Attendees included decision makers from prominent mid- to large-cap PE funds including Advent, AIG, Blackstone, Bridgepoint, Carlyle, Cerberus, Doughty Hanson, Enterprise Investors, Mid Europa Partners, Riverside, TPG and Warburg Pincus to name a few.

The organisers of the event have been very proud to be able to welcome two prominent Lazard bankers from the US, whose key note speeches have been the highlight of the evening. Vernon E. Jordan jr., Member of the Board of Directors at Lazard and Special Advisor to Bill and Hillary Clinton, provided the guests with an insight to his long lasting experience in US politics as well as his close relationships to leading US politicians.

Following the impressive speech of Mr. Jordan, Charles G. Ward III., President and Chairman of the Asset Management Group at Lazard, gave his experienced view on the current market conditions and the impact on world economies in general and the European M&A industry in particular.

The evening was moderated by Martin Schwedler, Member of the Board at Raiffeisen Investment, and Peter Koehler, Head of Financial Sponsors at Raiffeisen Investment. Other representatives of the Raiffeisen Banking Group included Dr. Gerhard Grund, Member of the Executive Board at Raiffeisen Centrobank, and Marc Faller, Head of Acquisition, Project & Structured Finance at Raiffeisen Zentralbank.