Monday
AM: After starting with some emails, the week really kicks off with our weekly work-in-progress meeting as an investment team. We run through the pipeline — which deals are progressing, where diligence has revealed something interesting, and what needs to move up the priority list. It’s good discipline for keeping everyone aligned and informed, making sure nothing slips through the cracks in terms of dealflow across the various geographies, sectors, and private equity managers we track.
PM: I go straight from there into our investment committee (IC) meeting, where we’re considering a new opportunity for the trust. These sessions can often be the most intense part of the week, especially if you’re the one presenting the investment opportunity (thankfully, today I’m not).
The deal team outlines the investment thesis, risks, and detailed analysis, and faces (necessary) scepticism from colleagues who haven’t been living with the deal for the past few weeks.
Private equity investing rewards patience and rigour, and IC is where both get tested properly. This opportunity is a technology business, so the areas that get the most airtime are the impact of generative AI — including the amount of capital being raised for competing projects — and the entry price for the business, especially given the level of uncertainty in the world right now. It’s a lengthy conversation with a lot of challenge, but the investment eventually receives unanimous support from IC to proceed.
Tuesday
AM: I fly off to Stockholm to meet several private equity managers. Patria splits its investment team into sector and geographical coverage sub-teams, and part of my role involves leading the Nordics coverage — one of the best-performing private equity regions in Europe.
I use the flight time to read materials and prepare questions for the managers I’m meeting today. Great access to quality managers is one of the real advantages of being part of a firm like Patria, given it’s been in the PE market for around three decades. I sit down face to face with several talented managers running underlying portfolios, and these meetings tell you far more than any quarterly report ever could.
Private equity is full of smart people, but sometimes also clever marketing — you need to stay alert (and coffee helps with that after an early flight).
PM: A full afternoon of manager meetings, followed by an investor advisory committee and dinner relating to one private equity fund. Thankfully, central Stockholm is walkable, and the weather has been kind this time.
Advisory committees are a key part of the governance architecture in private equity, giving investors a formal channel to discuss items like valuation policy, conflicts, and fund strategy directly with the manager. It’s detailed and can sometimes involve challenging conversations, but it’s important to be vocal and hold managers to account — our investors expect us to be doing this on their behalf.
Wednesday
AM: After an early morning run around the city centre, I attend the AGM of one of our Stockholm-based private equity managers. It’s valuable to attend these events in person rather than dial in, as you pick up on tone, speak to other investors, and get a proper sense of how the management team is thinking about the portfolio and the market — beyond what makes it into the slide deck. It’s also an excellent relationship-building opportunity and can inform future investment decisions and dealflow.
PM: Evening flight back to Edinburgh. Airport time is rarely wasted time in this job, as the work never stops just because you’re travelling. It’s a full week, as we have a PPET shareholder call tomorrow morning, and the team supporting me has kindly finalised the presentation deck following my review — this is my main opportunity to prepare my talking points.
Thursday
AM: The PPET shareholder call itself. These sessions can be one of the more rewarding parts of the role: a chance to reflect on performance, explain the thinking behind the trust’s positioning directly to the people who’ve backed it, and answer the questions that matter to them.
Private equity can seem opaque from the outside, so anything we can do to bring transparency to the process is valuable. Thankfully, our recent performance has been strong, but shareholders remain focused on the level of private equity exit activity and liquidity, as well as the impact of geopolitical developments and AI on the portfolio.
PM: It’s been so busy that I have to catch up on emails this afternoon, review a few portfolio updates that have come in overnight, and have a handful of internal catch-up meetings with the team.
Friday
We work a minimum of four days a week from the office, with a bit of flexibility built in, so for me, Friday is a work-from-home day. It’s often the best day for thinking work — I can digest the week, write up my notes from Stockholm properly, and catch up on anything I missed while travelling.
No commute also means I can pick the kids up from school (and on time), which counts as a win. Business travel can often be a strain on family life, so it’s good to be around when I can.
Weekend
Saturday starts with the kids off to their Spanish class while I get a session in at the gym. In the afternoon, we head down to East Lothian for a family walk near North Berwick. Walks with the family are one of my favourite parts of the week, whatever the changeable Scottish weather brings.
The day usually ends the same way: pizza and a film in the evening. Today is no different, and the kids choose the movie — tonight it’s the Minions film, which had its moments. I might have been on my phone a bit during it.
Sunday is football training for the children in the morning, followed by taking my eldest, who’s 10, to his junior golf tournament. Watching him tee off with far more composure than I ever managed at that age is nice to see, and afterwards we retire to the clubhouse for a drink and a sausage roll.
The evening involves preparing for the week ahead, including reading an investment committee paper for tomorrow — ready to go again.
