Our Private Equity Challenge offers university students the chance to learn more about the world of private equity and gain first-hand experience of the investment process, and we’re proud to kickstart our sixth annual event this month to continue its success.

Students from Leeds University Union Trading & Investment Society, University of Sheffield Investment Society, Manchester University Trading & Investment Society and, joining this year, Aston Finance & Trading Society and Lancaster University Investment and Finance Society, will both participate in the challenge.

The programme will run through to April, featuring sessions on value creation, corporate finance and due diligence, with speakers from NorthEdge, Deloitte, Houlihan Lokey and more.

The first session begins on the 7^th February with an introduction to private equity, the challenge and the plan for the course. Then, each following week the programme continues with a value creation session on the 14^th February; a corporate finance session on the 21^st February; a young professionals session on the 28^th February; a due diligence session on the 6^th March and a panel Q&A on the 13^th March.

In April, the programme then begins its rounds of evaluations with teams presenting an investment opportunity to an internal investment committee at NorthEdge, followed by a final investment committee later in the month hosted at our Manchester head office.

It’s great to host this university challenge, as one of the few of its type in the UK. It’s a great example of NorthEdge’s commitment to encouraging a more diverse set of talent into our industry.

We feel we have an important part to play in building the next generation of talent for private equity, the challenge allows us to showcase the inner workings of the private equity market, alongside important factors for NorthEdge people and investments such as culture, people and collaboration as key drivers in building better businesses.