper insight in how private equity funds operate and what they seek for in different projects,” said RSM MBA student Madona Mikadze. She said her team’s biggest challenge was how to combine everyone’s ideas without losing focus and still having different solutions than standard ones. “Our team was very diverse and had fascinating ideas. Eventually, we got a very compelling solution. The process was intense and enjoyable at the same time.”
Investing in emerging markets
The two-day event took place in PwC’s office in Amsterdam. The first day provided the opportunity to attend a networking event, organised in co-operation with CAIA Association, which included a presentation about investing in emerging markets by Vivina Berla, managing partner at Sarona Asset Management. Several RSM alumni, CAIA Association members and the jury attended this event too. The second day featured rounds 1 and 2 of the competition, followed by the award ceremony.
Top business schools
The competing schools were IE Business School, Vlerick Business School, IMD Business School, London Business School, ESADE Business School, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, SDA Bocconi School of Management, HEC Paris, RSM and Manchester Business School. The winner of RSM’s private equity competition was IMD Business School, followed by London Business School, and ESADE Business School. The team from IMD Business School received a cash prize of €5,000.
The jury members of the Private Equity Competition were Bernard Zonneveld, managing director ING commercial banking at ING; Borja Varela, director IP and ventures at Liberty Capital; Chris Angelis, vice-president at Composition Capital Partners; Emke Bus, portfolio manager at Syntrus Achmea Asset Management; Hans Haanappel, professor in private equity at RSM; Martin Kerkhof, principal manager strategy and economics at PwC; Patrick Leers, managing partner at Mind Hunter Participation B.V.; Thomas Maurel, managing partner at Valery Capital; Vishnu Amble, investment professional at E.ON; and Wim den Haring from Waterland Private Equity.
This sixth annual Private Equity Competition was organised by RSM’s full-time MBA students from the Class of 2016: Julia Peterle, Marta Gallegos, Kristin Kim, Karan Bagai, Amanda Koch Schick, Monica Beltran, and Maria Grazia Squadrito.
