(Bloomberg) -- Promoting diversity and inclusion was one of the top themes at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos this year, but as dealmakers came together at the SuperReturn International conference in Berlin last week, there was little discussion on the matter.
The event, with more than 2,300 participants, boasted more than 400 speakers. About 13 percent were women, up from 11 percent the previous year, said Dorothy Kelso, the global head of SuperReturn. Kelso said the organization “will continue to proactively identify and encourage women to speak at all our events.”
Women make up 9.4 percent of senior positions in the industry, according to an October report from data provider Preqin. Of total employees at private equity firms, 18 percent are women, the report said.
“It's time the industry took seriously the need to encourage more women in the private equity industry,” said Jeryl Andrew, chief executive officer of Level 20, a nonprofit with the goal of having women comprise 20 percent of senior roles in European private equity. “Just as Davos did this year to support its diversity theme, SuperReturn should take the lead by making it a requirement to have a woman on every panel.”
This proportion of women in private equity is lower than in other alternative asset classes such as venture capital and real estate, where women comprise 21 percent of employees.
Firms Disadvantaged
“It doesn't make any sense to limit ourselves to just men, or just people from certain backgrounds, otherwise you end up with people who all see things the same way,” said Thomas von Koch, the CEO of EQT Partners. “Firms that don't challenge the status quo will find themselves at a disadvantage to those that do. These initiatives will take time to see results, but I am confident that change will come.”
Carlyle Group LP co-founder David Rubenstein described the lack of diversity as “a serious problem” and said the private equity industry needs to do a better job in promoting diversity. He cited the legal industry as one with more gender balance.
READ MORE: Private Equity's Women Left Behind
KKR & Co.'s head of Europe, Johannes Huth, said part of how the firm evaluates its senior executives is by how much diversity they attract.
“It's going to take some time to then perpetuate into the more senior ranks, but it's very much something that I hope will be there going forward,” Huth said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Sarah Syed in London at ssyed35@bloomberg.net, Melissa Mittelman in New York at mmittelman@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Devin Banerjee
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
