Welcome to the website of the ESSEC Private Equity Chair

Private Equity (PE) is a model of corporate ownership where control is concentrated in the hands of active professional investors. These investors raise capital, provide financial and operational expertise to help a company’s development, and monitor the firm’s progress through the different stages of its lifecycle.

At a time of extraordinary growth, the industry finds itself at a crossroads – its success being met with calls for increased public scrutiny. The need for in-depth, informed knowledge about the benefits and possible challenges of the Private Equity model has never been more acute.

The purpose of the Chair is to create knowledge on topics relevant to Private Equity, and to disseminate this knowledge by training future industry professionals.

By supporting this project, our sponsors Barclays Private Equity, Grant Thornton and Linklaters have demonstrated their willingness to establish a forum of thinking and fruitful dialog about the future of the industry.

The Chair has three activity areas: production of academic research; production of managerial-oriented content via its Case-Study Programme; and coursework open to ESSEC students. In this website you will find information about all of these, as well as broader information about the PE industry. A short summary of the Chair's activities can also be found here

We wish you a pleasant visit and thank you for your interest.

Jose-Miguel GASPAR, Chair Holder